Every plan is metered on successful responses only. Start free — no card required — and enough to build a real prototype, not a teaser.
No surprises. The rules are simple and consistent across every tier.
A call is billable only when crate returns a successful response with data. HTTP errors (4xx, 5xx) and rate-limit rejections (429) are never charged. You only pay when you get something back.
Metered overage is strictly monotone — a higher-volume tier never costs more per call. When you exceed your included allowance, overages are charged at your tier's rate. You set a cap; we never charge beyond it.
The free tier has no overage path. At 10,000 calls/mo you receive a 429. No card on file, no surprise bill — ever.
Every keyed 2xx response carries X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, and X-RateLimit-Reset headers. Your client always knows where it stands.
As of 2026-07-08 the full crate pricing ladder is: free $0/10,000 calls/mo hard-cap · indie $49/15,000 calls/mo + $5.00/1k overage · studio $149/100,000 calls/mo + $3.00/1k overage · scale $499/500,000 calls/mo + $2.00/1k overage · sync $2,000/2,000,000 calls/mo + $1.50/1k overage. Billed on 2xx only. Overage dark behind CRATE_OVERAGE_ENABLED (hard 429 until flipped).
| Tier | Base/mo | Included calls/mo | Overage per 1k | Burst/min | Replica passthrough |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| free | $0 | 10,000 | hard 429 cap | 30 | no |
| indie | $49 | 15,000 | $5.00 | 60 | no |
| studio | $149 | 100,000 | $3.00 | 300 | no |
| scale | $499 | 500,000 | $2.00 | 600 | yes |
| sync | $2,000 | 2,000,000 | $1.50 | 1000 | yes |
Grab a free key, resolve your first artist before your coffee's cold, and upgrade only when your traffic demands it.