Topup brackets
Top-ups are one-time purchases of extra Honey you can add on top of your plan’s monthly allowance. Larger brackets include a bonus, so the effective rate improves the more you buy at once. Top-ups never change your plan or your renewal price.
The three brackets
| Price | Honey | Bonus | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10 | 10,000 Honey | — | 1,000 Honey / $1 |
| $20 | 21,000 Honey | +5% | 1,050 Honey / $1 |
| $50 | 55,000 Honey | +10% | 1,100 Honey / $1 |
As a rough guide, 1,000 Honey is worth about $1 USD of perceived value, though the exact value varies by the model a run uses.
Allowance vs top-up: the carry-forward rule
Your balance is made of two distinct pools, and they behave differently at renewal:
- Monthly allowance — included with your plan (Starter 5,000 / Pro 12,500 / Ultra 25,000 Honey). It is use-it-or-lose-it: it refills at the start of each billing cycle and any unspent allowance does not roll over.
- Top-up Honey — purchased separately. It carries forward across renewals and never expires at reset. It acts as a floor that survives the cycle, and the Swarm spends it only after your monthly allowance is exhausted.
The monthly allowance does not roll over — unused allowance Honey is lost at each renewal. Top-up Honey is different: it survives every reset and is always spent last, so it functions as a persistent reserve underneath your allowance.
When to top up
A top-up makes sense when you expect more server-side work than your allowance covers, or when you want a standing buffer that never expires. Common cases:
- You hit a busy stretch mid-cycle and want to keep planning and Drone reviews running without interruption.
- You prefer to keep a permanent reserve so heavy weeks never stall, regardless of how much allowance is left.
- You want the better effective rate of the $20 or $50 bracket rather than several $10 purchases.
Because top-up Honey is spent only after the allowance, buying early in a cycle never wastes your included allowance — the allowance still goes first.
Where to go next
- Topups & Refunds — purchasing flow, receipts, and the refund policy.