What consumes Honey
Honey is consumed only by server-side work that SwarmADE runs and pays for on your behalf. Anything that runs locally on your machine — including the CLI agents you bring — does not touch your Honey balance. This page is the per-action cost reference so you can predict what a run will spend before you start it.
Per-action costs
The amounts below are typical ranges. Exact cost depends on spec size, task complexity, and the model selected for each role.
| Service | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Queen Planning (per spec) | 20–50 Honey |
| Queen Validator | 5–15 Honey |
| Queen Scheduler | 2–5 Honey |
| Drone review (per task) | 10–30 Honey |
| SwarmMemory cloud sync | ~1 Honey per sync |
| SwarmMemory semantic search | ~2 Honey per query |
Every one of these runs through the Queen or another server-side service. When the Queen decomposes a spec, validates the resulting graph, schedules tasks, or dispatches a Drone to audit a completed task, that work happens in the cloud and is metered in Honey.
What does NOT consume Honey
A large part of SwarmADE costs nothing in Honey:
- Workers (your CLI agents) — claude, codex, opencode, aider, cline, goose, and cursor run locally and bill against your own CLI subscription, not your Honey balance.
- SwarmMemory local-only mode — when you keep your knowledge graph on-device with no cloud sync or semantic search, there is no Honey cost.
- The Plan view — reviewing, inspecting, and navigating a plan is free.
- All UI features — opening Hives, arranging panels, browsing history, and every other interface action are free.
Your own CLI subscription pays for Worker calls — not Honey. When a Worker like claude or codex writes or edits code, those model calls are billed by your CLI provider against your existing subscription. Honey is reserved exclusively for the Queen, the Drones, and SwarmMemory cloud operations.
Where to go next
- Honey explained — how allowances, top-ups, and balances work together.
- Plans & Pricing — the monthly Honey allowance included with each plan.