Billing

Manage credits, monitor usage, and track spending for GPU instances.

Credit system

• 1 Credit = $1 USD of GPU usage
• Credits never expire
• Credits are shared across team members
• Pay-per-second billing: credits are deducted continuously based on your hourly rate, so you pay only for the exact time your instance runs
• Your hourly rate tracks the provider's current price for the whole life of an instance. If the underlying price moves, charges from that point onward use the new rate. Usage already billed is never recalculated, and any discount on your account continues to apply
• Spheron ES spot instances follow a live spot price that can change as often as every 15 minutes, capped at the dedicated price for the same machine. A running one is billed at the price in effect while it runs. Set a max price on one to have it stopped automatically when the spot price climbs above it. See Spot pricing and Set a max price

• Verified email address. Google and GitHub sign-ins count as verified
• Minimum deposit: $15 by card, $50 by crypto
• Maximum deposit: $5,000

Dashboard overview

The Overview section shows your balance and live GPU usage at a glance.

• Available Balance: Credits ready to spend on GPU deployments. An account-status indicator (for example, "Account in good standing") sits below the value.
• Total Spent: All-time GPU and storage spend for the team.
• Active: Number of GPU instances currently running.
• Burn Rate: Current hourly cost across all running instances.
• Est. Runtime: Estimated time remaining at the current burn rate. Shows N/A when there is no active spending.

Adding credits

Payment methods

Card payment (powered by Stripe)

• Visa, Mastercard, and major cards accepted
• Secure processing via Stripe
• $15 minimum, $5,000 maximum
• Instant delivery

Crypto payment (powered by CopperX)

• USDC only, on Ethereum, Optimism, BNB Chain, Base, Arbitrum, or Solana
• $50 minimum, $5,000 maximum
• Credited when the payment settles, usually within minutes

If a crypto payment is more than a few hours old and your balance still has not been credited, email info@spheron.ai with the transaction hash.

Preset packages

Custom amount

Enter any amount up to $5,000. The minimum is $15 by card and $50 by crypto.

Usage analytics

Track deployments, GPU spend, and volume costs in one place.

A time-range selector at the top of the panel (default: All Time) filters every metric and the deployment list below.

• Deployments: Total deployments in the selected range
• GPU Spend: GPU compute spend in the selected range (also shows the billed-instance count)
• Active Volumes: Currently active persistent volumes (also shows the total volumes ever created)
• Volume Cost: Accumulated storage spend in the selected range

• GPU model, count, VRAM, and hourly rate (for example, 1x L40S PCIe - 48GB GDDR6 - $1.07/hr)
• Instance ID
• Provider and region
• Duration and timestamp
• Total cost and status (active or terminated)

Use the analytics view for:

• Cost analysis by GPU type
• Spending pattern review across time ranges
• Project cost tracking
• Usage optimization

Billing for a container

Containers follow the same credit system and the same minimum runtime, with two differences:

• A container is billed from the moment its machine starts, including while its image downloads. Its card shows Running with Downloading the image or Starting the container until you can connect.
• A stopped GPU container bills only its 500 GB /workspace volume, about $0.16 per hour. A CPU container cannot be stopped.

A Spheron Con volume bills hourly while it exists, whether or not a container uses it.

Billing for a stopped instance

Stopping an instance keeps it and its disk while releasing the GPU. You are billed for the disk, not the GPU, for as long as it stays stopped.

• The stopped rate comes from the provider and covers the retained disk, plus the public IP where the provider charges for one.
• Any discount on your account applies to the stopped rate exactly as it does to the running rate.
• Charges run on a five minute cycle. Stopping and starting both settle the elapsed time at the outgoing rate first, so a stop landing mid-cycle is not billed at the wrong rate for that slice.
• Usage figures, invoices, and the deployment list pick stopped periods up with no change.
• When a provider parks your machine from its side, you are charged the stopped rate for that period, not the running rate.

Stopped rates are shown to four decimal places. At two decimal places most of them round to $0.00 and read as free, which they are not.

Deposit history

View all credit deposits and top-ups for your team.

A time-range selector at the top (default: All Time) filters the summary metrics and the deposit list.

• Total Deposited: All-time deposit amount across the team
• Avg Deposit: Average value across completed deposits
• Total Deposits: Count of all deposits with a completed-vs-pending breakdown

• Status badge: Pending or Completed
• Date and time of the deposit
• Source label: Custom $X, a preset package (e.g., $100 Package), or Auto Top-Up
• Payment provider: Stripe (card) or CopperX (crypto)
• Amount in USD and the credits awarded
• Receipt button on completed deposits for downloading the invoice

A deposit that gets stuck pending because a confirmation was delayed or missed is detected and credited to your balance automatically, with no need to contact support. Deposits that were genuinely abandoned or expired are cleared from the list instead of lingering as pending.

Use the deposit history for:

• Payment verification
• Expense tracking
• Receipt downloads for accounting records

Low-balance warnings

Warnings are based on how much runtime your balance buys at your current burn rate, not on a fixed dollar figure. The same alert means the same thing whether you run one small GPU or a large cluster.

Spheron emails you as your estimated remaining runtime crosses each of these thresholds:

A balance-exhaustion notice follows if the balance actually runs out. These emails are always sent and are not affected by the marketing toggle in User settings.

Enable auto top-up to recharge automatically instead of relying on the warnings.

What happens at zero balance

When a team's balance reaches $0, Spheron acts on the whole team at once:

1. If auto top-up is enabled, Spheron charges the saved card first and keeps trying while the charges succeed. Nothing is terminated while a top-up is still landing.
2. If the balance is still at or below $0, every instance in the team is terminated, stopped instances included.
3. Every volume in the team is deleted, attached or not.

There is no grace period. The only exception is a credit line that a Spheron admin has set on the team, which moves the cut-off below $0 by that amount.

Auto top-up

Auto top-up prevents unexpected instance termination by automatically recharging your account when credits run low.

1. Add a payment card from the Add Credits tab. Once saved, it appears in the Saved Card panel under Auto-Pay.
2. Set Top up when below between $5 and $500 (for example, $10)
3. Set Amount per top-up between $15 and $5,000 (for example, $50)
4. Toggle Enable auto top-up on

• When your balance falls below the threshold, the platform charges your saved card for the top-up amount.
• A 5-minute cooldown between charges prevents duplicate billing.
• If a charge fails, the platform disables auto top-up and emails you a notification.
• Auto top-up charges appear in Deposit History labeled "Auto Top-Up".

For long training runs, auto top-up prevents instance termination due to insufficient credits mid-job.

Billing details

Add your company name, registered address, and tax ID to your account so they appear on every future card-payment invoice automatically. Stripe stores this information once and applies it to all subsequent charges.

• Issuing invoices with proper legal entity information for accounting and procurement
• Tax compliance: VAT, GST, EIN, or other regional tax identifiers
• Expense reimbursement and audit trails that require the registered business name and address
• Bidding on reserved GPU clusters: a team needs a tax ID on file before its first bid

Only a team owner or admin can open Manage on Stripe. Other members see Admins only on the card.

Configure billing details

Update or remove details

Click Manage on Stripe at any time to change company information, update the address, swap the tax ID, or change the invoice email. Updates apply to future invoices only; previously issued invoices are not retroactively modified.

Access past invoices

Stripe emails each invoice to the configured invoice email address. Past invoices are also available in the Stripe billing portal via the same Manage on Stripe button.

Team discounts

Volume-based and admin-assigned discounts apply automatically. The discounted price appears directly in the GPU listings on the dashboard when your team has an active discount.

• The higher of volume-based or admin-assigned discounts is applied automatically
• No action is required; discounts apply as long as you are authenticated

To inquire about discount eligibility for high-volume usage, use the chat widget on app.spheron.ai or email info@spheron.ai.

Best practices

• Start with $50-$100 to understand usage patterns
• Monitor balance regularly for long-running instances
• Enable Auto Top-Up to avoid unexpected terminations
• Watch for the low-balance warning emails as your runtime drops
• Use custom amounts for precise budgeting

• Review usage analytics to identify expensive deployments
• Terminate unused instances promptly
• Stop an instance you will come back to, so the GPU stops billing while the disk is preserved
• Use Reserved GPUs for long-term workloads
• See Cost Optimization for GPU tier selection and Spot strategies

• Card payments are Stripe-encrypted and PCI compliant
• Crypto payments are settled on-chain via CopperX
• Card data is never stored on Spheron servers

Frequently asked questions

Q: What happens if I run out of credits?

A: Auto top-up is tried first if it is enabled. Otherwise every instance in the team is terminated, stopped ones included, and every volume in the team is deleted. There is no grace period, and the data cannot be recovered. See What happens at zero balance.

Q: Does a stopped instance still cost credits?

A: Yes, at the stopped rate, which covers the retained disk and public IP rather than the GPU. See Billing for a stopped instance.

Q: When does a container start costing credits?

A: From the moment its machine starts, while its image downloads too, because the machine is reserved for you from then. See Billing for a container.

Q: Do credits expire?

A: No. Credits never expire and remain available indefinitely.

Q: Can team members share credits?

A: Yes. Credits are shared across all team members.

Q: How quickly are credits delivered?

A: Card payments are credited instantly. Crypto payments are credited when the payment settles on-chain, usually within minutes. If a crypto payment is more than a few hours old and still not credited, email info@spheron.ai with the transaction hash.

Q: What are the deposit limits?

A: Minimum: $15 per card deposit, $50 per crypto deposit. Maximum: $5,000 per deposit.

Q: Are there hidden fees?

A: No. 1 credit = $1 USD of GPU usage. No additional fees.

Q: Why is part of my balance held?

A: A bid on a reserved GPU cluster holds a refundable amount from your team balance, $100 by default. It returns in full if the bid is withdrawn or not accepted, and is credited toward the booking invoice if you pay it. Reserved instances themselves are not billed from your balance.

Q: Can I get a refund?

A: Spheron has no self-serve refunds or balance withdrawals, and refunds are not handled in chat. Credits do not expire, so unused credit keeps its value. How charges work in the cases people usually ask about:

• Failed deployments are never charged.
• Instances still deploying are not charged, including a Spot instance reclaimed before it finished deploying.
• Running instances have a minimum runtime: 20 minutes by default, longer on some machine types. See Minimum runtime before termination.
• Spot instances stop billing when the provider reclaims them.

If a payment was not credited to your balance, or you were charged twice, email info@spheron.ai with your account email and the payment details.

What's next

• Getting Started: Deploy your first instance
• Reserved GPUs: Long-term GPU reservations
• User Settings: Configure billing alerts
• Cost Optimization: Reduce GPU spend
• Instance Lifecycle: Stop an instance to pause GPU billing
• API Reference: Programmatic billing access