Pricing quantum runs in tokens: $5 per QPU second, never expires

Most quantum computing services either bill by the month (you pay for access whether you use it or not) or hide the unit (everything is "credits", you don't know what one credit gets you). We chose neither. Quantum Gap AI bills in tokens. One token buys roughly one second of QPU execution. Tokens cost $5 each at the entry tier, they never expire, and if a hardware job fails for any reason on our side or the provider's, the tokens are refunded automatically.

Why a QPU second is the right unit

A QPU second is the only thing we actually buy from the upstream provider. Everything else — transpilation, queue time, telemetry, result decoding, PDF / CSV / docx report generation, the platform — is overhead we eat. Anchoring the price on the underlying resource keeps the unit economics honest. If IBM cuts their hardware price, we pass it through. If a tool gets more efficient and uses fewer QPU seconds, the user's token bill drops directly.

The alternative — billing per "job" or per "circuit" — hides the fact that a 50-shot Bell circuit and a 4096-shot VQE on a 12-atom molecule are radically different costs. A flat per-job price either overcharges the small users or undercharges the large ones. We don't want to do either.

What the simulator costs

Zero. The state-vector simulator runs entirely on our infrastructure and we don't bill for it. Every tool on the catalogue can be prototyped end-to-end on the simulator before you spend a single token. We think this is the right shape for the market: free unlimited prototyping, real money only when you want the hardware-calibrated answer.

The tiers

• Starter — 50 tokens for $250. Same $5/token as the entry point. Designed for one-off pilots and individual researchers.
• Standard — 200 tokens for $1,000. Same per-token price; convenience-bundle for small teams.
• Growth — 300 tokens for $1,395 ($4.65/token). First volume break.
• Scale — 500 tokens for $2,200 ($4.40/token). The most popular tier for active research groups.
• Pro — 1,000 tokens for $4,000 ($4.00/token). 20% cheaper per token than Starter. Right for sustained production use.

Above Pro, talk to us about an enterprise plan — dedicated backend allocations, SLA, longer audit retention, custom report templates. The contact link sits at the bottom of the pricing page.

What you don't pay for

• Failed hardware jobs (refunded automatically)
• Queue time
• Transpilation
• Simulator runs
• Audit reports (PDF / CSV / docx)
• Job history retention

The fine print, plainly

Token prices are quoted in USD. Tokens are non-transferrable between accounts. Refunds for failed jobs are automatic; refunds for successful jobs are at the platform's discretion (we'll work with you, but the QPU time was real). Volume discounts beyond Pro are negotiated, not auto-applied. There's no minimum spend, no monthly fee, and no auto-renewal.

That's the whole pricing story. If something here doesn't add up for your use case, write to support@quantum-gap.com — every enterprise quote starts with a real conversation, not a form. See the live pricing page