zipbox
zipbox.ai · Compute · 1 record · JSON
zipbox Compute
caveatcardcardDvolume-quota
| Free tier | 'Every new account can get $25 in credit with a one-time $5 top-up. A positive balance is what boots a machine. Top up by card; the card is saved for auto top-up.' unit none; metered on none; A deposit match, not a grant: USD 5 must be paid by card first. 'Credits are prepaid and non-refundable.' |
|---|---|
| Price | none stated |
| Per-object cap | Four sizes: 'Tiny 1 vCPU · 2 GB RAM · 20 GB disk $0.0068 $5', 'Small 2 vCPU · 4 GB · 80 GB $0.0137 $10', 'Medium 4 vCPU · 8 GB · 160 GB $0.0274 $20', 'Large 6 vCPU · 16 GB · 320 GB $0.0548 $40'. |
| Retention | 'Paused boxes cost $0.' No deletion timer for a paused box is stated. |
| Egress | No egress charge or allowance is stated on the pricing page. |
| Identity | card A card is required for the USD 5 top-up before any credit lands, and 'the card is saved for auto top-up'. No hold amount is stated; the charge is a real USD 5, not an authorisation. |
| Limits |
The balance also pays for model and API calls made through platform keys, so compute and inference compete for the same USD 25. |
| Binding | volume-quota The prepaid balance is the only limit: USD 25 at USD 0.0274 an hour is 912 hours, and nothing else in the published terms stops a box running. |
| Interface | rest, cli web console and API; the platform also bills model and API calls through the same balance |
| Tooling | web dashboard; per-box itemised model and API spend |
| Composes with | a cheap 4 vCPU box whose balance also pays for model calls, so an agent and its inference share one wallet |
| Reliability | 'A positive balance is what boots a machine', so a zero balance stops the box rather than billing overage. |
| Notes | USD 25 at Medium's USD 0.0274 is 912 hours, so the match buys 1.25 months of a 4 vCPU / 8 GB / 160 GB machine for USD 5 out of pocket, which is the lowest cash cost for a 4 vCPU month anywhere. It is card-gated at signup and the balance is shared with inference, so it is not a free tier. |
| Evidence rung | documented Sizes, rates, the top-up requirement and the non-refundable term are on the pricing page read today. Not established: whether the USD 25 is granted once per account or once per person, and whether a paused box is retained indefinitely. |
| Checked | 2026-10-25 (live); stale on 2026-11-24 |
| Parsed numbers |
|
Evidence (3)
| date | source | what it proved |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-22 | zipbox.ai/pricing | Tiny USD 0.0068 (1 vCPU/2 GB/20 GB), Small USD 0.0137 (2/4/80), Medium USD 0.0274 (4/8/160), Large USD 0.0548 (6/16/320) |
| 2026-10-22 | zipbox.ai/pricing | USD 25 in credit with a one-time USD 5 top-up; paused boxes cost USD 0; card saved for auto top-up |
| 2026-10-24 | zipbox.ai/pricing | quoted: 'Every new account can get $25 in credit with a one-time $5 top-up. A positive balance is what boots a machine. Top up by card; the card is saved for auto top-up.'; 'Medium 4 vCPU · 8 GB RAM · 160 GB disk $0.0274 $20'; 'Paused boxes cost $0.'; 'Credits are prepaid and non-refundable.' |
More fields (20)
{
"shape": {
"vcpu": 4,
"ram_gib": 8,
"disk_gib": 160,
"gpu_class": null,
"gpu_count": null
},
"billing_model": "per-second from a prepaid balance",
"granularity": {
"min_billed_s": 1,
"rounding_s": 1
},
"session_cap": {
"wall_clock_min": null,
"idle_reap_s": null,
"restart_required": false,
"note": "paused boxes cost nothing; no cap published"
},
"keep_rate": {
"value": 0.0,
"basis": "paused boxes cost USD 0, quoted",
"source": "https://zipbox.ai/pricing"
},
"persistent_storage": {
"included_gib": 80,
"price_gib_month": "included",
"durability": "survives pause",
"survives_stop": true,
"survives_destroy": null,
"max_retention": "unpublished"
},
"network_out": {
"allow_outbound": true,
"allow_inbound_listen": true,
"ports": "unstated",
"static_ip": null,
"ipv6": null,
"per_session_bytes": null
},
"free_tier_kind": "top-up-match",
"m10h_usd": 8.22,
"m24h_usd": 20.0,
"price_arithmetic": "0.0274/h x 730 = 20.00; 25 / 0.0274 = 912.4 h",
"price_note": "Small shape, USD 0.0137 per hour, billed per second while running.",
"price_basis": "10 h/day x 30 = 300 h; 24/7 x 30 = 730 h",
"burst_x": 1.0,
"term": "prepaid",
"credit_usd": 25,
"cash_to_unlock_usd": 5,
"credit_months_at_shape": 1.25,
"credit_hours_at_shape": 912.4,
"credit_expiry": "not stated; credits are non-refundable"
}