# Billing and usage

> Prepaid, pay-as-you-go pricing: what an identification costs, what is free, how credit and auto top-up work, and what happens when the balance runs out.

Last updated: 2026-09-17

Fingerly is prepaid. You add credit, and each production identification is paid from it. There are no plans, minimums, monthly fees or seat charges.

## Prices

| Request | Price |
| --- | --- |
| Production identification | $0.003 per request |
| Production request that could not be identified (`identifiable: false`) | $0.0005 per request |

Prices are in US dollars.

## What is free

- Every request with a development or staging key.
- Retries answered as duplicates of the same `Idempotency-Key`.
- Requests Fingerly refuses: `401`, `402` and `429`.
- Requests whose network lookup could not run (`state: unavailable`).
- Deferred reports and attestation challenges.
- Reading events with a secret key, and webhooks.

## Credit

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Signup credit | $3, enough for 1,000 identifications. Once per email address, no card needed. |
| Top-ups | From $5 to $5,000, by card. |
| Expiry | Purchased and signup credit never expire. Promotional credit has an expiry date and is spent first. |

Add funds in **Settings > Billing**. Credit is added as soon as the payment is confirmed.

## Auto top-up

Auto top-up adds a fixed amount by card when your balance falls below a threshold, so traffic never stops for lack of credit.

| Setting | Range | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Amount | $5 to $5,000 |  |
| Threshold | Below the amount |  |
| Top-ups per day | 1 to 20 | 3 |
| Time between top-ups | At least 1 minute | 5 minutes |

Auto top-up needs a card on file. After three declined payments in a row it pauses, and you can resume it from **Settings > Billing** once the card is fixed.

## When the balance runs out

Production identify requests are refused with `402 no_credit` until you add funds, and each refusal sends an [`identification.refused`](https://docs.fingerly.io/reference/webhooks/identification-refused) webhook. Development and staging keys keep working. A burst of traffic at the moment the balance reaches zero can take it slightly below zero.

> **Warning:** Watch for `identification.refused` with the reason `no_credit`, or turn on auto top-up, so that identification does not stop unnoticed.

## Reading your balance

- **Settings > Billing** shows the balance, your cards and auto top-up.
- Identify responses carry `Fingerly-Balance-Micros`, the balance in millionths of a dollar.
- The [`usage.daily_settled`](https://docs.fingerly.io/reference/webhooks/usage-daily-settled) webhook reports each day's checks and cost.

## Usage

**Settings > Usage** shows metered checks per day and per key, billable and test traffic, and refused requests. Usage is settled once a day, shortly after midnight UTC.

Owners, admins and members with the billing role can manage billing.