> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mergewatch.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Billing

> The dashboard surface for managed SaaS billing — balance, payment method, top-ups, and auto-reload.

The **Billing** page manages the prepaid credit balance for a managed SaaS installation. For how pricing works — the free tier, the per-review cost formula, what counts as billable — see [SaaS billing](/saas/billing). This page covers the dashboard surface itself.

<Note>
  Billing applies to **managed SaaS only**. Self-hosted deployments have no balance and no payment method; you pay your LLM provider directly. See [Self-hosted is always free](/saas/billing#self-hosted-is-always-free).
</Note>

## What the page shows

**Current balance**, in credits. Reviews deduct their actual cost as they complete, so the balance moves continuously rather than in monthly steps.

**Free reviews used** — the lifetime counter against the 5-review free tier, tracked per GitHub App installation.

**Payment method**, managed through Stripe. MergeWatch never stores card details.

## Topping up

Add credits manually at any time. A top-up is a one-off charge against the payment method on file — there is no subscription and no recurring billing to cancel.

## Auto-reload

Auto-reload tops the balance up automatically when it falls below a threshold, so reviews do not stop mid-sprint because a balance ran down on a Friday afternoon.

Enable it if MergeWatch is on your critical path. Leave it off if you would rather have reviews stop than have charges happen without you initiating them — a blocked review is visible and recoverable in a minute; a surprise charge is neither.

Auto-reload is guarded against double-charging: a concurrent top-up cannot fire twice for the same drop below the threshold, even if several reviews complete simultaneously.

## When the balance runs out

Reviews are blocked rather than run-and-billed, and the MCP server returns a billing-blocked error (`-32002`). Nothing is silently deferred or queued — you find out immediately, on the PR.

Top up or enable auto-reload to resume. See [what happens when your balance runs out](/saas/billing#what-happens-when-your-balance-runs-out).

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="SaaS billing" icon="credit-card" href="/saas/billing">
    Pricing model, free tier, and the per-review cost formula.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Analytics" icon="chart-line" href="/dashboard/analytics">
    The Cost & Impact tab, for what that spend is buying.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>