Billing
How subscriptions, credit packs, and overage billing work on the Florida Business API.
The Florida Business API offers two ways to pay — pick what fits your usage.
| Model | Best for | What you pay |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Recurring usage, production integrations | Fixed monthly fee + overage |
| Credit pack | Journalists, researchers, one-off bulk | One-time charge, no commitment |
You can mix both — credit packs work on any plan, including Free.
Subscriptions
Subscriptions are billed monthly via Stripe. Each plan grants a single unified monthly credit bucket that funds both REST and MCP — there is no separate "MCP calls" budget on Developer and above. As of REQ-006 (2026-06-28):
| Plan | Price | Credits / mo |
|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | $0 | 500 one-time |
| Developer | $19 / mo | 10,000 |
| Pro | $49 / mo | 50,000 |
| Growth | $149 / mo | 250,000 |
| Lead Feed | $299 / mo | 750,000 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
| MCP Starter (MCP-only add-on) | $5 / mo | 1,000 |
Monthly plan credits do not roll over between cycles — at the start of each cycle the new grant lands and any unused credits from the prior cycle are dropped. If you need a buffer that persists across cycles, buy a credit pack. See the Pricing page for the full feature breakdown per tier.
Overage
If you blow past the monthly grant on a paid subscription, the API does not hard-stop. Each request past the quota is recorded as an overage credit and you keep getting 200 OK responses. Overage is billed at:
- $5 per 1,000 credits ($0.005 per credit)
- Rounded up to the nearest $0.05
Examples:
| Overage credits | Billed amount |
|---|---|
| 1 | $0.05 |
| 100 | $0.50 |
| 1,000 | $5.00 |
| 1,001 | $5.05 |
| 10,000 | $50.00 |
Overage is billed daily at 01:00 UTC via a one-shot line item on your next subscription invoice — not as a separate charge. If you cancel before your next invoice, what's accrued is still billed on the final invoice.
Quota resets
The monthly quota resets at the start of each billing cycle. The Free trial is the only plan with a one-shot quota cap (after 7 days your balance drops to min(remaining, 100) once); see Rate Limits for trial mechanics.
Credit packs
Credit packs are one-time purchases. Credits never expire and work on every plan tier.
| Pack | Credits | Price | Per 1K credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 1,000 | $5 | $5.00 |
| Investigator | 5,000 | $23 | $4.60 |
| Bulk | 25,000 | $99 | $3.96 |
| Power | 100,000 | $349 | $3.49 |
Use a credit pack when you want to:
- Pull data for a one-off story without committing to a plan
- Add a buffer to a Free-tier account
- Top up a paid subscription mid-cycle without changing your plan
Pack rules (REQ-006)
Three rules pin the difference between plan credits and pack credits:
- Pack credits expire 12 months after purchase. A Power Pack bought on 2026-06-28 expires on 2027-06-28 at 00:00 UTC. Expired pack credits are dropped from your balance — they are not refunded.
- Monthly plan credits are consumed first within a billing cycle. Pack credits only start burning after the monthly bucket hits zero. Buying a pack mid-cycle is never wasted — your unused monthly credits get used first, then the pack picks up. Monthly plan credits do not roll over at the end of the billing cycle.
- Pack credits do not unlock plan-gated features. CSV exports stay locked on the Developer plan even if you add a Bulk Pack. The per-minute rate limit also follows your plan, not your pack.
Buying a credit pack
Open the Pricing page while signed in and click the pack you want. You'll be redirected to Stripe Checkout. After payment, credits land in your balance within a few seconds (when the Stripe webhook reaches our server).
If you'd rather call the API directly:
curl -X POST https://floridabusinessapi.com/api/v1/billing/checkout-credit-pack \
-H "X-API-Key: $FBAPI_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"slug":"investigator"}'The response is { "data": { "url": "https://checkout.stripe.com/c/pay/cs_..." } }. Open that URL in a browser to complete the purchase.
Valid slug values are starter, investigator, bulk, and power.
Where to find your balance
Your current credit balance and any accrued overage are exposed on the account dashboard and via the API:
curl -H "X-API-Key: $FBAPI_KEY" \
https://floridabusinessapi.com/api/v1/account/usageThe response includes monthly REST event count, your plan's quota, and the reset date. For the canonical balance number (which credits all consumption — REST, MCP, overage, grants, and packs — into a single signed integer), call:
curl -H "X-API-Key: $FBAPI_KEY" \
https://floridabusinessapi.com/api/v1/billing/balanceHow to upgrade / buy a pack
- Upgrade subscription: Pricing page → pick a tier → "Get started".
- Switch tier mid-cycle: from your account billing page. Upgrades prorate immediately; downgrades take effect at the end of the cycle.
- Buy a credit pack: Pricing page → scroll to "Credit packs" → "Buy now — no subscription".
- Cancel a subscription: from your account billing page. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current cycle; you keep your credits and any unbilled overage rolls into the final invoice.
Refunds and disputes
We don't issue partial refunds for unused subscription credits. Credit pack purchases are refundable within 14 days provided no more than 10% of the pack has been consumed. Email [email protected] with your Stripe receipt to start a refund.
If you suspect a billing error or unauthorized charge, contact us first — Stripe disputes blackout further purchases for 60 days while the dispute settles.
Tax
Florida Business API is a Florida LLC. Sales tax is not added to subscriptions or credit packs at this time; we'll notify you in advance if that changes.