Billing & Deposits
Gonka Broker uses a prepaid billing model. You add funds to your account, and those funds are consumed as you use the API. This page explains how that works.
Top-ups and deposits
Section titled “Top-ups and deposits”When you top up your account (via the Deposits tab), Gonka Broker creates a deposit. A deposit is a record of your payment that also captures the token prices at the exact moment you paid.
This means:
- If you top up $50 today and token prices go up tomorrow, your $50 still buys the same number of tokens it did today
- Each top-up is a separate deposit with its own locked prices
- Your total balance is the sum of all your active deposits
How deposits are consumed
Section titled “How deposits are consumed”Deposits are consumed oldest first. When your API keys generate usage:
- The cost is calculated using the prices locked in your oldest active deposit
- That deposit’s remaining balance decreases
- When a deposit is fully consumed, usage moves to the next oldest deposit
Example:
Imagine you made two top-ups on different days:
| Deposit | Amount | Price per 1M tokens (Model A) |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit 1 (Jan 15) | $20 | $0.30 |
| Deposit 2 (Feb 1) | $30 | $0.40 |
Your usage first draws from Deposit 1 at $0.30/1M tokens. After Deposit 1 is fully consumed, usage continues from Deposit 2 at $0.40/1M tokens. Your total balance reflects the combined token capacity of both deposits, each at its own rate.
Free tier
Section titled “Free tier”If a free tier is available on your account, you receive a monthly grant of free tokens, usable with any model, no card required.
How it works:
- The free tier is tied to a verified mobile phone number. The app asks you to confirm one with a one-time SMS code — on first login, from the free-tier banner, or in Settings → Free Tier. One free tier per number; VoIP and landline numbers are not accepted. The number is used only to confirm you are a real person.
- The grant is issued right after your phone is verified and renewed at the start of each calendar month.
- It arrives as a regular deposit with prices locked at grant time. In your deposit history it is marked with a Free chip, and the USD Paid column shows ”—”.
- Free funds are always spent before your paid deposits; your own money is untouched while free tokens remain.
- The grant does not accumulate: any unused remainder expires when the next month’s grant is issued.
- Your remaining free balance is shown on the Balances screen, right under the total.
- You can turn the free tier off (and back on) at any time in Settings. We may occasionally ask you to re-verify your number; until you do, the free tier is paused — paid usage is never affected.
While an account is running on free-tier funds only, requests are rate-limited; see Limits & Quotas.
Viewing your balance
Section titled “Viewing your balance”The Deposits tab in your dashboard shows:
- Current balance: your total remaining funds in USD
- Token balances: how many tokens you have available per model, calculated from your deposits’ locked prices
- Deposit history: all your top-ups with amounts and dates
Usage history
Section titled “Usage history”The API Keys tab lets you view usage history per key. Each history entry shows:
- Total tokens consumed, broken down into input (prompt) and output (completion) tokens
- Per-model usage with separate input/output columns
Payment methods
Section titled “Payment methods”Gonka Broker accepts payments through Stripe:
- Credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, and others)
- Apple Pay and Google Pay
- Stablecoins (USDC)
- Additional methods depending on your region (Link, Amazon Pay, Klarna, and others)
You can manage your payment methods and view receipts through the billing portal, accessible from your dashboard.
Redeeming a promo code
Section titled “Redeeming a promo code”Have a promo code (for example, from a partner offer, a campaign, or a referral reward)? Redeem it to add credit to your account:
- Open the Top Up screen from your dashboard.
- Click Have a promo code? below the amount field.
- Enter your code and click Redeem.
The credit is added to your balance immediately, exactly like a top-up: it lands in a deposit and is consumed the same way. You don’t need to add a payment method first, so you can try the service before attaching a card.
A few things to know:
- Each code can be redeemed once per account.
- Some codes expire or have a limited number of uses.
- If a code doesn’t work, it may have expired, already been used, or been entered incorrectly.
Auto top-up
Section titled “Auto top-up”You can configure automatic top-ups so your balance never runs out unexpectedly. See Auto Top-Up for setup instructions.
Credit billing
Section titled “Credit billing”For qualified accounts, Gonka Broker offers credit billing where you use first and receive an invoice at the end of your billing period. Contact info@gonkabroker.com to learn more.