--- title: "Billing" url: https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/faq/billing/ description: "This section covers common questions about Catalyst pricing and your bill, the free tier and credits, and payments and subscriptions." last_updated: 2026-11-11T02:16:51Z service: All Services type: faq --- # Billing and Pricing ### How is the pricing calculated in Catalyst? Catalyst bills you in two different ways based on the pricing model you opt for. * **Pay-as-you-go:** This model requires you to pay only for the resources you consume, post the consumption. This is a postpaid model in which the price is calculated for each billable resource usage, and the bill is generated on a monthly basis. * **Subscription:** This requires you to pay a fixed subscription fee in advance on a monthly basis, and purchase Catalyst resources worth that amount as determined by the pricing. This is a prepaid model in which a fixed set of resources are allocated for each subscription amount tier. You can refer to the [Pricing Calculations help section](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/pricing-calculations/) for more details. ### How do I estimate what a small Catalyst app will cost each month? Estimate it from the usage you expect for each component, because Catalyst bills each operation, such as a Data Store insert, a function's execution time or an email sent, at its own unit price. 1. List the components your app will use and how much of each it needs in a month, for example Data Store reads and writes, function executions with their memory size, and storage. 2. Look up each operation's unit price on the Catalyst Pricing page, and its free allowance on the Free Tier page. 3. On the pay-as-you-go model, subtract the free tier allowance, which is shared across your projects. Once your usage exceeds the free tier for any resource, each project with billable activity is billed at least USD 5 for the month. 4. On a subscription plan, choose a plan whose amount, plus the extra USD 5 that Catalyst adds in each billing cycle, covers your estimate. 5. When your app has run for a month, compare your estimate with **Forecast** in **Settings** → **Billing** → **Overview**. Note: Catalyst Serverless Functions are priced per second of execution by memory size, and AppSail per minute of instance running time by memory size. Refer to the [Pricing Calculations help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/pricing-calculations/) and the [Pay-As-You-Go Pricing Model help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/pay-as-you-go-model/) for details. ### Why is each of my Catalyst projects billed the USD 5 minimum, even projects I don't use? On the Catalyst pay-as-you-go model, once your usage exceeds the free tier allowance for any resource, Catalyst bills a minimum of USD 5 for every project in which at least one billable action has occurred, even if that project's own usage was lower. Only completely empty projects, where no resources have been created or used, are exempt. The minimum is part of each monthly bill. For accounts billed in another currency, it is USD 5 converted into the local currency. The free tier is shared across your projects, but the minimum applies to each project. For example, three projects with usage worth USD 6, USD 3 and USD 2 are billed USD 6, USD 5 and USD 5, a total of USD 16, before the free tier allowance left is subtracted. 1. Go to **Settings** → **Billing** → **Breakdown** → **Project Usage Stats** to see which projects are billed. 2. Delete the projects you no longer need: open the project, go to **Settings** → **General** under Project Settings, click the ellipsis icon, click **Delete Project**, type DELETE and click **Confirm**. This permanently deletes the project and its resources. 3. Keep experiments in as few projects as possible. Refer to the [Pay-As-You-Go Pricing Model help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/pay-as-you-go-model/) for more information. ### Is my usage in the Catalyst Development environment billed, or only usage in Production? Under the current pay-as-you-go and subscription models, usage in both the Development and the Production environment counts toward your free tier allowance, your plan amount and your bill. The Development environment is free only within the shared free tier: once you go past it, Development usage is billed like Production usage, and a project that exists only in Development can carry the pay-as-you-go minimum. Catalyst's deprecated pricing system, which applied until 1 April 2024, billed only the Production environment. To keep Development costs down: 1. Go to **Settings** → **Billing** → **Breakdown** → **Project Usage Stats** to see which projects use the most. 2. Stop test workloads you no longer need, such as scripts or scheduled jobs that keep calling your functions or Data Store. 3. Delete projects you don't use: open the project, go to **Settings** → **General** under Project Settings, click the ellipsis icon, click **Delete Project**, type DELETE and click **Confirm**. Refer to the [Pay-As-You-Go Pricing Model help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/pay-as-you-go-model/) and the [Deprecated Pricing System help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/old-pricing-model/) for details. ### How do I find out which project or component is driving my Catalyst bill? You can see the usage and cost of each project and each component in the Billing settings of the Catalyst console. 1. Go to **Settings** → **Billing** → **Breakdown**. 2. Select **Project Usage Stats** and a time period to see the usage and cost of each project. Click a project name to open its detailed breakdown. 3. Switch to **Component Usage Stats** to see each service and component across all projects, with the calls made, the unit price, the total count and the gross amount. 4. Go to **Settings** → **Billing** → **Report** to chart usage by project and service. Choose a **Group By** option, select **Daywise** or **Monthwise** under **Time Period**, then click **Apply Filter**. 5. In **Settings** → **Billing** → **Overview**, compare **Current Usage**, **Last Billing's Usage**, **Forecast** and the **Cost Trends** graph. The Breakdown shows the gross amount, which includes usage covered by the free tier or your plan benefit, so it can be higher than the amount you owe. If your card shows a charge you can't match, open **Manage Billing** and click **View Subscriptions** to check your other Zoho subscriptions. Refer to the [Billing Settings help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/billing-settings/) for more information. ### Can I see Catalyst usage per function or per Data Store table, or get my billing and usage data through an API? No. The Billing settings of the Catalyst console report usage and cost per project and per component, not per individual function or Catalyst CloudScale Data Store table, and Catalyst has no API that returns billing or usage data. To get the most detail the console offers: 1. In **Settings** → **Billing** → **Breakdown**, select **Project Usage Stats** and click a project to see each component's usage in that project. 2. In **Settings** → **Billing** → **Report**, filter by **Projects** and services, and select **Daywise** or **Monthwise** to see usage over time. If you need counts per function or per table, record them in your own application, for example by logging each call with the function or table name, and add them up yourself. To be alerted before costs rise, create a budget with email alert rules in **Settings** → **Billing** → **Budgets**. Refer to the [Billing Settings help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/billing-settings/) for more information. # Credits and Free Tier ### Is there a free tier or free usage allowance in Catalyst? Yes. Catalyst enables you to select between two different pricing models: Pay-as-you-go or Subscription. You can avail a free tier allowance in the pay-as-you-go model, or a plan benefit in the subscription pricing model. Both these benefits provide you with resources for free of cost until you exceed the hard limits imposed for the specific resources, or for the overall amount consumption, depending on the model. Refer to the [Billing help documentation](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/introduction/) for details. ### Where can I see my Catalyst credits, and how are they used to pay my bill? You can see the credits available on your Catalyst account in the **Credits Info** section of Manage Billing. Catalyst uses credits, such as the one-time USD 250 credit, to pay for your usage once your pay-as-you-go free tier allowance or your subscription plan benefit is used up, so you don't need to change your payment method to use them. When credits cover a bill or a subscription renewal, no payment is due for it. 1. In the Catalyst console, go to **Settings** → **Billing** → **Manage Billing**. Zoho Store opens in a new tab. 2. Open the drop-down list at the top-right of the **Payments** page, then go to **Billing Details** → **Credits Info**. 3. To see your payments and download invoices, click the **Payment History** link in the **Last Transaction Date** column. These credits are not the Credits pricing unit of Catalyst's deprecated pricing system, which ended on 1 April 2024. Bills and budgets are now calculated in amounts. Note: Credits are valid for a limited period, and unused credit expires at the end of it. Refer to the [Manage Billing help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/manage-billing/) for more information. ### I have Catalyst credits, but I still got a bill or a payment-failed email. Why weren't my credits used? Catalyst pays a bill from credits only when the credits belong to the Catalyst account being billed and that account's payment setup lets them be applied. The usual causes are: 1. The credits are on a different Catalyst account. Credits stay with the account that claimed them and can't be shared with or merged into another Catalyst account, so keep your projects in the account that holds the credits. 2. They aren't Catalyst credits. Promotional credits from another Zoho product can't pay Catalyst bills. Money in your Zoho Subscription Balance pays Catalyst bills only if you set it as your payment method. 3. The subscription is on an offline, invoice-based payment mode, where credits aren't applied automatically. Catalyst support can switch it. 4. The credits have expired. Check **Credits Info** in **Settings** → **Billing** → **Manage Billing** while signed in with the account that received the bill. If credits show there and a bill was still raised, contact Catalyst support from the Super Admin's email address with the invoice number and your account's data center. Refer to the [Manage Billing help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/manage-billing/) for more information. ### Can my unused Catalyst credits be extended, or reinstated after they expire? No. One-time Catalyst credits, such as the USD 250 credit, are valid for a limited period, and unused credit expires at the end of it. Expired credits can't be extended or reinstated. After they expire, your usage is billed under the pricing model you selected, and on pay-as-you-go the monthly free tier still applies. To get the most from the credit: 1. Claim it when you are ready to build rather than while you are still evaluating. You can claim it at any time from **Get $250 Credits** in the console. 2. Check the balance in **Settings** → **Billing** → **Manage Billing** → **Credits Info**. 3. Watch your usage in **Settings** → **Billing** → **Overview**. Note: The credit is a one-time benefit and is not refreshed monthly like the free tier. Refer to the [Avail 250$ Credits help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/avail-250-credit/) for more information. # Payments and Subscriptions ### How do I switch my Catalyst account from a subscription plan to pay-as-you-go, and what changes when I switch? You change your Catalyst pricing model in Zoho Store. Go to **Settings** → **Billing** → **Manage Billing**, open your Catalyst subscription, click **Change Plan** and select **Pay-As-You-Go** or another plan. The pricing model applies to all your Catalyst projects, your projects keep running while you switch, and you can move back to a subscription plan later in the same way. On pay-as-you-go, you pay after each month for the resources you used, and the monthly free tier applies. Once you exceed the free tier for any resource, every project with billable activity is billed at least USD 5 for the month, so delete the projects you no longer need before you switch. On a subscription plan, you prepay a fixed monthly amount, Catalyst adds USD 5 of usage in each billing cycle, and the account is suspended if usage passes that total before you upgrade. Catalyst is priced by usage, not by the number of developers who work in the account. Note: Only the admins of a Catalyst account, including the Super Admin, can open Manage Billing. Refer to the [Pay-As-You-Go Pricing Model help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/pay-as-you-go-model/) and the [Subscription Pricing Model help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/subscription-model/) for details. ### Why was my Catalyst account suspended when my usage went past my subscription plan amount, and how do I resume? On the Catalyst subscription model, Catalyst temporarily suspends your account activities when your usage in a billing cycle exceeds your plan amount plus the extra USD 5 that Catalyst adds. While the account is suspended, you can't work with any project in any organization or use any Catalyst resource until you upgrade your plan. 1. Go to **Settings** → **Billing** → **Overview**. The **Current Usage** tile shows the amount left on your plan, and **Last Billing's Usage** and the **Cost Trends** graph show how much you use in a month. 2. Go to **Settings** → **Billing** → **Manage Billing** and upgrade in Zoho Store to a higher plan that covers your usage, for example from Basic to Standard. 3. Reload the console and check that your projects work again. Catalyst creates budgets for you when you subscribe and sends email alerts when your usage reaches 50%, 75%, 90% and 100% of your plan amount, so you can upgrade before the account is suspended. Refer to the [Subscription Pricing Model help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/billing/subscription-model/) for more information.