# How pay-as-you-go works

> What you are charged for, and what is free.

Source: https://paatya.net/docs/billing/how-billing-works

Paatya has no subscription and no monthly fee. You keep a prepaid **balance** in your academy, and what your academy uses is taken from it. An academy nobody uses this month costs nothing this month.

## What you pay for

Only three things are charged:

| Resource | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **Active learners** | Each student who is active in a calendar month is charged once for that month. See [Who counts as an active learner](#who-counts-as-an-active-learner). |
| **Video storage** | The lesson videos you keep in your academy, charged for each GB stored per month. |
| **Video delivery** | The video your students watch, charged for each GB streamed. |

## Who counts as an active learner

Signing in alone doesn't make a student active. A student counts as an active learner in a month, and is charged once for that month, when they:

- watch a course video
- take at least one quiz
- take at least one online test
- download any file from a course

A student who only signs in and looks around costs nothing. Admins are never charged.

Current rates are on the [pricing page](https://paatya.net/pricing).

One optional extra is charged the same way. An academy on its own domain can leave "Powered by paatya.net" off its website for ₹50 a month. That fee is charged on the 1st of each month while the option is on. See [Header & footer](https://paatya.net/docs/academy/header-and-footer).

Your balance is not used for course sales. If you [sell courses online](https://paatya.net/docs/course-payments/set-up-payouts), students' payments go to your bank account through Razorpay. The one exception is a refund: Razorpay keeps its own charges on a refunded payment, and whatever your share of the sale can't cover is taken from your balance as an adjustment. See [Refund a student](https://paatya.net/docs/course-payments/refunds).

## What is free

- Courses, and as many of them as you like.
- Registered students who aren't active that month.
- Admins. You can invite as many as you need, and they are never charged.
- Email notifications to your students.
- Documents, quizzes, certificates and your public page.

There is no free allowance, so the rates apply from the first learner and the first gigabyte.

## How the balance works

1. You [add balance](https://paatya.net/docs/billing/add-balance). You pay through Razorpay and get an invoice. Where Paatya charges GST, it is added on top and the invoice is a GST tax invoice.
2. As your academy is used, charges are taken from the balance throughout the day.
3. You can see what you've used, and what's left, under **Usage & Billing**.
4. Before the balance runs out, you get warning emails, so you can top up in time.

The smallest recharge is **₹1,000**. Your **first recharge** earns bonus credit. The exact bonus, and the most it can be, is shown on the **Recharge** page before you pay.

## Welcome credit

A new academy starts with **₹100 of free welcome credit**, so you can create courses, add students and enroll them before you recharge. It shows under **Usage & Billing → Transactions** as **Welcome credit**.

Welcome credit and [referral rewards](https://paatya.net/docs/billing/refer-and-earn) are promotional credit:

- they are used before the credit you paid for
- they can't be refunded
- they don't use up your first-recharge bonus, which you still get on your first payment

## Before your academy has balance

Once the welcome credit is used up, and until you first recharge, there is no [grace period](https://paatya.net/docs/billing/when-balance-runs-out): students can't watch videos or start learning, and you can't add courses, students or enrollments. You can still:

- sign in and look around every screen
- set your logo, colours and fonts
- write your public landing page
- invite other admins

Creating courses, adding students and enrolling them open up again as soon as you [add balance](https://paatya.net/docs/billing/add-balance).

## The Usage & Billing pages

Click **Usage & Billing** in the left menu. The main tabs are:

| Tab | What it's for |
| --- | --- |
| **Overview** | Your balance, this month's spend by resource, and credits added this month. |
| **Usage** | Spend by day and by resource, for any period. |
| **Transactions** | Every credit and charge on your balance. |
| **Statements** | One statement for each month. |
| **Forecast** | How long your balance will last at your recent rate of use. |
| **Recharge** | Add balance. |
| **Spending limits** | Daily and monthly caps. |
| **Notifications** | Who gets billing emails, and when. |
| **Payments & invoices** | Your payments, tax invoices and credit notes. |
| **Billing details** | The name, GSTIN and address printed on your invoices. |

![The Usage & Billing overview with the balance cards](https://paatya.net/docs/img/billing-how-billing-works-1.png)

Your balance is also shown at the top of every admin screen. Click it to open **Usage & Billing**.

## Related

- [Add balance](https://paatya.net/docs/billing/add-balance)
- [Refer & earn](https://paatya.net/docs/billing/refer-and-earn)
- [When your balance runs out](https://paatya.net/docs/billing/when-balance-runs-out)
- [Limits and alerts](https://paatya.net/docs/billing/limits-and-alerts)