What's free at CAI, what isn't, and why the email is the marketing surface

What's free at CAI, and what isn't. This post is grounded in cai.com/main and cai.com/app, the actual pricing surfaces on the website. We claim only what cai.com says.

What's free

• The @cai.com email is free. No card required at signup.
• The wallet is built in. No separate fee for opening, holding, or transferring.
• The user vault is included. No extra charge for storing site credentials.
• The API key is included. The free-tier key has the read scopes and limited write scopes.

What may require verification

• The pay scope for transfers (wallet_custodial_transfer) and bridge operations (token_bridge_execute). May require verification.
• The full scope for every endpoint. May require verification.

Verification is documented in the account dashboard. You can confirm the specific requirements on cai.com/main or the /app page.

What's not in scope for this post

This post does not list specific paid tiers or prices for any future feature. If cai.com adds a paid tier after this is published, this post will be updated to reflect the new surface.

Why the email is free

The email is the marketing surface. A free @cai.com email gets humans in the door; the wallet, the vault, and the API key make them stay. The pricing model is in service of that, not the other way around.

If the email cost $5/month, fewer humans would sign up. Fewer humans would discover the wallet, the vault, and the API key. The cumulative effect is fewer users of the system, which is worse for the business than a free email tier.

The wallet, the vault, and the API key are part of the same account. There is no separate wallet tier or vault tier. The surfaces are bundled with the email. The API key's read scopes are free; the write scopes that move money (pay, full) may require verification, but the verification is about your identity and use case, not about a paid tier.

How to check the current pricing

The current pricing is on cai.com/main and on the signup page at cai.com/app. If the pricing changes after this post is published, the canonical source will always be cai.com/main.

Safety limits you need to know

Every CAI account has a $200/day auto-limit on custodial transfers. You cannot spend more than $200 per day without an explicit user action to raise the limit. This is the default, not something you need to configure.

New-recipient confirmation applies to every transfer: the first time you send to a new address, the hosted-action confirmation page shows you the recipient, the amount, and the chain before you tap. No previous confirmation applies to a new address.

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If you signed up and the API key dashboard didn't show the scope you expected

Comment below with:

1. What you ran — the install command, the request, the MCP host config. Copy the actual command or request.
2. What you expected — one sentence.
3. What you got — the error message, the empty response, the unexpected behavior. Paste it verbatim.
4. Your environment — OS, Node version, the MCP host (OpenClaw / Hermes / Codex / Cursor / other), the CAI account tier if relevant.

Every comment on this article gets read. Bug reports will be replied to within 24 hours. Friction points shape what we document next.

Documentation: cai.com/skill.md · cai.com/developers.html · cai.com/app to sign up.