---
title: Pricing: money in dollars and top-up packs, no subscription
summary: Talemo has no subscription. A business pays from its balance in dollars, the owner tops it up in packs of $10, $25, $50 or $100, and the first top-up of $10 is what opens a business.
tools: [talemo_get_billing]
related: [balance-and-organisation, spending-limit-and-bill, paying-and-hand-off-link, low-balance-stages]
search: [price, cost, pay as you go, no subscription, top up]
---

# Money in dollars and top-up packs

Talemo is paid as you go. There is no subscription and no charge per person on
the team. A business spends the money of its balance on what Talemo does for it,
and the owner tops the balance up when needed. All amounts on the screens are in
dollars, down to the cent.

## Top-up packs

The balance is topped up in packs of $10, $25, $50 and $100. The product shows
the packs by amount: the Polar payment page shows tax, if there is any. The
smallest pack, $10, is also the first top-up.

## The first top-up

A business cannot be opened without a payment. The first top-up is $10, and the
money of the organization has to hold at least the smallest pack, $10. The
business then opens with that money; how much to give it is chosen after paying,
everything by default. If the person does not pay, the organization stays saved
and the business does not appear (see
[Creating a business](../launch/creating-a-business.md)).

## What the money is spent on

The **Spending this month** tab of a business has these lines:

- **Online admin and assistant:** the work of the online admin, which answers
  clients, and of the assistant, which works for the owner and the team,
  charged per run.
- **Knowledge search:** the assistant finds a note by meaning, in whatever
  language the client writes.
- Keeping the data and Talemo's work for the business: messages through the
  channels, signing the team in, emails and everything Talemo does on your actions.
  The screen splits them into groups: **Data storage**, **Talemo's work**, **Staff
  sign-ins** and **Emails**, with "Storage and running · up to" and a date above them.
  Charged once a day, three days late: a day's costs become final only then.

WhatsApp message templates for visit confirmations and reminders are billed by
Meta directly to the business's WhatsApp account, not from the balance. The tab
shows only how many such messages went out.

## Who can top up

Topping up is done by a person who is signed in on the web, on the Polar payment
page. The owner of the organization does it. An administrator can see the balance
and the payments but cannot change them, and an accountant does not see the
money of Talemo at all (see [Team and roles](../account/team-and-roles.md)).
Connected programs, access keys and the assistant cannot pay.

## Where to look

Settings → **Balance and spending** shows the balance and the packs under
**Top up**. In the app the same numbers are in the account sheet under **Money**;
the app does not top up: it points to the web version, on a computer. A program
connected over MCP reads the balance with `talemo_get_billing`: every amount comes
in dollars (`*_usd`) and in thousandths of a credit (`*_millicredits`), a credit
being one cent.

See [Balance of a business and of an organization](balance-and-organisation.md)
for what the balance is made of.