ChanTan Studio DocsChanTan Cloud Hosting: What It Costs & How It's Paid
Every published app hosts free for its first month, then 128 credits a month — under $1 — from your credit wallet. Here's exactly how that charge works.
When you publish an app, it lives on ChanTan Cloud — the hosting that keeps it online at its address, with HTTPS, day and night. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to configure. This page explains what it costs and how you pay.
ℹ️ During the closed beta, hosting is not being billed yet. The system below is built and is what will apply — but the monthly charge is currently switched off, so no credits are being taken for hosting and no site is being paused for it. Read this page as "how it will work", and watch your credit activity for the day it starts.
The short version
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| First month | Free — for every published app |
| After that | 128 credits per month, per published app |
| In money | Less than $1 a month ($1 = 128 credits) |
| Paid how? | Automatically from your credit wallet — the same wallet your builds use |
| Paid when? | On the same day of the month the app was first published |
| Is it a subscription? | No. There is no plan to sign up for and nothing to cancel. Stop hosting by taking the site offline |
Building an app costs credits per run; hosting is the one recurring charge in ChanTan Studio.
Only published apps are charged
An app you're still building costs nothing to keep. The charge starts only when you press "Publish" and your app goes live at a real address.
- Each published app is charged separately — two live sites means two monthly charges.
- Projects sitting in your dashboard, unpublished, are free.
- A private preview is not hosting — it's a temporary working preview that sleeps on its own.
Where you see it
Your credit balance is the lightning-bolt number in the header. Click it to open the Wallet page, which shows your balance, your top-up options, and your credit activity — every charge explained in plain words, including the monthly hosting one.
If your wallet is empty when the charge is due
Nothing is deleted, and nothing happens suddenly.
- ChanTan tries to take the 128 credits from your wallet.
- If your balance can't cover it, you get email reminders and roughly 7 days to add credits.
- If the wallet is still empty after that, the site is paused — visitors can't open it for now.
- Adding credits brings a paused site back automatically. You don't need to press anything or republish.
⚠️ Your app is never deleted for an unpaid hosting month. Pausing only stops the public copy from being served. Your project, files, chat history and app data stay exactly where they are — and your web address stays reserved to your project.
To avoid a pause entirely, keep a small buffer in your wallet. A year of hosting one app is about 1,536 credits — well under the smallest top-up package.
How to stop paying for an app
Take the site offline: open the Publish window → "More options" → "Take my site offline" → confirm.
That stops the hosting charges for that app. You keep your address, keep every file, and can publish again any time — see How to publish your app for the full walkthrough.
What hosting does and doesn't include
| Included | Not included |
|---|---|
| Your app served publicly at its address | The price of a domain name you buy |
| Automatic HTTPS (the padlock) | The credits your builds spend |
| Your custom domains pointing at the app | The credits AI features inside your app spend |
| Updates whenever you press "Update" | — |
Buying a domain is a separate one-off card payment — see Domain renewals and pricing.
Money questions, answered honestly
- No card is charged for hosting. Hosting is paid in credits from your wallet, not from your card. You only use a card when you top up your wallet or buy a domain.
- Credits never expire, so credits you buy today still cover hosting months later.
- There is no subscription to cancel — stopping is simply taking the site offline.
- Refunds of card payments aren't self-service — contact support and they escalate it. Never assume one; ask.