DOCS NAV · FREE TIER & CREDITS ▾
FREE TIER & CREDITS
Two ways calls can be free: the publisher's monthly allowance, and your $0.10 starter credit.
TWO KINDS OF "FREE"
Don't conflate them — they apply at different layers and behave differently:
| STARTER CREDIT | FREE TIER (PER MCP) | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Platform (us) | Publisher |
| Granted | Once at signup | Recurring monthly |
| Amount | $0.10 (about 500 calls) | N calls per consumer per calendar month, set by the publisher |
| Scope | Whole account; usable on any listing | Per-listing only |
| Resets | Never; spent once and gone | 1st of each month, automatically |
| Status header | X-Mcpmeter-Billed: 800 (regular debit) | X-Mcpmeter-Billed: free |
STARTER CREDIT
Every consumer signup gets a one-time $0.10 of credit, recorded as a signup_bonus ledger entry. It's normal balance — calls debit it like any other µ¢. You can see it on your dashboard.
This is enough to wire up a key and prove your agent works end-to-end (about 500 calls @ $0.0002). To run anything sustained, top up. No card required to sign up.
PUBLISHER FREE TIER
Publishers can grant a monthly free allowance per their listing. When a consumer is within the allowance, calls return 200 with X-Mcpmeter-Billed: free — no debit happens, no payout accrues to the publisher.
The allowance is denominated in calls (not dollars), reset on the 1st of each calendar month, and counted per-(listing, consumer). A consumer who hits a listing's free tier is independent of every other consumer using the same listing.
Examples
- A weather MCP grants 50 free calls/month. You make 50 free calls; the 51st gets billed. On the 1st of next month, your counter resets — another 50 free.
- A new payments MCP grants 0 free calls. Every call hits the per-call price.
- A docs-search MCP grants 500 free calls/month. Most users never hit a billed call.
How publishers think about it
Publishers commonly use the free tier to:
- Let agents try the listing before committing real spend.
- Subsidise read-heavy tools (lookups, status checks) while charging for write/expensive tools.
- Build adoption while monetising elsewhere (their own product, support contracts).
The cost of free-tier calls is borne by the publisher — the proxy still routes them, but no payout accrues.
PRECEDENCE
For each call the proxy decides in this order:
- Is the call within the listing's free-tier allowance for this consumer this month? → FREE (no debit).
- Otherwise, does the consumer have enough balance for the per-call price? → debit it.
- Otherwise →
402 Insufficient credit.
So free-tier calls always run before debits start. Your starter credit is consumed only after a listing's free-tier allowance is exhausted for the month.
SEEING WHAT WAS FREE
Two places:
- The Activity log shows
freein the billed column for free-tier calls. - Every response carries
X-Mcpmeter-Billed: freewhen the call was free, or the µ¢ amount otherwise. See headers.
WHEN COUNTERS RESET
Free-tier counters reset at 00:00:00 UTC on the 1st of each calendar month. The reset is atomic across all listings and all consumers.
Spending caps on projects (a different mechanism — see rate limits) reset on the same boundary.