# Usage and payments

Everything about what your organization uses and pays lives under **Usage & Billing** in the avatar menu. This page walks through each screen: the overview and estimate, usage by service, statements, payment method, credit and commitment.

## Who can see and change billing

- Every member can read usage, statements and the saved cards. The default Viewer, Member and Admin roles all include the billing read permissions.
- Adding or removing a card, changing billing details, buying credit and committing to a volume are for Owners and Admins, or anyone given the matching permission (**Payment Methods → Write**, **Billing Profile → Write**, **Credit → Write**, **Commitment → Write**) through a custom role. The ready-made **Billing Admin** role holds all of them. See [Roles and permissions](https://docs-dev.evohub.io/roles-and-permissions.md).

## Overview

**Overview** answers "what will this month cost?":

- **Estimated bill this month**: what you are likely to pay for the month, after your free allowance and credit, estimated from the last 7 days.
- **Charged so far**: what has actually been charged, the EHU used this period, and your rate.
- **Billing cycle**: the day of the month you are on and when usage resets.
- **Daily usage**: a chart of EHU per day.
- **Free allowance**: how much of this month's free EHU is left. Marked **Running low** and **Used up** as it runs out.
- **Credit**: your prepaid balance, if any.
- **Commitment**: your committed monthly volume and how much of it you have used, if you have a commitment.

> [!WARNING]
> Without a card or credit, alert notifications stop once the month's free allowance is used up. Alerts keep being received and recorded, so nothing is lost, but nobody is paged. The Overview says so in red when it happens, and adding a card or buying credit resumes notifications. Add a card before you need it.

## Usage

**Usage** shows everything your organization used this period, broken down by service and by metric, with:

- **How your charge is worked out (so far)**: usage, minus the free allowance, minus credit, priced at your rate.
- **List total (before free allowance)**: what the usage would cost at list price. This is not your bill.
- **Daily usage**: the same daily chart as the Overview.

## Statements

You get one statement per month. Each month goes through these stages:

| Status | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **current period** | The month in progress. Figures update as usage comes in. |
| **estimate — not charged** | The month has ended and the statement is being completed. Nothing has been charged yet. |
| **finalized — not yet charged** | The statement is frozen and will be charged shortly. |

The statement is finalized a few days after the month ends, so that late usage is included, and only a finalized statement is ever charged. Once charged, the status shows what happened to the money instead:

| Status | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **No charge** | The month stayed inside the free allowance or was covered by credit. |
| **Carried over** | The amount was too small to charge to a card (under $0.50). It is added to the next month's charge, not written off. |
| **No card on file** | There was something to pay but no card to charge. |
| **Awaiting payment** | An invoice was raised and payment is pending. |
| **Paid** | The invoice was paid. |
| **Payment failed** | The card was declined. |

Select a month to see **How this was worked out**: metered usage, the free allowance, what was paid from credit, the committed volume and anything above it. The **Documents** column links to the invoice and receipt once they exist.

The **Payments** list below the statements shows every charge, whether a monthly usage bill, a credit bundle or the cost of ending a commitment early, with its invoice and receipt.

## Payment method

**Payment Method** has two parts.

### Billing details

What appears on your invoices: **Billing as** (**A business** or **An individual**), the legal name, the **Invoice email** (where invoices, receipts and billing notices are sent), the address, and an optional **Business tax number**. Select **Save billing details**. Fill these in before your first invoice; tax is worked out from this address.

### Saved cards

:::steps
### Add a card
Select **Add a card** (or **Add another card**). The card form is provided by Stripe, EvoHub's payment processor, and card numbers never reach EvoHub's servers.

### Save it
Enter the card details and select **Save card**. It can take a moment for the card to appear while Stripe confirms it.

### Choose the default
The default card is the one monthly bills are charged to. Select **Make default** on another card to change it, or **Remove** to delete one.
:::

Card is the only payment method offered.

## Credit

**Credit** lets you buy EHU up front at the prepaid rate, the lowest rate EvoHub offers ($0.009 per EHU).

- Choose a bundle size (1,000, 5,000, 25,000 or 100,000 EHU) or enter your own amount. The minimum is 1,000 EHU.
- You need a saved card first. Pay with a saved card or a different one, then confirm the payment.
- Credit is added once the payment goes through, and an invoice and receipt appear under **Payments**.
- Purchased bundles never expire, and they are non-refundable.
- Your balance is spent each month after the free allowance and before your card is charged.

The **Where your credit came from** section separates **Purchased bundles** from credit **Granted by EvoHub**. Granted credit can carry an expiry date, shown next to it. **History** lists every purchase, grant and monthly use of credit.

## Commitment

**Commitment** gives you a lower rate ($0.012 per EHU, 20% below on-demand) in exchange for committing to a monthly volume for a 12-month term.

- Enter the **EHU per month** you commit to, read and accept the commitment agreement, and confirm. The term starts at the beginning of the next month.
- You are billed for the full committed volume every month, whether or not you use it. Unused volume does not carry over.
- Usage above the commitment is billed at the on-demand rate.
- You can increase your commitment at any time; this starts a fresh term at the higher volume. You cannot lower it during the term.
- A commitment does not renew on its own. EvoHub emails you 30 days before the term ends, and afterwards you return to on-demand pricing.
- **End this commitment early** recharges the months already served at the on-demand rate and invoices the difference. The exact amount is shown before you confirm.

## Related

- [How billing works](https://docs-dev.evohub.io/how-billing-works.md)
- [Roles and permissions](https://docs-dev.evohub.io/roles-and-permissions.md)
- [Privacy and your data](https://docs-dev.evohub.io/privacy-and-data.md)