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Billing

Prices are hourly, in USD. You pay per second: hourly price × seconds / 3600, with no minimum.

What is charged​

ItemRate
PodThe pod's hourly price (per-GPU price × GPUs)
Volume$/GB/hour on the data stored, charged daily. See Volumes
Backups$/GB/hour on the backup data stored, charged daily. See Backups

If the provider raises the price, a running pod moves to it only after you are told by e-mail. A lower price applies at once, unless the provider chose to keep your rental at its price until it ends: then no later price change, lower or higher, reaches it.

When a pod is charged​

Pod statusCharged?
Starting (PENDING)Not yet. Once the pod turns RUNNING, a pod on the node's default image (marked Fast deploy in the template list) is charged from that moment, so its setup is free; any other image is charged from the deploy request, starting time included. A pod moved to another node because the first one failed to start is charged from the move, so its setup on the new node is charged
Failed to start (CREATION_FAILED), or deleted while PENDINGNo
RUNNING, rebooting (REBOOT_PENDING) or REBOOT_FAILEDYes
Rebooting or REBOOT_FAILED, but the pod's container was never createdNo
REBOOT_FAILED because the validator could not reach the nodeNo, until the pod runs again or you reboot it
Node offline for an hour or moreNo, until the node is back
Node fails a validator check and your pod stops answering SSHNo, from that check until the pod answers or the node passes the check for rented nodes
BROKENNo. See Broken pods
DeletedNo. Charging stops at the delete request

While a node is offline, time in which your pod still answers SSH is charged, and is not refunded once the node is back.

Charges are taken from your balance every 5 minutes, and once more when the pod is deleted.

Between charges, the balance shown in the app is an estimate that counts down by the second. The charge itself is still taken every 5 minutes.

Add funds​

Top up

Open the account menu (bottom-left) → Billing → TOP UP. Pay by card, US bank debit (ACH), crypto, TAO or alpha.

  • Saved card: once a card is saved, TOP UP → Charge saved card charges it with no checkout page.
  • US bank debit (ACH): offered on the card checkout page for $500 or more. It is credited when the debit settles, usually within 4 business days.
  • Crypto: pay the invoice before it expires, from a wallet you control, not an exchange withdrawal. Open invoices show under Pending crypto deposits on the Billing page.
  • TAO: send only from a wallet verified on your account. If you already sent from an unverified wallet, verify it with Add Wallet in the Pay with TAO window; transfers from it in the last 7 days are then credited (30 days for one received before 20 October 2026). A transfer that arrived but is not credited yet shows as received, crediting… in the Pay with TAO and Pay with Alpha windows; one that shows received, contact support needs support.
  • When the bank wants a confirmation. An API card top-up can return a 402 CARD_AUTHENTICATION_REQUIRED with a next_action_url: the cardholder opens it to confirm with their bank (3-D Secure), and the balance is credited seconds later. To retry, repeat the call with the same idempotency_key; a new key opens a second payment on the card, and that one can also be charged. With an API key that has a spending budget, only a card's first API top-up asks for this: once the card has passed 3-D Secure on your account, later top-ups charge it without asking. A key without a budget is also asked after several top-ups in a day. Lium asks again if it cannot confirm the card's earlier check, and the bank can always ask.

Turn on Auto Top Up

On the Billing page, set an amount to charge your card when the balance falls below a threshold.

A card saved before 10:40 UTC on 27 October 2026 is charged by Auto Top Up as before. A card saved later is charged only after it has passed your bank's check (3-D Secure) once. Saving a card on the Billing page asks for the check. A card added through the API qualifies after a card top-up on the Billing page in which your bank completes the check; a completed payment alone is not enough.

Transfer credits​

Billing → Transfer credits sends part of your balance to another account.

  • Card top-ups wait 14 days: credit paid by card can be transferred 14 days after the payment. Renting uses it at once. Accounts whose first payment is more than 30 days old are not held.
  • A held transfer is refused with the amount you can send now and the date the rest can be sent.

When the balance runs out​

  • To rent, your balance must cover at least 15 minutes of the pod's hourly price plus 15 minutes of each pod you already have running.
  • You get an e-mail when your balance is about to run out. Set when in Notification Settings on your profile. See Balance warnings.
  • When the balance reaches zero, your pods keep running for 2 minutes. If an hourly volume egress charge takes a positive balance to zero or below, they keep running for 60 minutes instead. Pod time is still charged. If the balance is still zero or below at the end, they are deleted.
  • Volumes and backups keep charging until you delete them.

Quote a job before you rent​

GET /executors/{executor_id}/quote?hours=… returns the compute, volume and backup cost of a job on that node. Optional: gpu_count, volume_gb, backup_gb. It needs no key and reserves nothing.

curl -s "https://lium.io/api/executors/<node_id>/quote?hours=24&gpu_count=8&volume_gb=200" | jq '{total_usd, lines}'

See what you spent​

The Billing page shows your balance and daily spend. Each pod has a statement.

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