Billing & Pricing Guide

How AIOrouter Billing Works

AIOrouter is an All-In-One AI Router — a single API for Western and Chinese models, with Canada-resident privacy and security protection. Billing is pay-as-you-go: you purchase one-time Top-Up credits, and each API call deducts from your balance against the public per-token rates listed in the Model Catalog.

• No monthly subscription is required to use the API — purchase a Top-Up to start.
• Credits are deducted at usage time using the Bank of Canada daily exchange rate plus an FX buffer that covers currency conversion and payment processing costs.
• Your balance never expires by age.
• All usage hard-stops with 402 Payment Required when your balance is insufficient for the next request.

Pricing basis. Model pricing is based on the rates published in the Model Catalog, which are the same public per-token rates the model providers publish. AIOrouter may adjust published rates from time to time; adjustments take effect once announced (see the Terms of Service).

Top-Up Packs

Purchase a Top-Up pack once, and your balance never expires. All prices in Canadian Dollars (CAD).

The amount you pay at checkout equals the pack face value plus an itemized payment-processing charge (a percentage plus a fixed amount, covering Stripe processing — see the checkout details and the Terms of Service). Your balance credit is always the pack face value.

Applicable GST/HST is added at checkout. Purchase at Dashboard → Billing → Top-Up, or via the billing portal.

How Usage Is Charged

1. Each API call is estimated against your balance before dispatch; 402 Payment Required (balance_required) is returned when the balance cannot cover the request.
2. After the call, the actual usage is deducted from your balance using the provider's public cache-aware token rates converted to CAD at the Bank of Canada daily exchange rate with the FX buffer applied.
3. Cached input tokens reported by the provider are billed using the provider's public cache pricing where supported.
4. Token-equivalent usage varies by model: lower-cost models go further; higher-cost reasoning, multimodal, or Gemini Pro models consume balance faster.
5. When your balance runs out, the API returns 402 with a top_up next step — add credits to continue.

Cache-Aware Billing

AIOrouter passes provider cache pricing through when the provider reports cache usage:

• Alibaba Qwen / Alibaba GLM implicit cache hits, explicit cache_control reads, and explicit cache-creation tokens are split into separate billing buckets.
• Gemini implicit cache hits are passed through when Gemini reports cached input tokens.
• The same cache-aware calculation is used for every deduction from your balance.
• Cache-creation tokens may cost more than regular input on providers that price explicit cache creation separately; cache-hit tokens usually consume less.

Provider cache fields are reported as cached_tokens and cache_creation_input_tokens when available.

See Model Catalog for current public token rates and cache prices.

Trial

New accounts get a one-time free trial: 25,000 tokens over 7 days on deepseek-v4-flash (one trial per account, lifetime). During the trial you may purchase a Top-Up pack — doing so permanently converts you to paid (your trial ends immediately and cannot be re-granted).

After the trial, continue with a Top-Up pack — your same API key keeps working, no re-setup needed.

Currency & Tax

• Currency: All prices in Canadian Dollars (CAD)
• GST/HST: Applicable Canadian sales tax added at checkout
• Tax Invoices: Available from the Stripe Customer Portal

Payment Methods

• Credit/debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex) via Stripe
• All payments processed in CAD

Refunds

• Top-Up balance: Refunds are not automatic. If you believe a charge was made in error, contact billing@aiorouter.ca and we will review it manually. Top-Up usage balance does not expire by age.
• Monthly subscriptions (legacy): Existing monthly subscribers continue under their prior terms; the monthly subscription program is being phased out and is no longer offered to new customers.

Usage Tracking

Monitor your usage from the Dashboard:

• Current balance and usage history (past 12 months) with per-model and per-provider breakdown
• Cached input and cache-creation token counts when providers report them
• Transaction history with pagination (100 per page, "Load more" for older transactions)
• API key creation from the Dashboard requires verified billing access (active subscription or positive balance)
• One-time Top-Up pack purchases from the Dashboard

FAQ

Q: What happens when my balance runs out? A: The API returns 402 Payment Required with a top_up next step. Add credits to continue — no data or settings are lost.

Q: Are there any hidden fees? A: No hidden fees. Usage amounts include a 5% execution fee covering payment processing and currency conversion (see the Terms of Service); the checkout total is always shown itemized before you pay.

Q: Does my balance expire? A: No. Top-Up balance does not expire by age.

Q: How do I get an invoice? A: Dashboard → Billing → Invoices. Stripe-issued invoices are available for all purchases.

Q: What about GST/HST? A: Applicable Canadian taxes are calculated and charged at checkout based on your province.

For billing questions, contact support@aiorouter.ca — we typically respond within 24 hours.