Hosting charges and the 48-hour grace period
Pay for hosting from your wallet, understand the payment window, and restore a bot after a billing suspension.
How hosting is paid
Publishing creates a hosted service that keeps your bot available. CookMyBots charges active hosting usage from your wallet balance. Hosting is separate from the cost of building or editing the bot, customer AI replies, and paid platform or service calls. A bot can incur hosting costs even when nobody sends it a message.
Review the current hosting price and recorded usage in Billing. There is no fixed free hosting trial after publication. Separate plan credits offered for eligible builder work do not replace wallet funds for hosting.
What happens when funds run out
When usable wallet funds no longer cover hosting, a running bot receives a 48-hour payment grace period. Hosting charges continue during that window and are recorded as Hosting owed. The payment window is not free hosting.
| Account situation | Hosting and next action |
|---|---|
| Funds cover hosting | Hosting stays active and recorded usage is paid from your wallet. |
| Funds run out | The 48-hour payment window begins. The bot can remain online while hosting owed accumulates. Add funds before the deadline. |
| The payment window ends | Hosting is suspended if funds are still exhausted or hosting remains unpaid. Your saved project is kept. |
| A top-up is confirmed | Outstanding charges are repaid first. CookMyBots attempts to restore hosting suspended for billing when eligible. |
The bot workspace’s Billing tab shows its hosting state and the payment deadline when a grace period is active. Activity also records payment-window updates. A notice saying less than 24 hours remain describes the time left in the same 48-hour window.
Hosting owed and your account balance
Unpaid hosting is shown separately as Hosting owed. Billing subtracts it when showing Balance after hosting owed, so your account can show a negative net balance even if the wallet itself shows zero. Already-authorized AI or service usage can also leave the wallet with an amount owed.
For example, a $0 wallet with $2 of hosting owed has a balance after hosting owed of -$2. A confirmed $10 top-up pays that $2 first, leaving $8 before any other charges or reservations. It does not create a second charge for the same hosting usage.
Amounts owed reduce the funds available for new paid work. Having a bot online during the payment window does not mean new paid features can run without funds.
Top up and restore service
- Open Billing and check the wallet balance, Hosting owed, other amounts owed, and active reservations.
- Add enough funds to repay what is owed and leave a usable balance for continued hosting and paid features.
- Complete the payment and wait for confirmation. Starting a checkout alone does not credit the wallet.
- Return to the bot’s Billing tab and Overview or Deploy. CookMyBots attempts to resume hosting suspended for billing. Wait for the current health check before testing the bot.
- If you paused the bot yourself, select Resume when you want it running. If recovery reports a connection or provider problem, follow that specific action.
A successful top-up clears the payment window when hosting owed is paid and usable funds remain. A smaller top-up can restart the 48-hour window while some hosting is still owed. It does not clear the remaining debt or guarantee that new paid requests are available.
Keep track of ongoing costs
- Check Billing for usage and reservations before starting more paid work.
- Enable Low balance and Bot health & hosting updates in Account settings, then save your email preferences.
- Pause a bot you do not need running. Charges already incurred can still settle afterward.
- Keep enough wallet funds for each hosted bot and the paid features its customers use.
A billing suspension pauses hosting; it does not delete your saved source or settings. Pausing or deleting a bot does not cancel charges already incurred.