Credits & billing
How your prepaid balance works, how to add credit, and how model requests, tool runs and browser runs are charged.
Lovely Router is prepaid. You add credit to your balance, every request draws it down, and requests stop when it reaches zero. There is no subscription, no monthly invoice and no automatic recharge, so you are never billed more than you added.
All amounts are in US dollars. One balance pays for everything: model requests, data tools and the browser agent, across all your keys.
Free credit#
Post about Lovely Router on X, Reddit, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Bluesky, TikTok, Douyin or Xiaohongshu and get free credit, enough to try every model and a few tool runs. Each platform pays once; its credit is on its button. First verify your email address.
- Open Overview or Billing and find Get free credit for posting about Lovely Router, then pick a platform.
- Edit the suggested post if you like, keep your link in it, and press Post on … (YouTube: put the link in your video's description).
- Paste the link to your post and press Get credit. The check takes a few seconds, at most a minute.
We check that the post:
- is public, recent (14 days; 30 for a YouTube video), and your own post (not a repost)
- includes your personal link,
https://lovelyrouter.com/?ref=..., which is how we know the post is yours - says something good about Lovely Router
- comes from a real account: on X at least 90 days old with 20 or more followers, on Bluesky 30 days and 10 followers, on YouTube a channel with 50 or more subscribers and a video of at least 45 seconds. Reddit, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Douyin and Xiaohongshu show no account age or followers, so those rely on the other checks. Links are not clickable on TikTok, Douyin and Xiaohongshu, so there you put a code phrase in the caption instead of the link:
lovelyrouter.com code YOURCODE(the card shows your exact phrase). On LinkedIn use Copy link to post.
Keep the post up. We look at it again an hour and a day after you get the credit; if it has been deleted, made private or edited without your link, we remove the credit and email you. Xiaohongshu posts are checked once, when you claim; they are not looked at again.
Each Lovely Router account, each account on a platform and each post gets the credit once per platform. It appears in your credit history as Credit for a post on …. People who sign up from your link also count as your invites.
Add credit#
Choose an amount
Open Billing. Pick $10, $25, $50, $100, $250, or type any whole-dollar amount from $5 to $5,000. Your first top-up is matched dollar for dollar, up to $5: the match arrives with the top-up as a separate line in your history.
Pay with PayPal
Click Pay with PayPal. You're taken to PayPal, where you can pay from your PayPal balance or by card.
Back to your dashboard
After payment you return to Billing and the credit is added within seconds. If you cancel at checkout, nothing is charged.
Some payment methods take longer to clear. Billing then shows Payment is processing, and your balance updates on its own once the payment clears. To add more than $5,000, make several top-ups.
How usage is charged#
| What | How it's priced | When it's charged | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model requests | Per token: input, output, cache reads and cache writes, at the model's price per million tokens | When the response finishes | Models & pricing |
| Data tool runs | A fee per run plus a fee per result, capped by max_results | Reserved when the run starts, settled when it ends | Run a tool |
| Browser agent runs | Per agent step, at the price of the mode you choose, plus time beyond one minute per step | Reserved when the run starts, settled when it ends | Modes, models & pricing |
| Token counting | Free | — | — |
Model requests that return an error are not charged. Live prices are on the model list and each tool's page in the tool catalog.
Holds on tool and browser runs#
A tool or browser run can't know its final cost when it starts, so it reserves its maximum cost from your balance: for a data tool, the run fee plus max_results results; for the browser agent, max_steps steps plus any time the run may spend waiting for you. When the run ends you pay for what it used, and the rest of the hold goes back to your balance. Failed and stopped runs pay only for the results they delivered.
While runs are active, your balance shows lower than it will be once they settle. The run's reserved_usd field shows the hold, and charge_usd the final charge once it has settled.
When your balance runs out#
When your balance is $0 or less, model requests return 402:
{"type": "error", "error": {"type": "billing_error", "message": "Insufficient balance. Top up at the dashboard."}}- A model request that starts while your balance is positive always finishes, even if it costs more than what's left. Your balance can dip slightly below $0, and your next top-up covers the difference.
- A tool or browser run needs its full hold available when it starts. If not, it returns
402with the most the run could cost. Lowermax_resultsormax_steps, or add credit. - Your keys keep working. Add credit and retry: there's nothing else to re-enable.
A key that reaches its own spend limit also returns 402, with a different message. See API keys.
Credit history#
Billing lists your last 100 credits: credit for a post on X or another platform, top-ups, redeemed codes, referral earnings and any adjustments. It also charts your daily spend for the last 30 days.
Usage charges are not listed in the credit history. Every model request and its charge is in Logs, and every tool run in Tools. See Usage & logs to reconcile the two.
Redeem a code#
If you have a voucher code, enter it under Redeem a code on Billing. Codes look like LR-7KQ2M9XW4P. Case and spaces don't matter. The credit is added to your balance immediately.
Each code can be redeemed once per account. A code may also have an expiry date or a limited number of uses.
| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
Code not found | The code doesn't exist. Check for typos. |
This code has expired | The code is past its expiry date. |
You have already redeemed this code | This account has used it before. |
This code has been fully used | Every use of the code has been claimed. |
Invite friends#
Invite friends on Billing shows your personal invite link, of the form https://lovelyrouter.com/signup?ref=.... When someone creates their account from your link, you earn 5% of every top-up they make, added to your balance as soon as their payment is credited.
The card also shows how many people you've invited and how much you've earned. Referral earnings appear in your credit history. Only top-ups count: free credit and redeemed codes don't.