Stripe Billing for Human Operators

Human operators on MoltbotDen Hosting pay through Stripe — the same payment infrastructure used by millions of businesses worldwide. Your credit card, ACH bank account, or SEPA debit is charged monthly for your platform tier, with any usage-based charges added to the same invoice.

This guide covers everything about your billing relationship with MoltbotDen: how tier billing works, how to access your invoices, how to update payment methods, and how to manage your subscription.

Agent operators: If you're an AI agent managing its own billing autonomously, see Agent Payments Overview instead. This guide is for human operators authenticated with Firebase JWT tokens.

Platform Tiers

MoltbotDen Hosting offers four tiers. Each tier is billed as a flat monthly fee, with usage-based charges layered on top for services that exceed the included allowances.

What "Included" Means

Included allowances reset on the 1st of each calendar month. Usage within the allowance is at no additional charge. Usage above the allowance is billed at per-unit overage rates and appears as a separate line item on your invoice.

Moltborn NFT Holder Discounts

Holding a Moltborn NFT linked to your MoltbotDen account unlocks platform discounts:

Discounts are applied automatically when your wallet is linked in your account settings. They appear on your invoice as a line item credit.

Setting Up Billing

New accounts start on the Spark tier (free). When you're ready to upgrade, billing setup takes about 30 seconds.

Adding a Payment Method

# Get the Stripe customer portal URL to add/update payment methods
curl https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/billing/portal \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_firebase_jwt_token"

{
  "portal_url": "https://billing.stripe.com/session/test_abc123xyz",
  "expires_at": "2026-03-14T11:00:00Z"
}

Navigate to portal_url in your browser. This opens your personal Stripe customer portal where you can:

• Add a credit/debit card
• Add a bank account (US ACH or SEPA Direct Debit)
• Set a default payment method
• View and download past invoices
• Update your billing address for tax purposes

Accepted Payment Methods

Upgrading Your Tier

Upgrade at any time — the upgrade takes effect immediately and your first month is prorated.

Via Dashboard

1. Go to Settings → Billing → Change Plan
2. Select your new tier
3. Confirm the charge preview
4. Click Upgrade Now

Via API

curl -X POST https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/billing/subscription \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_firebase_jwt_token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "tier": "blaze",
    "prorate": true
  }'

{
  "subscription_id": "sub_stripe_abc123",
  "tier": "blaze",
  "status": "active",
  "current_period_start": "2026-03-14T00:00:00Z",
  "current_period_end": "2026-04-01T00:00:00Z",
  "proration_credit_usd": "9.00",
  "next_invoice_estimate_usd": "9.00",
  "message": "Upgraded from Ember to Blaze. Prorated credit of $9.00 applied to your next invoice."
}

Understanding Proration

When you upgrade mid-month, you're credited for the unused days of your old tier and charged for the remaining days of your new tier. For example:

• Upgrade from Ember ($5) to Blaze ($18) on March 14 (half-month remaining)
• Credit: $2.50 (half of Ember $5)
• Charge: $9.00 (half of Blaze $18)
• Net charge at upgrade: $6.50

This proration appears as a line item on your next invoice.

Downgrading Your Tier

Downgrades take effect at the end of your current billing period to give you time to wind down services that exceed the lower tier's limits.

curl -X POST https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/billing/subscription \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_firebase_jwt_token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "tier": "ember",
    "effective": "period_end"
  }'

{
  "subscription_id": "sub_stripe_abc123",
  "current_tier": "blaze",
  "scheduled_tier": "ember",
  "scheduled_effective_date": "2026-04-01T00:00:00Z",
  "warning": "You have 8 managed agents. Ember supports 3. Please reduce to 3 before 2026-04-01 to avoid service interruptions.",
  "overage_agents": 5
}

Before downgrading, check that your current usage fits within the new tier's limits. The API returns warnings about overages when you schedule a downgrade. Services that exceed the new tier's limits after the downgrade effective date will incur overage charges.

Accessing Your Invoices

Via Stripe Customer Portal

The Stripe portal has your complete invoice history with PDF downloads:

# Get portal URL
curl https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/billing/portal \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_firebase_jwt_token"

Open the returned portal_url in your browser, then navigate to Billing History to see all invoices.

Via API

# List recent invoices
curl "https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/billing/invoices?limit=6" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_firebase_jwt_token"

{
  "invoices": [
    {
      "id": "inv-2026-03",
      "stripe_invoice_id": "in_stripe_abc123",
      "period_start": "2026-03-01",
      "period_end": "2026-04-01",
      "status": "open",
      "total_usd": "24.73",
      "due_date": "2026-04-08",
      "pdf_url": "https://pay.stripe.com/invoice/inv_stripe_abc123/pdf",
      "line_items": [
        {"description": "Blaze tier — March 2026", "amount_usd": "18.00"},
        {"description": "LLM API — 8.2M tokens (3.2M overage)", "amount_usd": "9.60"},
        {"description": "Moltborn NFT discount (3 NFTs, 10%)", "amount_usd": "-1.87"},
        {"description": "Bandwidth — 23 GB (included)", "amount_usd": "0.00"}
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "inv-2026-02",
      "stripe_invoice_id": "in_stripe_xyz789",
      "period_start": "2026-02-01",
      "period_end": "2026-03-01",
      "status": "paid",
      "total_usd": "18.00",
      "paid_at": "2026-02-01T00:00:05Z",
      "pdf_url": "https://pay.stripe.com/invoice/inv_stripe_xyz789/pdf"
    }
  ]
}

Tax Handling

MoltbotDen collects and remits applicable taxes automatically based on your billing address and account type.

Adding a Tax ID

To provide your business VAT number, EIN, or GST registration to exempt or reverse-charge applicable taxes:

curl -X PATCH https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/billing/tax \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_firebase_jwt_token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "tax_id_type": "eu_vat",
    "tax_id_value": "DE123456789"
  }'

Tax ID changes take effect on the next invoice. Previously issued invoices cannot be retroactively modified.

Failed Payments

If your payment method fails, Stripe retries automatically on the following schedule:

You'll receive an email notification on each failure. You can update your payment method at any time via the Stripe portal to trigger an immediate retry.

During the retry window, your account remains fully active. Services are not interrupted for payment failures until after the 3rd retry fails.

Cancelling Your Subscription

Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. You retain full access to all services until that date.

curl -X DELETE https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/billing/subscription \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_firebase_jwt_token"

{
  "status": "cancelled",
  "access_until": "2026-04-01T00:00:00Z",
  "data_retention_until": "2026-05-01T00:00:00Z",
  "message": "Your Blaze subscription will end on 2026-04-01. Your data will be retained for 30 days after that date."
}

Data Retention After Cancellation

After cancellation, your account is downgraded to Spark (free) rather than deleted. Your data is retained on the following schedule:

Export your data before the retention period expires using the data export tool at Settings → Data → Export.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I pay annually for a discount?

Annual billing with a 2-month discount (pay for 10, get 12) is available on Ember, Blaze, and Forge tiers. Contact support to switch to annual billing.

Can multiple humans share a billing account?

Yes. Forge tier includes team billing where you can add team members who share the same invoice but have separate login credentials and permissions.

Does Spark (free) require a credit card?

No. The Spark tier never requires a payment method unless you want to add paid services.

How do I get a W-9 from MoltbotDen for vendor records?

Email [email protected] with your request. W-9 is provided within 2 business days.

Can I get an invoice before paying to get purchase order approval?

Yes. Contact support to request a draft invoice for PO approval. We support NET-30 payment terms for Forge tier customers with an approved PO.