How to pay for AI tools with a virtual dollar card

Updated on November 7, 2026

Author: Gabi da Guará · reviewed by the Guarapay team

Most AI tools bill in US dollars, by card, with automatic renewal and often extra usage on top of the plan. This guide groups them by how they charge, what is specific to each one and how a prepaid dollar card keeps every charge under a cap you set.

Issue virtual card

How to pay for AI tools with a virtual dollar card

How are AI subscriptions billed?

Almost every AI tool has a free tier and paid plans priced in dollars, paid by card on the service website. The plan renews automatically on the billing date, monthly or yearly; a yearly plan takes the whole year in one charge.

On top of the plan, many tools meter usage: credits per generation, AI model usage above what the plan includes, seats for a team or API calls. Depending on the plan and your account settings, that usage is either stopped until renewal or billed to the same card as separate charges. API access is a separate product from the chat subscription, with its own bill.

Guarapay issues a virtual prepaid Mastercard with a US-dollar balance in about two minutes, in the web app or the Telegram mini app @guarapay_bot. The card works online wherever Mastercard is accepted, and it can only spend the balance you put on it. Some merchants may decline cards under their own rules, so check in the app that the first charge was approved.

Image, video and music: Midjourney, Runway, Suno

Midjourney: a subscription paid by card on its website, monthly or yearly depending on what is offered; a per-purchase cap below the yearly price blocks the payment.
Runway: generation is paid in credits, which depend on the model and, for video, on the length. A plan gives credits per billing period and the Free plan a one-time starter amount; on a paid plan you can buy more credits as a separate payment, and each pack is one more purchase on the card.
Runway: buy a credit pack only when you know how many seconds of video you generate; guessing from the free credits usually underestimates the use. Check on the pricing page whether unused credits carry over.
Suno: Pro or Premier, monthly or yearly, on the suno.com pricing page. Suno ties commercial use of songs to its paid plans, while songs made on the free plan are for non-commercial use; the rights follow the plan active when the song was created, not the card you paid with.

Assistants and AI search: Perplexity, Gemini

Perplexity: Pro raises the allowance of deeper searches, lets you pick models and upload files; Max sits above it. Pay on the subscription page in the browser: a purchase inside the iPhone or Android app goes through the App Store or Google Play with its own price and cancellation.
Perplexity: Pro is often given for a limited time through partner promotions. When it ends the account drops to the free tier, so load the card a day or two before the end date. The Sonar API is bought as prepaid credits in the API section and has nothing to do with the Pro renewal.
Gemini: Google AI Pro (formerly Gemini Advanced) and Google AI Ultra, with higher limits, are bought on the same Google subscription flow at gemini.google/subscriptions. Google checks the billing address against the card, and a payments profile created in another country may need a new one.
Gemini: on the web the charge goes to your Google payments profile; inside the Android app it goes through Google Play, and on iPhone through the App Store. Cancel in the same place you subscribed.
ChatGPT and Claude have their own guides on this site.

Coding: Cursor, GitHub Copilot, AI app builders

Cursor: the upgrade option in the editor usually opens the payment page in the browser. The paid plan includes a certain amount of AI model usage, and usage above it may be billed separately to the same card; set a spending limit in the Cursor dashboard if it allows it.
Cursor: subscribe and sign in to the editor with the same account, or the paid plan does not show up.
GitHub Copilot: the card goes in the billing and payment method section of your account or organization settings. In an organization, whoever manages billing adds the card there and the team’s Copilot seats are charged to it, so a yearly plan or several seats must fit your per-purchase cap.
GitHub: some features may be billed by usage on top of the subscription; check the billing summary before the renewal date.
Replit, Lovable, Vercel and Supabase: plans are listed on their pricing pages, and usage beyond the plan (credits, bandwidth, database size) can be billed on top. Some of these sites reject prepaid or virtual cards under their own rules.

Voice, translation and presentations: ElevenLabs, DeepL, Gamma

ElevenLabs: each paid plan gives credits per period, spent as you generate audio. When they run out, the account may stop until renewal or bill extra usage separately; API usage usually spends credits from the same account.
DeepL: a German company that shows prices in the currency it offers for your country, which can be euros. If the charge is in euros, the card network converts it from the dollar balance at its own rate, so leave a small margin.
DeepL: DeepL Pro and the DeepL API are separate plans and separate purchases; the API has a Free tier with a monthly character allowance, and on a paid plan its charge changes with the volume you translate.
Gamma: the free plan has a limited amount of AI credits, and paid plans raise it and unlock extras such as removing the Gamma branding. Team workspaces are usually billed per member, and the whole amount comes out of the card in one charge.

API credits: OpenAI, Anthropic and other providers

With an API you pay for what you consume, by volume of text, images or processing time. Some providers sell prepaid credits, others bill usage at the end of the cycle; the billing page in the provider console says which one applies.

A leaked API key or a code loop with a bug can burn through credits fast. Use three limits together: a spending limit in the provider console, the monthly and per-purchase caps in the Guarapay app, and a card balance that covers only the month. Avoid automatic credit top-ups if the balance is bigger than the budget you are willing to risk.

Each credit purchase is one approved charge, so group spending into a few larger purchases instead of many small ones. If a generation failed but credits were deducted, that is up to the provider: open a ticket with the request log.

How to pay any AI tool with the card, step by step

Open the Guarapay web app or the Telegram mini app @guarapay_bot, create an account and issue the virtual Mastercard: $ 19 on Standard or $ 99 on Premium.
On the service pricing page, note the plan price, the currency and whether it is monthly or yearly.
Top up that amount plus $ 0.25 per expected charge, with USDT or a Visa or Mastercard bank card in your name; add a buffer if the tool bills extra usage.
Pay on the service website, not inside a mobile app: enter the card number, expiry date, security code, name and billing address exactly as in the Guarapay app.
If 3-D Secure is requested, approve it in the app; the purchase notification arrives right away.
Set a monthly cap and a per-purchase cap in the app just above the plan price, and a spending limit in the service dashboard where it exists.

How much does paying for AI tools with the card cost?

The plan or credit price is whatever the service shows at checkout; Guarapay does not change it. On the card side there is a one-off issue fee of $ 19 on Standard or $ 99 on Premium, and no monthly fee, so months without use cost nothing.

The top-up fee is 10% with USDT on Standard and 5% on Premium, and 10% with a bank card on both plans. Every approved charge costs $ 0.25: the plan, each extra usage charge and each credit pack count separately, and declined charges are free.

A bank-card top-up is an international transaction for your bank, which may add its own taxes and exchange rate; USDT lands directly in dollars. The card handles up to $ 10,000 a month on Standard and $ 100,000 on Premium, so a yearly plan or a large credit pack has to fit in one payment.

Why was an AI payment declined?

Balance: it must cover the plan, credits or usage charge plus $ 0.25, and a margin if the charge is in euros.
Caps in the app: the monthly or per-purchase cap is below the amount, typically for a yearly plan, team seats or a big credit pack.
A plan change, such as Pro to Max or monthly to yearly, creates a larger charge than planned; so does a credit purchase made on the renewal day.
Frozen card: unfreeze it in the app.
Name or billing address differ from the app; Google in particular checks the address.
The service declines prepaid or virtual cards under its own rules or anti-fraud checks. Wait a few minutes, try once more without repeating many times, then contact Guarapay support in Telegram.

How do you keep renewals and usage under control?

Before each billing date, keep the renewal amount plus $ 0.25 on the card, plus a buffer for usage if it is turned on. If the balance is too low, the payment is declined and the money stays on your balance.

Start monthly when you are testing a tool: the charge is smaller and easy to stop. Freeze the card in one tap to pause every charge, and cancel in the service settings, or in the App Store or Google Play for a plan bought in the app, to stop for good.

Sources

FAQ

Do AI tools accept virtual cards?

They take card payments, and the Guarapay card works wherever Mastercard is accepted. Some services decline prepaid or virtual cards under their own rules, so check the approval in the app.

Can one card pay for several AI tools?

Yes. Each subscription, usage charge and credit pack is a separate purchase with its own $ 0.25 fee, so add them up when you set the balance and the monthly cap.

Can I pay AI tools with USDT?

Not at their checkouts, which take cards: top up the Guarapay card with USDT (10% on Standard, 5% on Premium) and pay with the card.

How do I stop usage charges above my plan?

Set a spending limit in the service dashboard where it exists, and per-purchase and monthly caps in the Guarapay app; a charge above the cap is declined.

Is the chat subscription the same as the API?

No. They are separate products with separate billing; the same card can pay both, as two separate purchases.

Is there a monthly fee for the card?

No. You pay the issue fee of $ 19 ($ 99 on Premium), the top-up fee of 10% with USDT (5% on Premium) or 10% with a bank card, and $ 0.25 per approved purchase.