AI Agent Trust & Governance
Arcade Growth plan: what’s included and when do usage charges kick in?
6 min read
Quick Answer: The Growth plan gives you full access to Arcade’s MCP runtime and toolkits with a low platform fee and usage-based pricing. Usage charges kick in once you start consuming metered resources (like runtime hours and user challenges) beyond the Free plan limits.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s included in the Arcade Growth plan?
Short Answer: The Growth plan includes unlimited toolkit access, support for both cloud and self-hosted deployments, and a low monthly platform fee, with usage-based billing on top.
Expanded Explanation:
Arcade’s Growth plan is designed for teams moving from experiments to production AI agents. You get the same MCP runtime, secure agent authorization, and agent-optimized tools that power larger deployments—without jumping straight to an Enterprise contract.
From day one on Growth, you can run Arcade-hosted and self-hosted runtimes, wire agents to systems like Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, GitHub, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Linear, and control access with scoped OAuth and user-specific permissions. All features and the latest pricing details are always kept up to date at arcade.dev/pricing.
Key Takeaways:
- Growth includes unlimited access to Arcade’s MCP toolkits.
- You pay a predictable platform fee plus usage-based charges for what you actually consume.
When do usage charges start on the Growth plan?
Short Answer: Usage charges start as soon as you begin consuming metered resources (like runtime hours and user challenges) on Growth, and increase only when you exceed your current plan limits.
Expanded Explanation:
On Growth, you pay a monthly platform fee plus variable usage based on how much you actually run: how many times users are challenged for new permissions, how many MCP runtimes are running, and how long Arcade-hosted runtimes stay online. If you approach or exceed the limits of the Growth tier, Arcade will automatically move you to the next appropriate tier and notify you beforehand.
Enterprise-level usage (high sustained volume or advanced governance needs like dedicated tenancy) triggers a move to an Enterprise plan within 30 days of notification. You can cancel a usage-based plan at any time, but you’re still responsible for outstanding usage that’s already accrued.
Steps:
- Start on Growth by paying the platform fee listed at arcade.dev/pricing.
- Run your agents; usage accumulates as you consume metered resources (runtime hours, user challenges, etc.).
- If your usage exceeds Growth thresholds, Arcade notifies you and automatically upgrades you to the next tier; heavy, sustained usage may require an Enterprise agreement.
How is Growth different from the Free and Enterprise plans?
Short Answer: Growth sits between Free and Enterprise: more capacity and support than Free, without the dedicated isolation, RBAC, SSO/SAML, and custom SLAs that come with Enterprise.
Expanded Explanation:
Free is for early experiments: you get access to Arcade’s core runtime and tools, but with tighter limits and community-based support. Growth is for teams shipping real agents: higher limits, always-on runtimes, and email support with an SLA. Enterprise is for organizations that need advanced governance and isolation—dedicated tenancy, audit logs, RBAC, SSO/SAML, and a dedicated account rep.
Every plan includes the same core idea: agents act with user-specific permissions, credentials stay out of the LLM, and you can deploy Arcade in the cloud or on your own infrastructure.
Comparison Snapshot:
- Free: No platform fee, unlimited toolkit access, community (GitHub) support, shared tenancy, starter limits.
- Growth: $25 platform fee (see pricing page for latest), unlimited toolkit access, higher limits, email support with SLA, shared tenancy.
- Enterprise: Platform fee included in contract, unlimited toolkit access, dedicated tenancy, audit logs, RBAC, SSO/SAML, dedicated account rep & custom SLA. Best for: security-conscious teams, high-volume, multi-tenant, or regulated workloads.
How do I actually get started on the Growth plan?
Short Answer: Sign up, choose Growth on the pricing page, configure billing, then connect your first integration and deploy your MCP runtime.
Expanded Explanation:
Moving to Growth is intentionally low-ceremony. You start by creating an Arcade account, upgrading to the Growth tier, and adding your billing details. From there, you can immediately spin up an Arcade-hosted runtime or deploy Arcade on your own infrastructure, then wire in tools like Google.SendEmail, Google.CreateEvent, Gmail.ListEmails, or Slack and CRM tools.
Because Arcade is the runtime between AI and action, your next step is usually to connect an LLM client (Cursor, Claude, LangGraph, etc.), configure OAuth scopes, and start testing agents that can actually send emails, schedule meetings, or update tickets—always with user-specific permissions.
What You Need:
- An Arcade account and selection of the Growth plan with billing configured.
- Access to the systems you want agents to touch (e.g., Google Workspace, Slack, GitHub, Salesforce) so you can set up OAuth and permissions.
How does pricing on Growth connect to business outcomes?
Short Answer: Growth pricing tracks the real value you get—agents actually taking actions across your systems—without upfront enterprise lock-in or surprise seat fees.
Expanded Explanation:
Most agent projects stall when they hit auth, not model quality. With Growth, you get production-grade secure agent authorization and tooling without waiting for an Enterprise contract. That means you can ship agents that move from “chat about a task” to “do the task”—send the email, create the calendar event, post to Slack, update Salesforce—while paying a low platform fee plus usage that scales with your success.
Because Arcade uses transparent, usage-based pricing (no seat licenses, no hidden fees), you can experiment broadly, standardize on Arcade as your MCP runtime, and only graduate to Enterprise when you truly need advanced governance, dedicated tenancy, or custom SLAs.
Why It Matters:
- You avoid rebuilding OAuth, token storage, and permissioning for every integration, which saves real engineering time and incident risk.
- You can prove value quickly—showing live agents taking safe actions in production—before committing to an enterprise-wide rollout.
Quick Recap
The Arcade Growth plan gives you unlimited toolkit access, cloud and self-hosted deployment options, and support tuned for teams moving agents into production. You pay a small platform fee plus usage-based charges that kick in as you consume metered resources, with clear upgrade paths and no surprise seat licenses. When your usage and governance needs outgrow Growth, you can step into Enterprise for dedicated tenancy, audit logs, RBAC, and SSO/SAML.