> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ionq.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Working with PAYG Credits

> How to purchase, manage, and allocate pay-as-you-go credits in the IonQ Cloud Console. Step-by-step procedures for adding payment methods, purchasing credits, and viewing credit usage reports.

## Overview

Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) allows Organization Admins to purchase prepaid Credits for QPU usage directly from the IonQ Quantum Cloud Console using a credit or debit card. Purchased credit is added to your organization's balance and consumed by jobs run on IonQ QPUs.

Purchases are always paid in US dollars (\$). However, your credit balance is displayed throughout the Console in the unit set by your organization's billing model. This is usually set to Credits (❖).

> [!NOTE]
>
> Each PAYG purchase has a maximum limit that is shown during the purchase process. For larger amounts or high-volume credit contracts, contact us at [support@ionq.com](mailto:support@ionq.com) or reach out to your IonQ account representative.

## Before you begin

To purchase credit, you need:

1. **Organization Admin Role**: The **Spend** page and purchasing tools are only available to **Organization Admins**.
2. **Tax Information on File (If Applicable)**: Registered businesses in countries with a Value-Added Tax (VAT) must provide a verified VAT ID before adding a card or purchasing credit. See [Managing Tax Information](https://docs.ionq.com/guides/billing-and-usage/managing-tax-information.md) for details on how to provide this information.
3. **Payment Method on File**: You can [add a credit or debit card](#add-a-payment-method) during your first purchase.

## Add a payment method

Before you can purchase Credits, you must have a payment method (a credit or debit card) on file with IonQ.

To add a new payment method to your organization:

1. On the left navigation menu, under **Organization**, click **Spend**. Then, ensure the Prepaid Credit tab is selected.
2. On the **Payment Method** card, click **Add a Payment Method**.
3. In the modal, enter your credit or debit card information.

> [!NOTE]
>
> If your organization is in a country that requires a VAT ID and you do not have a validated one on file already, you must submit your VAT ID for verification on either the **Settings** or **Spend** page and wait for it to be verified before you can purchase credits.

4. At the bottom of the modal, click **Add a payment method** to confirm.

***

## Purchase prepaid credits

Once you have a payment method and, when required, tax information on file, you can purchase credits.

To purchase credits:

1. On the **Prepaid Credit** tab, click **Add Credit**.
2. On the modal, select a credit amount or enter a custom amount between 25 and 1000 credits.
3. **Review Summary & Estimates**:
   * **Total Cost**: The total USD price charged to your card.
   * **Estimated Usage**: Estimated Quantum Compute Time (QCT) or gate throughput provided by the amount, based on current general-availability QPU pricing. (For actual job cost estimation, see [Job Cost and Usage](https://docs.ionq.com/guides/billing-and-usage/job-cost-and-usage.md)).
   * **Credit Expiration**: Purchased credit expires **365 days** from the date of purchase. The exact expiration date is shown before confirmation.
4. **Confirm Purchase**: Select **Purchase**.

Your card is charged in USD, the credit is added to your organization's active balance, and you will receive a confirmation email.

> [!TIP]
>
> **Transaction Outcomes & Invoices**
>
> * **If the purchase fails:** A *“Credits transaction failed!”* notification will appear and no charge is made. Check your card details and try again, or contact [support@ionq.com](mailto:support@ionq.com).
> * **Downloading an invoice:** You can download a PDF invoice at any time from the **Credit** table on the **Spend** page by clicking **Download invoice** in the **Details** column.

> [!WARNING]
>
> Adding organization credit does not automatically permit your project to spend the funds. To run QPU jobs, a project must have backend access enabled and an available budget equal to or greater than the job's predicted cost.
>
> After purchasing credit, review your [project budgets and backend access](https://docs.ionq.com/user-manual/projects.md) on the **Projects** page so your team can submit jobs.

***

## Credit usage reports

You can view details about credit usage from the **Spend** page in the following ways:

### On the **Credit Summary** card

The **Credit Summary** card displays quick statistics about your organization's active balance:

* **Current credit**: The amount of unused credits currently available to your organization.
* **Used in last 30 days**: The number of credits used by your organization in the last 30 days. If your organization has transitioned from USD to Credits within the last 30 days, this number reflects *only* Credit spend.

Click **View usage reporting** on the **Credit Summary** card to open the **Reporting** page for granular project and job breakdowns over time.

### On the **Credits** table

The **Credits** table lists your organization's complete purchase history.

The **Credits** table includes the following information:

| Column | Description |
| - | - |
| **Status** | Whether the credit is **Active** or **Expired** |
| **Invoice ID** | Unique billing identifier for the purchase. |
| **Total cost** | Total USD price charged for the purchase |
| **Credit period** | The 365-day active window during which the credit can be used. |
| **Access** | QPU backends accessible with the credit. Accessible QPUs are `qpu.forte-1` and `qpu.forte-enterprise-1`. |
| **Credit usage** | Used credit relative to the total purchased amount. |
| **Details** | Click the **Download invoice** link to download the purchase invoice. If your organization has a verified tax ID on file, it appears on this invoice. |

> [!TIP]
>
> Learn more about job cost and usage tracking on the [Job Cost and Usage](https://docs.ionq.com/guides/billing-and-usage/job-cost-and-usage.md) page.


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