# Account, plans & billing

> One OpenEng account covers the whole platform. The engineering apps are free, forever. OpenEng AI hasn't launched pricing yet: Pro, Enterprise and pay-as-you-go launch in Q4 2026, and billing lives on billing.openeng.app.

One OpenEng account covers the whole platform, and the engineering apps are free, forever. OpenEng
AI has not launched pricing yet: its paid plans open in Q4 2026. Billing lives on
**[billing.openeng.app](https://billing.openeng.app)**.

> [!NOTE] Pricing in one place
> **Engineering apps** (Terminal, Kubernetes, Data, Git and Chat): free, forever. Every app and every
> feature, with no card and no trial.
>
> **OpenEng AI:** the **Free** plan includes signing in, and authoring and publishing in the Console.
> **Pro**, **Enterprise** and **pay-as-you-go** launch in **Q4 2026** and can't be purchased yet;
> Pro and Enterprise prices are announced at launch. Running the AI engine requires Pro.

> [!WARNING] Status on September 25, 2026: OpenEng AI isn't live yet
> The Console ([console.openeng.app](https://console.openeng.app)) and the Web Console
> ([app.openeng.app](https://app.openeng.app)) are published, but the services behind them aren't live
> yet: the OpenEng API doesn't answer OpenEng AI requests (your resources, configs, API keys, plan and
> engine registration), and the OpenEng Broker isn't online. Until they are, the Console can't load or
> save your work and no engine can register, whatever the plan. These pages describe OpenEng AI as it
> works once those services are live. The engineering apps don't depend on them.

*Figure: The Account area at the bottom of the console nav — Plan & billing shows your current status; Preferences holds the account-wide Light/Dark switch.*

## One account

Your OpenEng account is your Google account. Every surface signs in with it through
**auth.openeng.app**: the five engineering apps, the Console, the Web Console at app.openeng.app,
the billing site, and the engines, which pair with or register to your account. There is no separate
registration and nothing to link.

In the Console, **Account** (at the bottom of the nav) has:

- **Plan & billing**: your plan, what it includes, and a link to billing.openeng.app (**View plans**
  on Free, **Manage subscription** on a paid plan).
- **Planning credit**: the cloud planning credit that comes with Pro (see [below](#planning-credit)).
- **Preferences**: the Light/Dark switch. The choice is stored to your account, so it follows you to
  every device.
- **Session**: who you're signed in as, and **Sign out**.

## Engineering apps: free, forever

**Free, forever — no card, no trial, nothing to unlock.** All five apps (Terminal, Kubernetes, Data,
Git and Chat), with no plan limits; no paid tier exists. If you only use the engineering apps, nothing
else on this page applies to you. (The Git and Chat engines aren't published yet; see [Install](install.md#installers).)

## AI pricing

The AI product — the [engine](ai-getting-started.md), and everything you author
in the Console (models, agents, templates, execution flow, schedulers, cells,
MCP, configs) — **hasn't launched yet**. No Pro or Enterprise price is public:
billing.openeng.app shows every AI plan as "Launching Q4 2026", with pricing announced at launch,
and every subscribe, recharge and contact button for AI stays disabled until then. Trial terms are
announced at launch too.

The Free plan includes the Console itself: sign in, then author and publish models, agents,
templates, MCP servers, cells and configs. Running what you publish needs the `openeng` engine, and the
engine registers only with an **active Pro plan**. Until Pro launches, the engine can't be started on a
Free account. (As of September 25, 2026 the OpenEng AI services aren't live on any plan yet; see the
status note at the top of this page.) Some domains (schedulers, API keys, sandboxes,
storage points) are gated behind a higher tier that isn't purchasable yet;
their pages explain what that tier will include, and the nav shows a lock
badge on them in the meantime. The Human-in-the-Loop and Roles pages are Pro features too, and show
the same explanation in place of their content.

**Pay-as-you-go**, also launching in Q4 2026, lets a Pro or Enterprise account top up USD planning
credit in $5, $10 or $25 packs, charged in INR through Razorpay. It adds to a plan; it isn't an
alternative to one.

## What each plan includes

From the Console's plan matrix and the API's limits. The server enforces every limit, whatever the
page shows.

| Feature | Free | Pro | Enterprise |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Sign in; author and publish models, agents, templates, MCP servers, cells and configs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Run the AI engine (`openeng serve`) | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Schedulers | — | 1 | Unlimited |
| API keys | — | 1 | Unlimited |
| Sandbox registration | — | Any number of nodes | Any number of nodes |
| Active sandboxes | — | Exactly 1 | Unlimited |
| Storage points | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Human-in-the-Loop | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Behavioral roles | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Research functionality | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Device Use | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Headless machines | — | 1 | Unlimited |
| Planning credit | — | A one-time credit on activation (expires after 12 months), plus top-ups | Announced at launch |

Device Use is a Pro entitlement, but it needs an engine build with the X11 device backend, which the
published Linux x86_64 engine doesn't include yet.

Enterprise accounts can also have their own fleet sizes (active sandboxes, headless machines,
schedulers and API keys) set on the account. Counted limits apply to **enabled** items; a disabled
draft doesn't count. When you're at a limit, the Console says so, and the server refuses anything
beyond it.

### Planning credit

Pro includes a one-time planning credit when it activates, so the planner's included **Cloud
Planner** works with no API key of your own. Its requests go through `api.openeng.app` to Gemini on
Vertex AI. In the Console,
**Account → Planning credit** shows:

- **Available**, **Balance**, **Reserved** and **Expires**, plus how many plans ran and what they spent
  recently.
- **Top-up** buttons, meant to open billing.openeng.app to pay once pay-as-you-go launches; as of
  September 25, 2026 billing.openeng.app doesn't offer a top-up checkout yet.
- Your last 10 transactions, with a receipt link for each top-up.

When the credit runs out, the planner falls back to the embedded on-device model and runs continue.
On Free, the card only explains what Pro adds.

## Engines and devices

- **Engineering app engines.** Each app has its own engine, and each engine runs once per machine:
  starting it again replaces the running one. Pairing uses one-time keys. The OpenEng API mints at most
  five unused keys an hour per account, shared by all the apps (a key an engine has used no longer
  counts), and each app also counts the keys it mints in your browser ([how pairing works](architecture.md#pairing)).
- **The AI engine.** One OpenEng key runs one engine at a time; starting a second engine with the same
  key is refused, with a message such as `this key already runs an engine — stop it or generate a new key`. Machines that
  work unattended use API keys and sandbox nodes; see [API keys & sandboxes](api-keys-sandboxes.md).

## billing.openeng.app — the walkthrough

Sign in with the same Google account as everywhere else. The dashboard, payment history and cancel
flow are live; the AI subscribe and recharge buttons stay disabled until launch. Razorpay's hosted
checkout and invoices handle payment directly; the platform itself never stores card details.

### The dashboard

The dashboard (`/`) shows your plan. With nothing to pay, that's the free engineering plan, plus an
**AI** panel marked "Launching Q4 2026" whose **Subscribe** and **Recharge tokens** buttons are
disabled. If the billing service can't be reached, the page says so and your plan is unaffected.

### Payment history

**Payment history** (`/history`) lists each payment with its date, amount, status and a **View
receipt** link to Razorpay's hosted receipt, plus a summary of the next payment when one is due.
Amounts are charged in INR. With no payments, it says so.

### Cancel

These steps apply only to an account with a paid subscription on record. **Cancel subscription** on
the dashboard asks you to confirm, then stops the subscription from renewing. Your plan stays active
until the end of the current billing period, then the account moves to Free. Nothing you authored is
deleted. The full policy is on the
[refund & cancellation page](https://billing.openeng.app/refunds).

### After a failed payment

When a charge fails, the subscription shows **Payment problem — retrying** while Razorpay retries,
then **Halted — payment failed** if the retries run out. The dashboard shows a "A payment failed"
banner with **Update payment method**, which opens Razorpay's checkout (or **Open on Razorpay
instead**). You can also switch cards at any time from the **Payment method** card.

### Public pages

Pricing (`/pricing`), terms, privacy, the refund & cancellation policy (`/refunds`) and contact
(`/contact`) are public on billing.openeng.app. When a paid plan goes live, charges are processed in
Indian rupees (INR) by Razorpay.

## Plan state in the Console

The Console reads your plan when you sign in and gates pages to match. A gated page stays in the nav
with a lock badge and opens a page that explains the feature, which plan unlocks it, and a
**View plans** link. If the Console can't confirm your plan (a network or sign-in hiccup), it shows the
Free view with "Plan unverified — we couldn’t confirm your plan, so this shows the Free view" and a
**Refresh** button, so a paying user is never stuck.

## Troubleshooting

**I'm only using an engineering app and hit a locked page or a payment prompt.** That's not
expected — the engineering apps have no paid tier to gate behind. If this happens in Terminal,
Kubernetes, Data, Git or Chat, please [report it](https://feedback.openeng.app).

**"Plan unverified" on a locked page or the Account page.** The plan couldn't
be confirmed (a transient network or sign-in hiccup), so the Console shows
the most restrictive view defensively. Press **Refresh** next to the notice.

**I want to subscribe to AI and can't.** Expected — AI hasn't launched, and
there's no price to pay yet. Watch
[openeng.app/pricing](https://openeng.app/pricing) or this page for the
Q4 2026 announcement.

**The AI engine says `an active Pro plan is required to run an engine`.** The engine registers only
with an active Pro plan, and Pro launches in Q4 2026. The Free plan covers the Console, and authoring
and publishing in it.

**The Console can't load or save anything, or the engine can't register.** As of September 25, 2026
the OpenEng AI services behind the Console and the engine aren't live yet, whatever the plan (see the
status note at the top of this page).

**A payment failed and the subscription says Halted.** Razorpay's retries ran out. Use **Update
payment method** on the dashboard; the subscription resumes after a successful charge.

**I need a receipt.** Open **Payment history** on billing.openeng.app and use **View receipt** on the
payment.