> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ariana.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Billing & Limits

> How Box billing works, what you get, and the limits that apply.

## Billing model

Box charges in **credit seconds** — one second of a box in an active state costs one credit second.

**1 dollar = 100,000 credit seconds** (\~27.8 hours of active box time per dollar.

### What counts as billable

A box accumulates credit seconds while in any of these states:

`provisioned` · `cloning` · `ready` · `idle` · `running`

**Not billed:** `archived` (stopped), `provisioning`, `archiving`, `error`

Stop a box to pause billing:

```bash theme={null}
box stop bx_f7k2q9hd
```

***

## Plans

### Base subscription — \$20/month

* **2,000,000 credit seconds included** (\~23 days of continuous uptime)
* Monthly refresh — unused seconds from your subscription do **not** carry over
* 7-day free trial included (see below)

### Extra credit pack — \$20 one-time

* **2,000,000 additional credit seconds**
* Carries over month-to-month — never expires
* Purchase as many packs as you need from the dashboard

***

## Free trial

* **7 days** from first sign-up
* Full access to box creation during the trial
* Trial limits apply (see table below)
* If the trial ends without a paid subscription, your account freezes until you complete checkout

***

## Limits

### Active box limits

| Plan  | Max simultaneous boxes |
| ----- | ---------------------- |
| Trial | 15                     |
| Paid  | 100                    |

### Creation rate limits

| Plan  | Per minute | Per day   |
| ----- | ---------- | --------- |
| Trial | 20         | 50        |
| Paid  | 20         | Unlimited |

### Box TTL

| Setting     | Value                       |
| ----------- | --------------------------- |
| Default TTL | 1 hour (3,600 seconds)      |
| Maximum TTL | 30 days (2,592,000 seconds) |

Set a custom TTL at creation:

```bash theme={null}
box new --ttl 86400   # 24 hours
```

A box auto-deletes when its TTL expires regardless of state.

***

## Check your usage

```bash theme={null}
box limits
```

This shows your current credit balance, subscription status, active box count, and the limits that apply to your account.