---
title: "Wallet & top-ups"
description: "Funding your Metalhost account: card top-ups via Stripe, crypto top-ups via Coinbase (settled in USDC), auto-recharge, alerts, invoices."
url: "https://metalhost.net/docs/dashboard/guides/wallet-topup"
---

# Wallet & top-ups

Metalhost is prepay. You fund a wallet on your billing account; usage debits the wallet as VMs run. Top up with a card (Stripe) or crypto (Coinbase, settled in USDC). Set auto-recharge and balance alerts so you never get caught with a $0 wallet at 3 a.m.

## The model

- **Billing account** — one per organization, holds payment methods and invoices.
- **Wallet** — the prepay balance. Debited per-second by usage events; topped up by you.
- **Payment method** — a saved Stripe card. Required for card top-ups and auto-recharge.
- **Top-up** — a one-shot funding event. Card via Stripe, or crypto via Coinbase (settled in USDC).

> **prepay, not postpay**
>
> Metalhost charges *before* usage, not after. A monthly invoice is generated for accounting (and required for B2B / tax in some jurisdictions) but it's a record of what's already been spent, not a bill you pay later.

## Check the balance

*billing → overview*. The balance hero shows current balance, per-day burn, runway (days remaining), and month-to-date total.

## Top up by card (Stripe)

*billing → overview → top up*. Pick an amount, pick a saved card (or add a new one inline — Stripe Elements collects card details in the browser, the platform never sees them), confirm. Balance updates within a few seconds.

First-time top-ups walk you through saving a card before the charge — after that, the card is reusable for future top-ups and auto-recharge.

## Top up with crypto (Coinbase)

For crypto-native users: *billing → top up* → switch to **crypto**. Pick an amount (minimum $5), and you're handed off to a **Coinbase-hosted checkout** — pay in USDC or any asset Coinbase Commerce accepts. Once the payment confirms, the wallet is credited **1:1 in USD**; you don't hold a crypto balance on Metalhost, the top-up just settles to dollars.

> **no wallet connection required**
>
> Checkout is hosted by Coinbase — there's no in-browser wallet signing or HTTP-402 challenge to deal with. Pay from any exchange or wallet that can send to the address Coinbase shows; the credit lands on confirmation.

## Auto-recharge

*billing → settings → auto-recharge*. Toggle on, set a threshold (charge when the wallet drops below this) and an amount (charge this much when it triggers). Off by default. Re-enabling preserves the previous threshold/amount, so toggling on/off doesn't lose your settings.

> **pair auto-recharge with alerts**
>
> Auto-recharge is silent by design. Configure wallet alerts in parallel so you get an email if the wallet hits the threshold — usually that means something out of pattern is happening (a leaked key spinning up VMs, runaway autoscaling).

## Wallet alerts

*billing → settings → balance alerts*. Two thresholds, either can be unset:

- **Balance alert** — fires when prepay balance drops below an absolute amount.
- **Days-remaining alert** — fires when (balance ÷ recent daily burn) drops below N days. Catches "running out fast" even on large balances.

Alerts edge-fire: they trigger once when the condition first becomes true, then re-arm only when the balance recovers above the threshold. Email goes to the account owner.

## Invoices

*billing → invoices*. Even on prepay, Metalhost issues a monthly invoice per billing account summarising usage and top-ups for the period. Each row has a **download pdf** button — useful for accounting and tax. See [Billing & usage](https://metalhost.net/docs/dashboard/guides/billing.md) for line-item detail and usage charts.

## What's next

- [Billing & usage](https://metalhost.net/docs/dashboard/guides/billing.md) — usage, transfer, limits.
- [Create a VM](https://metalhost.net/docs/dashboard/guides/vms-create.md) — what you'll spend the wallet on.
- [Lease bare metal](https://metalhost.net/docs/dashboard/guides/bare-metal-lease.md) — prepaid terms charge due now.
- [Quickstart](https://metalhost.net/docs/dashboard/quickstart.md) — sign up to running VM in five minutes.