Plans & credits
Silico charges for real compute — the actual cost of the AI models your task runs on — plus a published markup. No token math, no mystery bill. This page explains the plans, how credits work, and what you'll see.
Plans
There's no free tier. Everyone starts with the $5 Pilot, and you can move to a monthly (or annual) plan any time.
| Plan | Price | Monthly credits | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot | $5 once | 500 (never expire) | Trying Silico end to end |
| Starter | $25 / mo | 2,500 | Individuals, regular use |
| Pro (popular) | $79 / mo | 7,900 | Heavy users — more compute per dollar |
| Power | $199 / mo | 19,900 | Automation fleets — the most compute per dollar |
- Every plan unlocks every model and every feature. Plans differ only in how many credits you get and your markup rate — no model is ever locked behind a tier. The only limit is your balance.
- Higher plans stretch further. As you move up, the markup on real compute drops, so each dollar buys more work.
- Annual plans give you two months free (pay for 10, get 12). Credits are still granted monthly.
- The Pilot is one-time. If you upgrade to a subscription within 14 days, your $5 counts toward your first month.
How credits work
- 1 credit = $0.01. Your balance is shown in dollars (e.g.
$18.40). - Each task charges real compute cost × your plan's markup, rounded up to whole credits. If any real work happened, the minimum is 1 credit.
- Web search and connected-tool fees are included in a task's cost — shown as part of the total, never a separate surprise.
- Subscription credits refresh monthly. Anything left over from a monthly allowance is replaced, not stacked; purchased top-up credits never expire.
The receipt
After every reply, you'll see a line like:
compute 31¢ → charged 93¢ (93 credits · ×3.0) · $17.47 left
Left to right: the real compute cost, what you were charged (real cost × your markup) in credits, and your balance remaining. This is the whole point — you can always check our math.
Top-ups
Need more credits before your next refresh? Buy a one-time top-up in the Billing panel (the credit-card icon in the left sidebar):
$5 · $10 · $25 · $100 — at 100 credits per dollar. Top-up credits never expire and are available whether you're on the Pilot or a subscription.
Spending safely
- Every task shows its cost as it finishes, so nothing is a mystery.
- Expensive runs can pause for approval — if a plan is estimated to be costly, Silico shows you the estimate and your balance before it spends, so you can approve or cancel.
- Background jobs have hard spend ceilings that pause the job rather than run up a bill (see Automations).
- If you run out, tasks pause with an upgrade prompt. Top up or upgrade and you're back in business — your history and files are untouched.
Managing your subscription
Paid users can open the billing portal from the account menu to update payment methods, change plans, or cancel — handled securely through Stripe.