# How your balance works: monthly allowance, top-ups and running out

Your balance is two parts, a monthly allowance that is spent first and starts again each cycle, and a top-up that is kept until you use it. The monthly plans are not on sale yet.

*https://perpetualtechnologies.co.uk/support/how-balance-and-top-ups-work — last checked 2026-10-05*

## Steps

1. The monthly plans are not on sale yet. It is not on sale yet. Until then this describes how it is built to work.
2. Open Settings, then Intelligence, then Managed usage. "Available to spend" is the total. Under it, "Monthly allowance left" and "Top-up balance left" show the two parts.
3. The monthly allowance is spent first. A plan’s allowance is added when a billing period starts, and what you did not use does not carry over to the next month.
4. A top-up is separate. It is a one-time purchase that stays on the account until it is spent, and a new month does not reset it. Buy one with "Add to your balance"; checkout opens on Stripe in your browser and the balance updates when the payment completes.
5. Watch the warnings. The balance label steps through "Low usage", "Very low usage" and "Almost out", which flashes, and then "Usage: out". The words carry the meaning, colour is only extra.
6. When it runs out, the chat says you are out of NeuralVault managed usage for this period and points you to Settings, Managed usage, or to your own API key. A spend limit you set yourself gives a different message, so it never reads as an empty balance.

## How to tell it worked

After a payment completes and you press "Refresh balance", "Available to spend" shows the new total.

## If it does not work

**You paid but the balance did not move.**

Press "Refresh balance". The update comes from Stripe and can take a few seconds. If it still has not moved, tell us what Stripe shows and what the screen shows.

**The screen says "No usage balance on this account".**

Nothing has been added yet, or all of it has been spent. That is not a failed read. Add to your balance to start one.

**You expected unused monthly allowance to roll over.**

It does not. Only a top-up is kept from one month to the next.

**The figures in the app do not match what you expect.**

See the guide on a balance that looks wrong.

## Related guides

- [Managed usage: your balance, top-ups and spend limits](https://perpetualtechnologies.co.uk/support/managed-usage-balance-and-limits)
- [NeuralVault routing: pick from 200+ models and pay from your balance](https://perpetualtechnologies.co.uk/support/neuralvault-routing)
- [My balance looks wrong](https://perpetualtechnologies.co.uk/support/balance-looks-wrong)

## Still stuck

Bug reports belong in the app, in Settings, About. Those carry no contact details, so they
get fixed rather than answered. To get a reply, email us instead: that route targets two
business days. https://perpetualtechnologies.co.uk/contact