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# Plans and pricing

> Gateway plans, per-request cost, BYOK billing, and the errors returned when credit or plan limits are reached.

Gateway charges for the model traffic it routes: vendor token cost plus Merge's fee, with no seat fee or minimum.

## Plans

| Plan           | What you pay                                                                             | Payment method |
| -------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- |
| **Free**       | Nothing. Signup credit covers requests to the free model list, up to a daily request cap | Not required   |
| **Pro**        | Vendor cost plus a 5% Merge fee, drawn from prepaid credit, with monthly credit included | Card on file   |
| **Enterprise** | A contracted rate in place of the 5% fee, invoiced monthly                               | Contract       |

Signup credit expires 12 months after signup. Amounts and the free model list are on the [pricing page](https://www.merge.dev/pricing/gateway). Adding a card in [Billing settings](https://gateway.merge.dev/settings/billing) moves you to Pro: the full [model catalog](/merge-gateway/models), no daily cap.

## What one request costs

Every response carries `usage.cost`, the model cost in USD (your contract price if you have committed spend). With `include_routing_metadata: true`, `routing.merge_fee_usd` adds Merge's fee; the two sum to the request's bill. Web search is billed separately ([per-call cost](/merge-gateway/api-overview#per-call-cost)).

## Bringing your own vendor key

On a [BYOK](/merge-gateway/capabilities/byok/overview) key, your vendor bills you for the tokens and your Merge invoice carries only the fee.

## When credit or plan limits are reached

Each block happens before any vendor call, so it costs nothing.

| Situation                                                     | Status | `code`                        |
| ------------------------------------------------------------- | ------ | ----------------------------- |
| Organization credit exhausted                                 | `402`  | `budget_exceeded`             |
| Payment failed and the account is suspended                   | `402`  | `payment_failed`              |
| Free plan: model outside the free model list                  | `403`  | `free_tier_model_not_allowed` |
| Free plan: daily request cap reached (resets at midnight UTC) | `429`  | `free_tier_daily_limit`       |

To cap spend below your balance, use [Budgets](/merge-gateway/cost/budgets).

## Next steps

#### [Budgets](/merge-gateway/cost/budgets)

Cap spend at the organization, project, key, or customer scope

#### [Cost governance and savings](/merge-gateway/cost/cost-governance-and-savings)

See where spend is reported and the settings that cut it

#### [Get started](/merge-gateway/get-started)

Send your first request through Gateway