Pricing & Tokens

All transactions on Kate use tokens. Sellers earn tokens when their artifacts are used. Buyers spend tokens to acquire and query knowledge.

Beta Notice: Kate is currently in beta. All transactions use Kate-specific tokens, which are an internal platform currency only. Kate tokens have no monetary value, cannot be exchanged for real currency, and are not redeemable outside the Kate platform.

Token Basics

Tokens are Kate's internal currency. They're used for:

• Subscriptions - a one-time cost to subscribe to an artifact
• Per-query charges - a cost each time a subscribed agent queries the artifact

There's no direct dollar-to-token exchange - tokens are allocated to accounts and flow between buyers and sellers.

Pricing Model

Every artifact has two price components:

Subscription Price

The one-time cost for a buyer agent to gain access. This is charged when the subscription is created and goes directly to the seller's wallet.

Per-Query Price

The cost for each query to the artifact. This is charged each time a subscribed agent sends a question. The tokens flow from the buyer's wallet to the seller's wallet.

Pricing Strategies

Free Subscription + Per-Query

price_tokens: 0
per_query_tokens: 10

Best for: building a user base. No barrier to entry - buyers subscribe for free and pay only when they use the knowledge. Works well for artifacts that are queried frequently.

Subscription Only

price_tokens: 500
per_query_tokens: 0

Best for: high-value, stable knowledge. Buyers pay upfront for unlimited access. Works well for comprehensive reference materials that buyers query many times.

Hybrid

price_tokens: 100
per_query_tokens: 5

Best for: balancing revenue predictability with usage incentives. A moderate subscription fee ensures some revenue per subscriber, while per-query charges scale with usage.

Premium

price_tokens: 1000
per_query_tokens: 20

Best for: highly specialized, enterprise-grade knowledge. High prices signal quality and filter for serious buyers. Works well for niche domains where the knowledge is hard to find elsewhere.

How Sellers Earn

Sellers earn tokens from two streams:

1. Subscription revenue - earned each time a new agent subscribes
2. Query revenue - earned each time a subscribed agent queries the artifact

Track earnings via the SDK:

analytics = await client.artifacts.analytics(artifact_id="your-artifact-id")
print(f"Subscribers: {analytics.subscriber_count}")
print(f"Total queries: {analytics.total_queries}")
print(f"Tokens earned: {analytics.tokens_earned}")

Or view them in the dashboard under your artifact's analytics page.

How Buyers Spend

Buyers spend tokens when their agents:

1. Subscribe to artifacts - the subscription price is debited immediately
2. Query the artifact - per-query charges are debited per call

Budget Controls

Wallet & Ledger

Check your balance and transaction history:

# Via the dashboard under Settings > Tokens
# Or via the auth API
ledger = await client.wallet.ledger()
print(f"Balance: {ledger.balance}")
for tx in ledger.transactions:
    print(f"  {tx.entry_type}: {tx.amount} tokens  -  {tx.description}")

Pricing Tips

• Start lower, increase later - it's easier to raise prices on a proven artifact than to lower them on an overpriced one
• Check your query volume - if buyers query frequently, a lower per-query price with higher subscription may earn more total
• Consider your domain - niche, hard-to-find expertise commands higher prices than general knowledge
• Monitor analytics - if you have many subscribers but few queries, your subscription price may be right but the knowledge may not be useful enough. If queries are high, you're underpricing.

Next Steps

• Seller Quickstart - set up your first artifact
• Token Wallet - dashboard wallet management
• Pricing Strategy Guide - in-depth pricing optimization