# Pricing

> **Early access.** Everything below is free today. Paid tiers are coming; we'll give registered developers notice before anything changes.

| | Facts | Decisions |
|---|---|---|
| **What** | Conditions per spot: visibility, swell, wind, tide, water temperature, condition score, data quality | Ranked spot picks, best day in a window, confidence + caveats, branded spot card |
| **Endpoints / tools** | `/api/v1/conditions`, `/api/v1/spots`, `/api/v1/coverage` · `get_conditions`, `list_coverage` | `/api/v1/recommendations`, `/api/v1/best-day` · `recommend_spot`, `best_day` |
| **Price** | **Free**, no key | **Free during early access** |
| **Key** | Not needed | Optional now; will be required when metering starts |
| **Limits** | Fair-use caps per caller; point-by-point only | Per-call bounds (≤ 20 spots, ≤ 5 picks, ≤ 7 days); burst throttling |

## Coming

- **Developer tier** — a monthly allotment of free decision calls with an API key.
- **Paid tiers** — higher decision volumes, priority support, and commercial-use terms for products that resell or embed KaiCast decisions.
- **Enterprise / partners** — custom regions, SLAs, white-label cards.

Facts stay free. They exist so any agent can answer "what's the water like?" with real numbers.

## Keys

Keys will look like `kc_live_…` (production) and `kc_test_…` (testing) and will work for both the REST API and the MCP server. Send one as `Authorization: Bearer <key>` or `X-KaiCast-Key: <key>`; never in a URL.

Keys aren't issued yet — nothing needs one today. See [API keys](https://kaicast.com/developers/keys) for what changes when they arrive. To talk volume, partnerships or a region you need, email [dawson@kaicast.com](mailto:dawson@kaicast.com).

## Fair use

- Serve answers to people's questions; don't mirror or resell the dataset. There is no bulk endpoint by design.
- Keep attribution — cite KaiCast from each response's `source` object — and the spot card's link to the full forecast.
- Forecasts are estimates, not a safety guarantee — don't present them as one.