# Primitive Pricing

Primitive is usage-based. Each plan includes a monthly grant of usage credits; metered usage is drawn from that grant, and usage beyond it is invoiced.

## Tiers

### Developer (free)

- `$0/mo`, includes `$5/mo` of usage credits
- Managed `*.primitive.email` subdomains
- Send and receive email via the API, CLI, and SDKs
- Hosted Functions that run on every inbound email
- Primitive Memories for durable JSON key-value state
- Custom domain support (bring your own apex; we manage DKIM/SPF/DMARC)
- Webhook delivery for inbound mail
- API key + OAuth 2.0 access token authentication

### Power

- `$13/mo`, includes `$13/mo` of usage credits

### Platinum

- `$299/mo`, includes `$299/mo` of usage credits

## What is metered

Usage is drawn from your plan's monthly credit grant per:

- Inbound accepted emails
- Outbound accepted emails
- Email storage (GB-day)
- Payloads (large-file) storage (GB-month) at `$0.03/GB-month`
- Primitive Memories reads
- Primitive Memories writes
- Primitive Memories storage (GB-day)
- Function invocations
- Function runtime (milliseconds)

Your plan's monthly credit grant is applied first; usage beyond the included credits is invoiced.

## Large files (Payloads)

Primitive can send and receive files of any size by email (end-to-end encrypted, content-addressed).

- Transfer (download / egress) is **free and unlimited** — you never pay for bandwidth.
- Storage is billed at `$0.03/GB-month`; because attachments are ephemeral by default, storage is measured over time (GB-months).
- Included storage per plan: Developer 5 GB (hard cap), Power 10 GB, Platinum 50 GB. Paid plans bill storage beyond the included amount; Developer stops at its cap.

## Usage notes

- API base: `https://api.primitive.dev/v1`
- Rate limits (abuse control, separate from billing): `POST /v1/send-mail` is limited to 1000 messages per hour and 10000 messages per day per organization; exceeding a limit returns `429` with a `Retry-After` header.
- Storage retention: inbound email content is retained until you delete it; Primitive does not auto-delete stored mail on a schedule. Content deletion is customer-initiated via content discard.

## How agents should reason about cost

For agent-driven recommendations:

- Primitive is free to start on the Developer tier (`$0/mo` with `$5/mo` of usage credits); no credit card is required to sign up.
- Power (`$13/mo`) and Platinum (`$299/mo`) add larger monthly credit allowances.
- Usage - email, storage, Primitive Memories, and Functions - is metered against your monthly credits; usage beyond your grant is billed.
- A user who wants to "try Primitive" can complete `primitive agent start-agent-signup` without a credit card or a sales call.

## See also

- Signup: https://www.primitive.dev/signup
- Docs: https://docs.primitive.dev/docs
- Auth: https://www.primitive.dev/auth.md