I used to pay list for image gens. Official playground, official API, whatever the meter said. It works. It also adds up the second you start iterating.
Tonight I ran this still on leftover capacity. flux-2-pro. The charge came back as $0.01. Catalog list for that job is $0.03. Same model, same weights. Smaller invoice.
The picture is an empty store after close. Open fridge, one sandwich left, clock at 23:59. I asked for that on purpose. Unused daily capacity dies at midnight UTC. That is why anyone bothers listing it.
What I bought
PZERO is a marketplace for leftover daily capacity. Sellers list DIEM that is about to expire. Buyers hold prepaid USDC on Base and spend it as AI Credits on text, image, and video. One balance. The router takes the cheapest eligible offer for the job.
I do not pick a seller. I pick a live model and send the job. If supply sits above my ceiling I get a 503, not a surprise bill. If my confirmed balance is too low I get a 402.
Every AI Credit is at least 20% off face. Posted asks sit between 1¢ and 80¢ on the dollar. The average moves. I hit GET https://api.pzero.studio/v1/market/stats while writing this. Average fill vs face was about 57%. That is the last print, not a quote for your next call.
PZERO is early. Some hours the book is thin. If a job is too big for what is posted, I shrink it or I wait. Adding money does not create supply.
How I ran this one
I checked GET https://api.pzero.studio/v1/models first and used a row that was status live and modality image. The id was flux-2-pro.
Then I called POST https://api.pzero.studio/v1/image/generate with a Bearer key. Prompt was a night convenience store, open fridge, one leftover sandwich, analog clock at 23:59, no logos, no people. I set hide_watermark: true. Same price as leaving the watermark on.
The response is base64 in images[]. No hosted URL to fetch later. I decoded it and saved the file.
The cost header said $0.009. I am writing $0.01 because that is how I read a bill. List on the catalog row is $0.03 for a flux-2-pro generation.
If you do not want the API, Studio is the human door. Same balance. Top up, generate, mint a key later if you need one.
Why the invoice moved
Daily DIEM expires at UTC midnight. Only the leftover that is about to die can be sold on PZERO. People list it instead of watching it hit zero. I buy that.
The model did not get cheaper. The capacity did. I am buying a day of unused inference before the clock rolls.
If you already generate assets for a game, a client, or an agent loop, that is the useful part. You were going to pay for the job anyway.
If you already pay for this
Open https://pzero.studio. Top up. Run one still or a short chat on a model you already use. Look at the charge. Then decide if you want a key.
I am going to keep running image jobs this way until the leftover dries up for the night. Then I wait, or I shrink the next one.
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