Plans & Usage
This page is about what Butterbase charges you for running your backend.
For charging your own end users, see Charging Your Users.
Plans are billed per organization, and every account starts on the free tier. Tiers differ on AI credits, project count, MAU, database size, bandwidth, file storage, function invocations, frontend deployments, request rate, realtime listeners, KV limits, custom domains, support level, and compliance add-ons.
Current tiers, prices, and allowances live in two canonical places — deliberately not duplicated here, because they change:
- butterbase.ai/pricing — the tier comparison
- Your dashboard Billing page — what your organization is actually on, with live usage against each limit
butterbase billing statusFree-tier projects are paused after a week of inactivity. Resume them from the dashboard.
Usage meters
Section titled “Usage meters”| Meter | What it measures |
|---|---|
ai_credits | AI model usage cost, in dollars |
storage_bytes | Total file storage across all apps in the org |
lambda_invocations | Total function executions |
bandwidth_bytes | Data transferred out |
Credits, top-ups, and spending caps
Section titled “Credits, top-ups, and spending caps”AI usage draws down a single credit balance per organization, in this order:
- Monthly allowance — a per-tier credit grant, refilled on each successful subscription invoice.
- Top-up balance — pay-as-you-go credit you buy in advance; never expires.
- Overage — paid tiers keep serving past zero, down to a per-tier credit floor, then hard-stop. The free tier has a floor of $0 and stops the moment the balance is exhausted.
Buy a top-up:
POST /dashboard/billing/topup{ "amount": 25 }butterbase billing topup 25Spending cap — an org-level ceiling on AI spend. Paid tiers get a default cap; when you hit it, AI calls are refused until you raise it. Your current cap and floor are on the dashboard Billing page.
butterbase billing cap getbutterbase billing cap raise --raise-by 50Auto-refill — optionally top up automatically when the balance drops below a threshold. Configure it on the dashboard Billing page.
Checking your usage
Section titled “Checking your usage”GET /dashboard/billingReturns current plan, limits, usage percentages, credit balance, and spending cap.
GET /dashboard/usage?startDate=2026-01-01&endDate=2026-01-31&meterType=ai_creditsReturns daily usage over a date range.
butterbase billing statusbutterbase billing usage --start 2026-01-01 --end 2026-01-31 --meter ai_creditsUpgrading your plan
Section titled “Upgrading your plan”POST /dashboard/billing/checkout{ "planId": "<plan-id>" }Returns a Stripe Checkout url. Limits update immediately after payment succeeds.
Managing your subscription
Section titled “Managing your subscription”POST /dashboard/billing/portalReturns a URL to the Stripe self-service portal — update payment methods, download invoices, cancel.
butterbase billing portalWhat happens when you exceed a limit
Section titled “What happens when you exceed a limit”Free tier: the org is soft-locked. Reads still work; writes are blocked until usage drops or you upgrade.
Paid plans: usage past an allowance is not blocked — overage is billed at your tier’s per-meter rate. You get an email. If a payment fails, a grace period begins; after it expires the org is suspended.
Account statuses
Section titled “Account statuses”| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
active | Normal operation |
soft_locked | Free-tier limits exceeded |
suspended | Payment failure past the grace period |