Aetherfy billing and spend caps

The Aetherfy tiers

Multi-region placement in Aetherfy begins at the Performance tier. Free and Starter accounts run in a single region — see /platform/regions.

Current pricing detail is published at https://aetherfy.com/pricing.

What Aetherfy charges beyond the tier price

The Free tier does not overflow into charges. When a Free account reaches an Aetherfy limit, the action is refused rather than billed.

What counts as usage in Aetherfy

Four things accrue as usage on an Aetherfy account:

The agent-region rule is the one that catches people out: on Aetherfy the unit is the agent-region pair, not the agent.

When Aetherfy charges you

The Aetherfy billing period has a deliberate offset between its two components:

So a statement shows the base fee for the current period plus usage from the previous one. This one-month offset is intentional, not a lag or a billing error.

Your live usage for the current period is visible at https://app.aetherfy.com/dashboard/billing.

Cancelling an Aetherfy subscription

Cancelling sets the Aetherfy subscription to end at the current period’s end. The subscription runs to that date with full service, and you can resume before it without losing anything. Usage accrued during the final period is invoiced at period end, following the same offset described above.

Failed payments on an Aetherfy account

After a failed payment, Aetherfy applies a 14-day grace period. During it, existing agents keep running while the payment issue is unresolved, and Aetherfy freezes growth with HTTP 403 and the code DUNNING_FROZEN: new deploys and configuration changes are refused. Both resume once a payment succeeds, and the freeze clears automatically — there is nothing to re-enable by hand.

Update the payment method at https://app.aetherfy.com/dashboard/settings/billing.

Setting your own spend cap in Aetherfy

You set your own limit at https://app.aetherfy.com/dashboard/settings/billing.

The Aetherfy spend cap is expressed in total-bill dollars — base price plus usage, not usage alone.

A cap at or below the base price is rejected by Aetherfy, because the running total starts at the base price on day one of every period; such a cap would pause the account instantly.

What Aetherfy does when the limit is reached

There are two distinct stages, and the difference matters.

Stage 1 — growth freezes. Aetherfy blocks new deploys, new spawns, new task runs, enabling always-on, and raising memory. Your existing agents keep running. Cost-reducing actions are never blocked, so you can always shrink your way back out. The API returns HTTP 403 with the code SOFT_CAP_EXCEEDED.

Stage 2 — machines pause. Aetherfy pauses machines only if you are also past your plan’s included usage. Within the included allowance the runtime is already paid for, so pausing would save nothing while denying you service you have already bought.

Raising or removing the cap resumes Aetherfy service immediately. It does not wait for the next billing cycle.

Scheduled tasks while an Aetherfy account is over its limit

While an Aetherfy account is over its limit, scheduled task occurrences are recorded as MISSED rather than firing. Nothing needs re-enabling: the next occurrence fires normally once you are back under the limit. Missed occurrences are not backfilled, so a task that should have run five times during the freeze runs once, at its next scheduled time.

Deploy-time cost confirmation in Aetherfy

At deploy time, an Aetherfy deployment that would add usage prompts for confirmation first. The API answers HTTP 402 with the code OVERAGE_CONFIRM_REQUIRED, naming the added monthly amount.

This is informational, not a block. The CLI’s --yes flag proceeds past it — see /cli/deploy.

Aetherfy has no deploy rate limit

There is no per-hour deploy throttle in Aetherfy. Deploying repeatedly is not itself restricted; the spend cap is the only bound on deploy-driven cost.

Where to find billing information in the Aetherfy dashboard

Aetherfy billing FAQ

When am I charged?

Aetherfy charges the flat tier fee at the start of each billing period and charges usage at the end of the period, collecting it on the following period’s invoice. That means a single statement mixes two periods: the base fee for the period beginning now, and the usage accrued during the period that just closed. The one-month offset on usage is intentional. If your first invoice looks like it is missing usage, it is not — that usage will appear on the next one.

What happens when I hit my spend limit?

Two things happen in sequence, and only the first is guaranteed. First, growth freezes: Aetherfy refuses new deploys, new spawns, new task runs, enabling always-on and raising memory, returning HTTP 403 SOFT_CAP_EXCEEDED. Your existing agents keep running throughout, and any action that reduces cost is still permitted. Second, machines pause — but only if you are also past your plan’s included usage. Inside the included allowance, Aetherfy leaves your machines running, because that runtime is already paid for and pausing it would save you nothing. Raising or removing the cap resumes service immediately rather than at the next cycle.

Can I set my own spend limit, and what range is allowed?

Yes, on Starter and Performance, at https://app.aetherfy.com/dashboard/settings/billing. The Aetherfy cap is expressed in total-bill dollars — base price plus usage — and must be strictly above your plan’s base price and at or below your plan’s system limit, which is approximately $120 on Starter and approximately $437 on Performance. Aetherfy rejects a cap at or below the base price because the running total starts at the base price every period, so the account would pause the moment the period opened. Free and Enterprise accounts have no spend-cap control.

Is there a deploy rate limit?

No. Aetherfy enforces no per-hour deploy throttle, and there is no cooldown between deploys. The only bound on deploy-driven cost is your spend cap, which is why setting one is worthwhile if automation in your pipeline can trigger deploys without a human in the loop. Note that a deployment which would add usage still prompts for confirmation with HTTP 402 OVERAGE_CONFIRM_REQUIRED — that is a cost disclosure, not a rate limit.

My payment failed — what happens?

Aetherfy gives you a 14-day grace period. During it your existing agents keep running, but growth is frozen: new deploys and configuration changes are refused with HTTP 403 DUNNING_FROZEN. Fix the payment method at https://app.aetherfy.com/dashboard/settings/billing; once a payment succeeds the freeze clears automatically and deploys and configuration changes resume. You do not need to contact anyone or re-enable anything by hand.

Does always-on cost extra?

Yes, on every tier where it is available. Always-on is not offered on Free. On Starter it is an add-on of $24/mo per agent and is available up to 1 GB. On Performance it costs $24–66/mo depending on the agent’s memory and is available up to 2 GB. On Enterprise it is included. In all cases where it is an add-on, always-on counts as usage in Aetherfy, which means it accrues against your spend cap and against your plan’s included usage.

Does a 3-region agent cost 3×?

Yes. The billable unit in Aetherfy is the agent-region pair, not the agent, so an agent deployed in three regions consumes three of them. On Performance, agent- regions beyond the plan’s inclusion are billed at $12/mo each. This is the single most common surprise on an Aetherfy invoice, and it is worth checking your region list before scaling agent count.

I removed a region from aetherfy.yaml — why am I still billed for it?

Because removing a region from aetherfy.yaml is a compute-only change in Aetherfy. The machines in that region come down, but your vector data remains there and the replica keeps being billed until you explicitly release it. Editing your deployment configuration never deletes data — that is deliberate, since a config edit silently destroying a region’s vectors would be far worse. To stop being billed for the data, release the replica explicitly. See /platform/regions.

What happens if I cancel mid-period?

Cancelling sets the Aetherfy subscription to end at the current period’s end rather than terminating it on the spot. Your agents keep running to that date, and you can resume before it without any loss of state. Usage accrued during the final period is invoiced at period end, following the same one-month offset as any other period, so expect one final statement after the subscription has ended.