Pricing: pay per delivery, priced by the slot

Beta status: payments are not enabled yet

Payments are not switched on during the beta. GET /v1/pricing returns "payments_enabled": false, and POST /v1/billing/topup returns HTTP 503 with the error payments_not_enabled.

The sandbox works now. You can sign up, connect channels, quote slots and create posts end to end. Sandbox posts are fully validated, never published and never charged. Because the first top-up is what makes an account live, live publishing opens when payments are enabled.

How a delivery is priced

A delivery is one post sent to one channel. One post scheduled to a Facebook Page and an Instagram account is 2 deliveries.

price per delivery = $0.02 × price multiplier
total              = price per delivery × deliveries

The multiplier comes from the 15-minute slot containing your scheduled_at. The price is locked when POST /v1/posts accepts the post. Responses carry price_usd rounded to four decimals (e.g. 0.016) and, on quotes and post lists, price_micros with the exact amount (USD × 1,000,000).

Price multipliers

Slot load is the number of deliveries already booked in a 15-minute slot, including yours, divided by the slot capacity. The rule:

load < 20% = 0.8x; < 60% = 1x; then rises linearly to 3x at 100%, rounded up to 0.25

The multiplier never exceeds 3x, so the most a delivery can cost is $0.06.

Emergency pledge

We never raise prices during a declared emergency or disaster. While a government emergency declaration affects our service, every multiplier above 1x is capped at 1x; off-peak discounts still apply.

Worked pricing example

An agent wants to post one announcement to a brand's Facebook Page and Instagram account at 14:00 UTC on 3 November 2026. That is 2 deliveries. The quote comes back at 1.25x, and because the multiplier is above 1, it lists cheaper slots within an hour:

Moving the post 30 minutes, to 14:30, cuts the exact price from $0.050 to $0.032, 36% less. At volume the spread matters: 1,000 deliveries cost $16 if all are off-peak, $20 at 1x and $60 if every one lands at the 3x cap.

Get a quote first

GET /v1/quote is public and needs no key. It also returns the multiplier in the X-Price-Multiplier response header.

curl "https://api.surgemesh.com/v1/quote?scheduled_at=2026-11-03T14:00:00Z&deliveries=2"

{
  "slot": "2026-11-03T14:00:00.000Z",
  "deliveries": 2,
  "multiplier": 1.25,
  "price_micros": 50000,
  "price_usd": 0.05,
  "base_usd_per_delivery": 0.02,
  "cheaper_slots": [
    { "slot": "2026-11-03T14:30:00.000Z", "multiplier": 0.8, "price_usd": 0.032 },
    { "slot": "2026-11-03T13:45:00.000Z", "multiplier": 1, "price_usd": 0.04 }
  ]
}

cheaper_slots lists up to 3 slots within one hour either side and is populated only when the multiplier is above 1. The price is locked when POST /v1/posts accepts the post. Add max_price_usd to the post to have it rejected with 409 price_above_max instead of booked above your ceiling.

Credit packs

Credit is prepaid in USDC on Base via the x402 protocol (HTTP 402 Payment Required), which an agent with a wallet can complete on its own. Payments settle into Stripe, which holds, screens and converts them; Surgemesh never publishes a receive address of its own. Card payments are coming soon. Credits are for business use, are promotional non-cash value, cannot be transferred or cashed out, and work only on Surgemesh. Payments are not enabled yet during the beta.

Credits expire 5 years after purchase. Top up with POST /v1/billing/topup and {"pack": "pack_20"}; the x402 flow is in the docs.

Sandbox, going live and free deliveries

• Sandbox (free): every new account starts here. Posts are validated but never published and never charged, up to 100 posts per month.
• Going live: your first credit top-up, of any pack, makes the account live. This becomes possible when payments are enabled.
• 50 free deliveries every month on live accounts. They are used first; prepaid credit is charged only after they run out.

When credit runs out

If a post needs more credit than the account has, POST /v1/posts returns HTTP 402 with the error insufficient_credit and the post is not created. When payments are enabled, the 402 body is an x402 offer for pack_5 whose resource is the top-up endpoint. While payments are disabled, it is a problem+json error that includes a quote. After topping up, retry with the same Idempotency-Key.

What you do not pay for

• Quotes and pricing lookups.
• Sandbox posts.
• Reads such as listing posts, brands, channels or usage.
• Failed deliveries: they are refunded to credit automatically.
• Cancelled deliveries that were still queued: DELETE /v1/posts/{id} returns the refund as refunded_usd.
• Credit expiry: credits expire 5 years after purchase.

How per-delivery pricing compares to flat plans

Flat monthly plans charge for capacity whether or not you post. Surgemesh charges only for deliveries you schedule, so spend tracks actual output. That fits agents whose volume is irregular or hard to predict.

To be direct about the trade-off: if you publish high volume into the busiest slots and cannot move them, the 3x cap applies and a flat plan elsewhere may cost less. Surgemesh is cheapest when your agent can use cheaper_slots and shift posts by 15 to 60 minutes.