What is a runtime wallet for AI workers?
A runtime wallet is a prepaid balance that hosted AI worker runs draw on to pay for model tokens, kept separate from the subscription price.
Two different things get called "the cost of an AI worker": the software, and the model tokens it burns. WorkerKit prices them separately, and the wallet is where the second one lives.
Wallet vs plan: two meters, one bill each
| The plan | The wallet | |
|---|---|---|
| Pays for | Capacity: workers, tool calls, schedules, log history | Model tokens |
| Charged | Monthly or yearly, fixed | When you choose to load it |
| Price | $0 Free, $29 Pro, $299 Team flat for up to 10 users | Provider list price, no markup |
| Runs out how | You hit a cap and the worker pauses | A run is skipped before it starts |
| WorkerKit's fee | The plan price | 5.5% on loading, $1 minimum |
Keeping them apart is what lets the plan be a predictable line item while usage stays honest. A month where your workers did little costs the plan price and almost no tokens.
What loading actually costs
Loading the wallet costs 5.5%, with a $1 minimum, charged on top. The credited balance is exactly what you loaded, so nothing is skimmed off the balance itself.
Percentages plus minimums confuse everybody, so worked out:
| You load | You are charged | Credited | Effective fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| $5 (the minimum) | $6.00 | $5.00 | 20% |
| $20 | $21.10 | $20.00 | 5.5% |
| $50 | $52.75 | $50.00 | 5.5% |
| $500 | $527.50 | $500.00 | 5.5% |
The $1 minimum dominates small loads and the percentage takes over above about $18. The practical read: **topping up in $5 increments is the expensive way to use the wallet.** If you are going to spend $50 over a quarter, load it once.
Reserve before run, and why it is the right failure
A run reserves its token budget before it starts, rather than discovering mid-flight that the balance ran out.
A balance that will not cover the reserve skips the run and says so on the receipt. Top up, and the next due run goes ahead. Nothing is deleted, no setting changes, and no worker is left half-finished.
That last part is the whole argument. Consider Support Inbox Triager, which reaches email and tasks to classify, prioritise, draft replies and file tickets. A run that died partway through would leave some tickets filed, some drafts written and no record of where it stopped. Somebody would have to reconstruct it by hand. A skipped run leaves the inbox exactly as it was, with one line explaining why.
Predictable refusal beats partial success for anything unattended.
The yearly runtime credit
Paying yearly loads the wallet on day one: $50 on Pro, $500 on Team.
The detail worth knowing is that yearly is twelve times the monthly price. The yearly incentive is the wallet load, not a lower rate. That credit:
- spends on hosted runs and BYOK platform fees alike
- is drawn before money you loaded yourself
- stays good for 12 months
- buys tokens at list price with no markup, like everything else
Drawing the credit first matters more than it sounds: it means the free money goes first and your own balance is what survives to next month.
Team wallets
Team pools one wallet across the account, with spend controls, rather than making ten people each top up their own. That matches how the plan's other limits work, since Team's 50,000 daily tool calls are pooled too.
Enterprise can bring its own provider keys or commit to capacity instead.
When the wallet is the wrong choice
Worth naming, because the wallet is not automatically the right route.
- You already have committed provider spend. If you negotiated rates with Anthropic or OpenAI, routing through a prepaid balance wastes them. Use BYOK.
- Finance wants one vendor line. BYOK keeps model spend on the provider bill you already reconcile.
- You are running high volume. Above 1M tokens a month the BYOK platform fee is 5% of list, which is worth comparing against the wallet's 5.5% load fee.
Under about 1M tokens a month the two land close together, and the honest summary is that the wallet is simpler and BYOK gives you control.
The reasonable objection
"Prepaid balances are how companies keep money they have not earned."
Fair, and the design answers it in three specific ways. The credited balance is exactly what you loaded, so the fee is visible at the door rather than buried in a rate. Tokens draw at the provider's list price to the cent, so the balance depletes at a rate you can verify against your provider's own pricing page. And every run receipt states what that run consumed, so the balance is auditable run by run rather than as one monthly number.
FAQ
Does WorkerKit mark up model tokens bought with the wallet?
No. Tokens bill at the provider's list price to the cent. WorkerKit's fees are the plan price and the 5.5% wallet top-up fee with a $1 minimum, both stated in the open. The credited balance is exactly the amount you loaded.
What happens if my wallet runs out mid-schedule?
Nothing runs half way. Each run reserves its budget before starting, so a balance that will not cover it causes that run to be skipped with the reason on the receipt. Top up and the next due run proceeds normally, with no settings changed and nothing deleted.
What is the minimum I can load?
$5, which is charged as $6 because of the $1 minimum fee and credits $5 of tokens at list price. Larger loads pay the flat 5.5%, so frequent small top-ups are the expensive way to use it.
Does the yearly runtime credit expire?
It stays good for 12 months and is drawn before money you loaded yourself, so the credit is spent first. Pro yearly loads $50 and Team yearly loads $500, both on day one.
Can a team share one wallet?
Yes. Team pools a single wallet across the account with spend controls, matching how its 50,000 daily tool calls are pooled rather than divided per seat. See /pricing.
Can I use my own provider key instead?
Yes. Adding an Anthropic, OpenAI, Google or xAI key bills those tokens straight to your provider account, with the first 1M tokens each month carrying no platform fee. See BYOK.