Credits & pricing
Usage is metered in prepaid credits. One credit = $0.01. Cheap reads drive adoption; the resolution, point-in-time, and cross-source join patterns are the moat, so they cost more.
How metering works#
- · Discovery is free. Listing tools, reading the catalog, and checking your balance never cost credits.
- · You spend on the answer. A successful
tools/call(or REST data request) debits that tool's weight. - · Failures are refunded. A 500 is never billed, and several tools return a no-charge result when a valid query yields nothing billable. See Errors.
- · Evaluation grant. Every new workspace starts with a one-time grant of 500 evaluation credits, enough for real multi-tool research loops before you add a card. Arkolith is a paid product: nothing refreshes, so sustained usage means a top-up or a plan.
What each tool costs#
Per call, generated from the live registry:
freefree tools
1 cr1 credit · ~$0.01 each
2 cr2 credits · ~$0.02 each
3 cr3 credits · ~$0.03 each
5 cr5 credits · ~$0.05 each
10 cr10 credits · ~$0.10 each
12 cr12 credits · ~$0.12 each
Top-up packs#
When the evaluation grant runs out, top up from $5. Credits never expire. Larger packs earn an activation bonus that lands on your first successful call.
| Price | Credits | Activation bonus |
|---|---|---|
| $5 | 500 | — |
| $20 | 2,000 | +100 on first call |
| $100 | 10,000 | +1,000 on first call |
Why metered, not seat-based
Your agent calls our MCP server directly. We never run inference. You pay for data, not for someone else's model tokens, so a deep research loop costs cents.