Usage, costs and your own plan

See what every session costs, how Alpha prices each model, and run sessions on your own ChatGPT or Claude plan.

Usage is what your sessions have cost in model tokens, priced in US dollars. Alpha records every turn and shows the total on the Usage dashboard, by day, by session and by model. To change the model a session runs, see Choose the agent and model. Admins who want every account’s spend should use the Admin dashboard.

On 30 days, four totals sit above the spend-by-day chart.

Where to see what you’ve spent

You see only your own sessions’ spend. People you share a session with never see its cost.

Where	What it shows
Session header	The session’s cost so far, at the right of the header, when the chat column is wide enough. An ≈ marks an estimate. Click it to open Usage.
/usage	Opens the dashboard from any session or the home screen. See Slash commands.
Account menu → Usage	The same dashboard.

Read the Usage dashboard

Pick a range at the top right: Today, 7 days, 30 days or All time. The dashboard opens on 30 days and remembers your choice in this browser. It refreshes every 15 seconds while it’s on screen.

Part	What it tells you
First tile	Spend and turns in the range (Spent today, Last 7 days, Last 30 days or All time).
All time	Lifetime spend and session count. In the All time range it becomes Turns.
Sessions, Agent time	Sessions active in the range, and how long the agent spent working.
Spend by day	One bar per day. Past 62 days each bar is a week, and past 400 days each bar is a month. Hover a bar for its cost and turns.
Sessions table	Sessions by spend. A pulsing dot means the agent is working there now. Click a row to open it.
Models table	Spend per model, with the price used.

Some columns appear only in a wide window. Until your first turn, the page reads “No usage yet”.

How is cost worked out?

Alpha records tokens, not dollars, for every turn, /compact and /review, and prices them when you open the dashboard. A model priced later is priced for its past turns too.

Each model’s price comes from the first source that knows it:

Order	Source	Label in the Models table
1	A price list set by whoever runs your Alpha	your price list
2	OpenRouter’s public model catalog, refreshed daily	price catalog
3	OpenAI and Anthropic list prices built into Alpha	list price

Price per 1M tokens reads “$x in · $y out”. Claude rows add a “cache write” price, because Claude charges more to write the prompt cache.

Alpha never guesses a price. A model no source knows counts as $0 and shows unpriced with a warning icon. A notice under the totals names it.

A spend marked ≈ is estimated: “billed from the session’s log before exact per-turn accounting existed.”

Who pays for the agent’s work?

By default the agent runs on your Alpha’s keys, and that is your spend. Sign in with your own ChatGPT or Claude plan and the work bills to your plan instead. This isn’t signing in to Alpha; it only decides who pays.

	Alpha’s keys (default)	Your ChatGPT plan	Your Claude plan
Sessions it covers	Codex and Claude Code	Every Codex session you own	Every Claude Code session you own
Who is billed	Your Alpha	OpenAI, through your plan	Anthropic, through your plan
Limits that apply	Your Alpha’s	Your plan’s rate limits	Your plan’s usage limits
Plan you need	None	A paid ChatGPT plan	Claude Pro or Max
How Usage shows it	Spend	A +$x sub chip, outside every total	A +$x sub chip, outside every total

Work on your plan still shows on the dashboard at its API-price value, in a notice and as a +$x sub chip on each row, but never in a total. A sign-in or sign-out applies from each session’s next message; earlier turns keep the billing they ran under. While you’re signed in to ChatGPT, a Codex model picked by a vendor/model id still runs on your Alpha’s key and counts as spend.

Run Codex sessions on your ChatGPT plan

1. Open your connected accounts

   Open the account menu and choose Sign in with ChatGPT/Claude. In the Use your own plan list, click Sign in on the ChatGPT row.

2. Get a device code

   In Run on your ChatGPT subscription, click Sign in with ChatGPT. The dialog shows a link and a code. “The code expires in 15 minutes.”

3. Approve it at OpenAI

   Open the link, sign in to ChatGPT and enter the code. The dialog then shows your email and plan.

4. Send your next message

   Each Codex session you own switches on its next message, showing “Applying your ChatGPT sign-in…” while its agent restarts. If the switch fails, it says so and keeps running on your Alpha’s key.

Enter or paste a sign-in code only for a sign-in you started yourself, in this dialog. Never use a code someone else sends you.

Once you’re signed in, the dialog offers:

Control or message	What it does
Re-check	Asks OpenAI again, so a plan you changed since signing in shows here.
”This account is on the free plan…”	Codex needs a paid ChatGPT plan, so turns will likely be rejected. Upgrade and press Re-check, or sign out.
Sign out and use the server key	Returns your Codex sessions to your Alpha’s key from their next message.

While you’re signed in, Codex sessions offer the models your ChatGPT plan includes.

Run Claude Code sessions on your Claude plan

Open Account menu → Sign in with ChatGPT/Claude and click Sign in on the Claude row, or pick Sign in with Claude… from the home screen’s agent chip. Run Claude Code on your Claude subscription offers two ways in.

Paste the code

1. Start the sign-in

   Click Sign in with Claude, then Open to approve on claude.com.

2. Approve and paste the code

   Copy the code claude.com shows, paste it into the field and click Submit. The dialog confirms “Signed in — your Claude Code sessions use it from their next message.” Start over gets a fresh link.

Paste a setup-token

1. Create a token on your own computer

   With Claude Code installed on your computer, run claude setup-token in a terminal and approve in the browser. It prints a token that starts with sk-ant-oat.

2. Paste it into Alpha

   In the dialog, click Already have a token from claude setup-token? Paste it, paste the token and click Save. This is the only way in when your Alpha can’t run the sign-in itself.

Alpha stores the token sealed, for your account only, and uses it only for your Claude Code sessions. Once signed in, the dialog shows Claude subscription and the date the token is valid until, and warns two weeks before it expires. Sign in again renews it. Sign out and use the server key switches back; where your Alpha has no Claude key of its own, the button reads Sign out.

If the menu row reads Sign in with ChatGPT with no Claude in the list, or the dialog says “Claude subscription sign-in isn’t enabled on this server”, Claude sign-in isn’t turned on for your Alpha.

Questions about usage

Why is a model's spend $0?

Causes: no price source knows the model, so Alpha counts it as $0 rather than guess.

Fix: ask whoever runs your Alpha to add the model to its price list (see Admin dashboard). Past turns are priced as soon as it’s there.

Do deleted sessions still count?

Yes. Deleting a session keeps its usage. It shows in the Sessions table as “Deleted session”, in italics, and can’t be opened.

Which time zone are the days in?

Your browser’s. Today and each bar of Spend by day follow the time zone of the device you’re looking from.

Does work on my own plan count toward a session's spend cap?

No. If your Alpha caps what one session can spend on its keys, work on your own plan never counts toward it.

Next steps

Choose the agent and model

The model a session runs sets the price per 1M tokens its turns are billed at.

Your account and settings

Everything in the account menu, from Settings to Send feedback.

Admin dashboard

Admins only: every account’s spend in one Usage tab, priced the same way.

Limits

How long a turn can run and how big messages and uploads can be.