Billing and usage - BYOM Docs

The BYOM application is a paid service. Use your account’s offer and Billing information to check its subscription, included usage and limits before planning paid work.

Application, connector and docs

Surface	What it is	Where to check the commercial position
BYOM application	The authenticated commerce operating environment.	Your account’s subscription offer and billing surface.
Shopify MCP connector	The Shopify app’s consented connection to supported AI clients.	The connector’s available plan and current usage information.
Documentation and any available search	Public guidance about BYOM.	It grants no product access or store authority.

A connector allowance is not an entitlement to the complete BYOM application. Reading docs does not install the Shopify app, create a subscription or guarantee merchant admission.

Check usage in context

For the supported connector, about_this_connection reports read and write usage against the active caps and the reset date. Rate controls can also apply to bursts of requests. Reaching a per-minute control and exhausting a monthly allowance require different next steps. For the application, use the current account billing and usage information. Staff access, jobs, provider calls, storage and connected-service costs should not be assumed to be unlimited merely because people can share company access.

Estimates are not invoices

Time-saved or impact estimates explain a modelled value of work. They are not a refund, cash balance, guaranteed return or invoice amount. Check the assumptions beside the estimate and the separate billing record for charges. The Shopify app is coming to the App Store. Pricing and access should be verified in the actual offer when it becomes available.

Read the labels before comparing costs

Label	What it means	What to verify
Platform subscription	The company pays for its BYOM service under the agreed offer.	Price, billing period, access conditions and cancellation terms.
Managed Kina usage	Usage charged through BYOM for supported managed model work.	The applicable rate, measured usage and whether an allowance applies.
Included usage or credits	A monetary allowance against specified eligible charges.	Eligible charges, the service period and actual invoice treatment.
Customer-owned provider usage	Model calls made with supported customer-owned credentials.	Charges from that provider separately from the BYOM subscription.
Paid media/provider work	Charges for separately metered services such as image or video generation, where available.	The quote, eligibility, provider charge and any disclosed service fee.
Connector usage	Reads/writes recorded against the connector’s active caps.	The current plan, reset date and burst-rate controls.

These labels explain different costs; they are not a public price list. A source catalogue or example price does not establish your offer, taxes, eligible allowance or final invoice. Use the account’s actual commercial information before committing to work.

BYOT: customer-owned model credentials

BYOT means bring your own token. Where this option is supported, a company supplies its own model-provider credential through the approved account setup. The provider bills that company’s usage under its provider account. BYOM records the model usage for audit, but does not add a BYOM model-usage charge for those supported customer-owned calls. The BYOM platform subscription still applies. The platform subscription, provider’s own usage and other separately paid services still apply. It also does not remove company permissions or the Action boundary around consequential effects. A credential provides provider access; it is not a grant of approval authority. Use only the supported credential setup supplied with your enabled account. Never paste a provider key into Kina, a documentation search, an MCP query, a screenshot or a support message. Confirm which credential source is active before using the billing distinction to estimate a task.

Included allowances are scoped

If your offer includes Kina usage, check the eligible charge category and the actual subscription service interval. Do not assume an allowance applies to image/video generation or every connected provider charge. A connector’s monthly cap and the application’s subscription period are also different concepts. Check the invoice or account statement to see how the allowance was applied. A displayed usage total may be a gross measurement rather than the amount finally charged after the offer’s adjustments. Conversely, a remaining allowance indicator is not evidence that a completed invoice applied it correctly. Ask for clarification if the usage, allowance and invoice cannot be reconciled.

Check a task’s cost before its effect

For a task using a paid provider, identify the provider, proposed work and any available estimate or limit before approval. An estimate should say whether it comes from an actual provider quote or an assumption. A useful commercial decision needs both the expected value and the possible charge. After work, compare the recorded usage, provider result and billing record. A failed or timed-out response does not automatically mean the provider charged nothing. Establish the result before retrying a costly operation, and keep the work reference if a charge needs investigation. Unlimited staff access concerns people in the company; it is not unlimited concurrent execution, jobs, storage, support or paid provider use. An unavailable operation may require a connection or capability fix rather than a more expensive plan. Identify the actual limit before deciding what to change.

Understand the limit on extra usage

Where the application’s Billing section shows these controls, Included usage describes measured use against the allowance for the current period. Extra usage so far describes usage beyond that allowance. Read the stated period and source beside the figures; these are usage records, rather than an upcoming invoice. The Limit on extra usage is a monetary ceiling. Off at £0 means extra usage is disabled; it does not mean unlimited use. The limit concerns paid usage covered by that control together, so separate tasks can consume the same remaining headroom. A single-job confirmation threshold is a separate check from the period’s total limit. For example, an account can still have included usage remaining while extra usage is off. Once that included allowance is used, a notice such as Included usage used, extra usage off identifies the cost boundary. Extra usage limit reached identifies a different boundary: extra usage was permitted and has reached its ceiling. Neither notice means that your provider connection needs to be repaired. Check the current account offer, remaining usage and available billing controls before planning more paid work. If changing the limit is not offered in your account, ask the authorised account owner or BYOM about the available path. Do not assume that a read-only display is an editable budget control, that a pause erased previous charges, or that a renewal date applies to an access-code account in the same way as a subscription.

Manage the account and resolve a discrepancy

Use the billing or customer-portal path supplied with the account to inspect invoices and supported payment, billing-address, tax or cancellation controls. Do not assume a self-service plan change is available; ask BYOM about the current offer and transition if the portal does not provide it. For a disputed or unexplained charge, retain the invoice period, work reference, visible usage category and provider result. Ask which allowance and rate apply. Exclude card details, keys and customer payloads from the support request. Access-code and pilot accounts can have a separate agreed commercial position; check their agreed allowance and service period. Verify amounts against the current account offer and invoice. Customer terms govern the charges. Reviewed 2 October 2026.

​Application, connector and docs

​Check usage in context

​Estimates are not invoices

​Read the labels before comparing costs

​BYOT: customer-owned model credentials

​Included allowances are scoped

​Check a task’s cost before its effect

​Understand the limit on extra usage

​Manage the account and resolve a discrepancy

​Related guides