---
title: "Why is each of my Catalyst projects billed the USD 5 minimum, even projects I don't use?"
url: https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/faq/billing/minimum-charge-per-project/
description: "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 …"
last_updated: 2026-11-13T05:00:22Z
service: All Services
type: faq
---

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.