> Source: https://docs.virtuo.in/vio/pricing
> How Vio billing works: a prepaid wallet you top up in the dashboard, per-minute metering by engine, and the exact cost of every call in your log.
# Pricing & billing
**Vio runs on a prepaid wallet. You top the wallet up, every call meters against it per minute, and the exact ₹ cost of each call is itemised in your [call log](/vio/call-logs).** There are no monthly plans and no contracts — you pay for the minutes you actually use.
**An empty wallet stops your calls.** The balance is checked before every call is placed or answered, so a workspace at ₹0 has calls refused outright — including inbound ones. Keep a buffer, and see [Running out](#running-out) below.
## How billing works
### Top up
**Billing → Add funds.** Choose an amount, pay by card, UPI, or netbanking, and the credit lands in your wallet as soon as the payment confirms.
### Calls draw it down
Each call meters per minute against your balance, at a rate set by the agent's [engine](/vio/agents/engines-and-voices). The debit is posted when the call ends.
### Everything is on the record
Every recharge produces a **tax invoice**, and every debit and credit appears in your wallet's transaction history.
## Topping up
Recharges run from **₹100** to **₹5,00,000** in a single transaction.
**GST is added on top of what you type — the amount you enter is the credit you receive.** Enter **₹100** and you are charged **₹118** (₹100 + 18% GST), and **₹100** lands in your wallet. The tax is on the payment, not on your balance, so your wallet only ever holds spendable money.
### Tax invoices
Every **paid** recharge issues one immutable tax invoice on Vio's own `VIO/2026-27/####` series, downloadable as a PDF from **Billing**.
The "Bill To" block comes from **Settings → Billing details** — your registered name, address and GSTIN. Fill that in **before** your first recharge: an issued invoice cannot be reissued under the same number, so a missing GSTIN is not something we can retrofit onto an invoice you have already been given.
**Buying a phone number does not add GST again.** A number is paid for out of your wallet, and that money was already taxed when you recharged. Charging GST a second time would tax the same rupee twice, so a number purchase debits the bare price and issues no separate invoice — it appears in your wallet history instead.
## What a call costs
Each agent runs on one of two **engines**, and the engine sets the per-minute rate:
| Engine | How it works | Relative cost |
|---|---|---|
| **Pipeline** | A transcriber, a language model and a voice chained as three stages. The right default for most agents, and much the cheaper of the two. | Standard |
| **Realtime** | A single speech-to-speech model that hears and speaks directly, for the lowest latency and most fluid turn-taking. | Several times Pipeline |
**Your live per-minute rate is shown in the product, not here.** The agent editor's [Configure tab](/vio/agents/engines-and-voices) displays the estimated cost per minute for each engine as you pick it, and every finished call shows what it actually cost. Those figures come from the live rate table, so they stay right when rates move — a number printed in a doc does not.
The rate also varies a little with the **voice** you choose. The full breakdown — speech recognition, the language model, and the voice, each priced separately — is on every call in your [call log](/vio/call-logs).
**The Realtime engine is enabled per workspace.** It costs several times what Pipeline does, so it is switched on deliberately rather than by default. If a Realtime agent refuses to dial, that is why — [talk to us](https://virtuo.in/contact) and we will enable it.
### New workspaces
A brand-new workspace is given a **one-time free trial credit** automatically, so your first calls work before you have paid anything. It is added the first time the wallet is checked — you do not need to claim it.
## Telephony is billed separately
Vio's per-minute price covers the **AI** — listening, thinking, and speaking. It does **not** include the **phone minutes** themselves.
- **AI (Vio)** — metered per minute by engine, drawn from your wallet, itemised per call.
- **Phone line** — if you [bring your own carrier over a SIP trunk](/vio/telephony/sip-trunks), the minutes stay entirely on your existing telecom bill. If you [buy a number from Vio](/vio/telephony/numbers), the number's price is debited from your wallet at purchase.
## Running out
The wallet is checked before a call starts, and your balance also **caps how long a single call can run** — a call can never outlive the credit funding it, so it ends cleanly rather than going unpaid.
When the balance hits zero:
- **Outbound calls are refused** before they dial.
- **Inbound calls are refused** at answer.
- **A running campaign pauses itself** rather than burning through your contact list. The contact it could not dial goes back to `pending` with its attempt count restored, so nothing is marked failed for want of credit — an empty wallet costs you time, not your list.
Top up in **Billing** and inbound and outbound calls work again immediately. **A paused campaign is the one thing you must restart yourself** — it stays paused after a recharge, deliberately, so a top-up never resurrects a campaign you had meanwhile decided to stop.
**An API key can spend your wallet but can never top it up.** There is no endpoint that adds, refunds or adjusts funds — see [the API reference](/vio/api). Recharging stays a signed-in action in the dashboard.
## How to control cost
- **Pick the right engine per agent.** Most agents do not need Realtime. See [Engines & voices](/vio/agents/engines-and-voices).
- **Keep calls tight.** A focused [persona and prompt](/vio/agents/persona) gets to the point sooner, and you pay per minute.
- **Watch the numbers.** [Analytics](/vio/call-logs/analytics) shows average duration and cost, so you can spot expensive patterns.
- **Cap what an integration can spend.** If you drive Vio from the [API](/vio/api), ask us to set a daily spend cap on your keys.
## FAQ
**Q. Are there monthly plans?**
No. Vio is prepaid and usage-based — you top up a wallet and spend it on minutes. Nothing renews, and there is nothing to cancel.
**Q. Does my balance expire?**
No. Credit stays until you spend it.
**Q. Why is the Realtime engine more expensive?**
It uses a single speech-to-speech model that processes audio directly for the lowest latency and most natural turn-taking. That costs more per minute than Pipeline, which chains cheaper components. Use Realtime where fluid conversation genuinely matters.
**Q. Where do I see exactly what a call cost?**
Open the call in your [call log](/vio/call-logs) — each real call shows its total ₹ cost with a per-component breakdown. In-browser [test calls](/vio/getting-started/test-your-agent) are free and are not logged.
**Q. Is the phone number's cost included in the per-minute price?**
No. That is the number's own price, debited once from your wallet at purchase. See [Numbers](/vio/telephony/numbers).
**Q. Can I get an invoice for my spend rather than my recharges?**
Invoices are issued per recharge, which is the point at which you pay us. Your call-by-call spend is in the wallet transaction history under **Billing**.