# Credits & limits

Your balance, session rates and usage are shown in credits. **100 credits = $1 USD.** Purchases and Stripe receipts show their dollar amount.

## Rates and credit packs

| Item | Rate |
| --- | --- |
| Linux Small (default, all versions) | 10 credits/hour |
| Linux Standard, including Parrot, SIFT and REMnux desktops | 40 credits/hour |
| Windows Server and FLARE-VM, including license | 15 credits/hour |
| VM outbound data | 20 credits/GiB |
| Card-verified trial | 200 credits, once per account/card |

Purchase 1,000 credits for $10, 2,500 for $25, 5,000 for $50, or 10,000 for $100 on [Credits](/billing/). There is no fixed monthly fee or automatic recharge. Credits do not expire. They can only be used for Security.Run service usage.

Compute is billed per second with a 60-second minimum, starting at VM allocation. Failed starts are free. Queue time and cleanup after the session deadline are not charged. Outbound data includes terminal, desktop and file traffic; inbound uploads are not charged as outbound data, though protocol traffic can still flow in both directions.

## Pay as you go

Launching a VM does not deduct or hold credits. A launch needs enough remaining credits for the published 60-second compute minimum. You do not need the entire selected lifetime or transfer limit in your balance.

Once a system is ready, compute usage is deducted from its allocation time, including the 60-second minimum. Your balance updates while it runs. Workers update usage about every 15 seconds, and opening the session or Credits page also refreshes compute usage. Outbound data arrives from AWS in delayed measurements, so those deductions can appear later, including after termination.

| Example | Compute usage | Outbound usage | Credits used |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Ubuntu Small for 30 minutes, no measured outbound data | 5 credits | 0 credits | 5 credits |
| Windows for 1 hour, 1 GiB sent | 15 credits | 20 credits | 35 credits |
| Ubuntu Small for 1 hour, 0.5 GiB sent | 10 credits | 10 credits | 20 credits |

The selected lifetime and transfer budget are upper limits. The default transfer limit is 50 credits; choose an integer from 10 to 500 through the API/SDK. Selecting 50 does not spend 50: only measured outbound usage counts. Multiple running VMs draw from the same remaining balance.

Sessions stop when credits run out. Usage beyond available credits during shutdown is absorbed by Security.Run; your saved card is not automatically charged. If you destroy a VM early, compute stops at confirmed termination. Final outbound measurements can take several minutes to arrive. Monthly Stripe statements reconcile small rounding differences.

## Reading your balance

| Field | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| `available_credits` | Remaining credits after recorded usage. |
| `paid_credits` | Remaining credits from purchases. |
| `trial_credits` | Remaining promotional credits. |
| `spent_credits` | Cumulative recorded usage, reconciled to finalized Stripe statements. |
| `funded` | Whether the account has purchased credits. |
| `blocked` | Whether billing admission is paused pending review. |

A Stripe statement balance can be higher than your available balance because current usage has not yet been invoiced. Your available balance already deducts that recorded usage. Promotional credits are used before paid credits.

## Trial and paid-account limits

| Limit | Trial | Account with purchased credits |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Concurrent VMs | 1 | 5 |
| Maximum lifetime per session | 30 minutes | 4 hours |
| Minimum lifetime | 5 minutes | 5 minutes |
| Default lifetime | 30 minutes | 30 minutes |

Successful card verification is required for the trial; an email address alone does not grant credits. Reusing the same card across accounts does not grant additional trials. Global trial capacity limits may temporarily prevent a new trial even when the account is eligible.

A transfer budget is a billing cap, not a guarantee that all of it can be used. The service requests shutdown near the budget limit, and can also stop a session when usage cannot be measured safely. Download important work before approaching the session deadline or transfer budget.

## Receipts, refunds and billing review

[Credits](/billing/) shows recent credit activity and links to receipts and finalized usage statements. Stripe processes credit-pack purchases and produces financial records. The saved trial card is not automatically charged for continued usage.

Refunds, disputes, payment problems, or an unexplained usage discrepancy can pause the account and stop active sessions. Contact [support@security.run](mailto:support@security.run) for review rather than creating another account to bypass the hold.