Muse Code Pricing Tiers: Muse Spark Standard vs Contributor Tier
Muse Code pricing splits into two tiers that differ by more than an order of magnitude on every token line item.
| Line item | Standard tier | Contributor tier |
|---|---|---|
| Model ID | muse-spark-1.2 | muse-spark-1.2-contributor |
| Input, per 1M tokens | $1.25 | $0.10 |
| Output, per 1M tokens | $4.25 | $0.20 |
| Cached input, per 1M | $0.15 | $0.002 |
| Rate limit | 3,000 RPM / 4M TPM | 60 RPM / 2.1M TPM |
| Training on your data | Meta says it does not train on your prompts | You grant Meta training rights |
| Availability | Broad | Some countries only |
| Free quota | None | None |
| Monthly plan | None — usage-based | None — usage-based |
Tier gap: 12.5x on input, 21.25x on output, 75x on cache. Every figure is as reported by agreeing third-party trackers — Meta's own pricing and rate limits documentation is JavaScript-rendered, so no direct quotation exists. Rates and Muse Spark usage limits both moved between 1.1 and 1.2; Muse Code pricing stays volatile during beta. Verified 6 August 2026.
Is Muse Code Free? No Free Quota, No Trial Credit
Muse Code is not free, and unlike most rival coding agents it ships with no starter allowance.
Muse Code is not free: no free quota, no trial tier, no bundled Muse Spark 1.2 allowance — every request bills against a payment method you attach first. Muse Code pricing is unusual that way.
Is there a Muse Code free quota for new accounts?
No current source shows one. A $20 signup credit was reported in the Muse Spark 1.1 era, community reports suggest, but nothing on Meta's live documentation confirms it. Budget as though the Muse Code free quota is zero.
What Muse Code pricing bills you for
- Input tokens — your prompt plus every file, tool result and replayed turn re-sent.
- Cached input — repeated prefix content, at the reduced cache rate.
- Output tokens — everything the agent writes back, reasoning included.
Input volume dominates Muse Code bills: a terminal agent re-sends its whole context every turn, so cache behaviour moves real Muse Code pricing more than the headline rate — visible in our Muse Code cost calculator. Still deciding? Start with what Muse Code is.
Why There Is No Muse Code Monthly Plan or Muse Spark Subscription
Muse Code billing runs entirely on metered token usage — no plan, no seat, no credits.
There is no Muse Code monthly plan. Meta bills Muse Code through the same metered pipe as Muse Spark API access, so no Muse Spark subscription and no seat licence exist. Attach a card, run the agent, pay for tokens used.
- A subscription turns unpredictable usage into a fixed number. Claude Code Pro, Cursor Pro and Copilot Pro cap your worst month at the sticker price, then throttle.
- Muse Code pricing turns a fixed number into unpredictable usage. A quiet week costs cents; a week of background agents has no ceiling.
Light and bursty users win under Muse Code pricing: a few tasks weekly land below a $20 subscription. Heavy daily users are the reverse — sustained Standard work passes a subscription's monthly price within days, the crossover examined in our Muse Code vs Claude Code comparison. Muse Code CLI, the Muse Spark API and OpenRouter all bill per token.
Muse Code Pricing Per Agent Turn: The Arithmetic
Per-token rates mean little until you convert them into one realistic Muse Code agent turn.
| Scenario (60K in / 3K out) | Standard | Contributor |
|---|---|---|
| One turn, cold context | ≈ 8.8¢ | ≈ 0.66¢ |
| One turn, cache-warm input | ≈ 2.2¢ | ≈ 0.07¢ |
| 50-turn session, cold | ≈ $4.39 | ≈ $0.33 |
| 50-turn session, cache-warm | ≈ $1.09 | ≈ $0.04 |
| 1,000 turns, cold | ≈ $87.75 | ≈ $6.60 |
Arithmetic: Standard cold = 60,000 input at $1.25/M ($0.075) + 3,000 output at $4.25/M ($0.01275) = $0.08775, or 8.8¢. Cache-warm swaps that input line for 60,000 cached at $0.15/M ($0.009) = $0.02175, or 2.2¢. Contributor cold = 60,000 at $0.10/M ($0.006) + 3,000 at $0.20/M ($0.0006) = $0.0066, or 0.66¢. 60K input is an ordinary Muse Code turn; background agents on a 1M-token context cost far more, so rows are a floor.
Muse Code Pricing vs the Cheapest AI Coding Agent Options
Metered Muse Code pricing and subscription rivals are different units, so read both columns.
| Tool | Entry price (as reported) | Free tier |
|---|---|---|
| Muse Code — Contributor | $0.10 / $0.20 per M tokens | None |
| Muse Code — Standard | $1.25 / $4.25 per M tokens | None |
| Claude Code | Pro $17–20 / month | None |
| OpenAI Codex | Go $8 / month; Plus $20 / month | Yes |
| Cursor | Pro $20 / month | Yes (Hobby) |
| GitHub Copilot | Pro $10 / month | Yes |
| DeepSeek V4-Flash | $0.14 / $0.28 per M tokens | n/a |
Contributor undercuts DeepSeek V4-Flash by 28.6% on both sides ($0.10 vs $0.14 in, $0.20 vs $0.28 out), arguably making Muse Code the cheapest AI coding agent per token in August 2026, if its data terms suit you. Subscription figures are entry list prices as reported, excluding overages; comparing them to per-token rates needs a usage assumption. Nine tools are ranked in our best AI coding agents roundup.
Capping Muse Code Spend: No Hard Limit Exists
The loudest complaint about Muse Code pricing is not the rate card — nothing stops the meter running.
Muse Code has no hard spending limit. Email alerts at spend thresholds exist, but an alert is a notification, not a brake — the agent keeps working and the meter runs on. That gap dominated the Hacker News launch thread, where a commenter described being "one oopsie away from a $100 bill".
Community workarounds for Muse Code pricing exposure
- Virtual card with a hard limit. A low ceiling declines past it — blunt, but a real cap.
- OpenRouter per-key limits. Its Muse Spark 1.2 listing buys a ceiling first-party billing never offers — see our Muse Spark API guide.
- Contributor for throwaway work. At a twentieth of Standard rates, a runaway loop costs a twentieth as much.
- Estimate first. Price expected volume in our Muse Code cost calculator.
None is an official Muse Code feature and none replaces a real cap. Where a hard ceiling is a requirement, a subscription tool fits better — see Muse Code alternatives.
Muse Code Contributor Tier Data Terms, Read Closely
Contributor tier is not a promotion — it is payment in kind, and Muse Code pricing puts a number on it.
Muse Code Contributor tier is cheap because you pay part of the bill in data: selecting muse-spark-1.2-contributor grants Meta rights to train on your prompts and completions, while Standard carries the opposite commitment — Meta says it does not train on prompts sent there. That trade is what the 12.5x and 21.25x gaps price.
The grant follows the model ID per request, not your account or your repository, so Contributor suits scratch code and Standard suits work under NDA. Clause-by-clause reading, Standard tier trust and rival data policies live in our Muse Code privacy guide; model detail sits in our Muse Spark 1.2 spec sheet.
Related Muse Code Guides
Guides that pick up where this Muse Code pricing breakdown stops.
- Muse Code Cost CalculatorPrice your token volumes.
- Muse Code Privacy and Data UseBoth tiers' data terms.
- Muse Code vs Claude CodeTokens against a subscription.
- How to Install Muse CodeSetup on macOS or Linux.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Muse Code pricing include any free Muse Spark 1.2 usage?
None has been confirmed. Muse Code pricing is metered from the first token — no trial tier, no monthly allowance. Reports of a $20 signup credit date from the Muse Spark 1.1 era and stay unverified, so budget as though the free quota is zero.
Can I set a spending limit on Muse Code?
Not a hard one. Muse Code supports email alerts at spend thresholds, but an alert never stops the agent or blocks charges. Developers cap exposure indirectly — a virtual card with a low ceiling, or OpenRouter's per-key spend limits. Neither is an official Muse Code feature.
Is there a Muse Code monthly plan?
No. There is no Muse Code monthly plan and no Muse Spark subscription of any kind. Billing is metered per token against a payment method on file, so a quiet month costs almost nothing and a heavy month has no ceiling.
Why is the Contributor tier 20x cheaper?
Because you pay the difference in data. Muse Code Contributor grants Meta rights to train on your prompts and completions; Standard carries a stated no-training commitment. Real gaps are 12.5x on input, 21.25x on output and 75x on cache — "20x" is a rounded headline.
Is Muse Code cheaper than Claude Code?
It depends on volume. Claude Code Pro is reported at $17–20 per month flat, while Muse Code pricing is metered: at roughly 8.8¢ per cold Standard turn, you pass $20 near 230 turns. Light users pay less with Muse Code; heavy daily users pay less on a subscription.
Is a Muse Code payment method required before you start?
Yes. A payment method must be attached before you run the agent, because Muse Code pricing has no free quota to draw down first. Sign-up runs through a Meta account. Where a card on file with no hard spending cap is unacceptable, a virtual card is the usual workaround.
What are the Muse Spark usage limits on each tier?
Standard is reported at 3,000 requests per minute and 4M tokens per minute; Contributor at just 60 requests and 2.1M tokens. The request-rate gap is the practical one: 60 RPM suits interactive Muse Code work but is tight for parallel background agents.
Sources
- Meta — Muse Spark pricing and rate limits documentationdev.meta.ai
- Meta AI Research — Introducing Muse Code and Muse Spark 1.2research.meta.ai
- Meta for Developers — Muse Spark model pagedeveloper.meta.com
- OpenRouter — meta/muse-spark-1.2 listingopenrouter.ai
- Hacker News — Muse Code launch discussionnews.ycombinator.com