COSTS
ChainMemory charges protocol fees in AIC, the native token of its network. The rule is simple: reading is always free, writing is not. Anything that produces a permanent, verifiable record costs something, because that record lives on-chain and stays there.
Fee schedule
| Operation | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Save a memory | 0.001 AIC + on-chain storage | storage grows with the length of the memory — see below |
| Inject memories into a chat | 0.1 AIC | per injection, whatever the number of memories (up to 50) |
| Consolidate project state | 0.05 AIC + 0.005 per applied operation | rejected operations are not charged; if the state does not change, nothing is charged |
| Write or roll back a project state directly | 0.1 AIC | a rollback creates a new version identical to the restored one — history is never mutated |
| Seal a memory permanently | 0.001 AIC | after sealing, a memory can no longer be modified |
| Audit one memory | 0.1 AIC | free with dry_run |
| Audit a project state | 5 AIC | free with dry_run — the most expensive operation in the system |
| Open an audited role session | 0.001 AIC | Verifiable Role Contracts |
| Everything else | free | reading, searching, listing, filtering, tagging, archiving, public verification, anchoring proofs, price quotes, creating an account, registering an identity |
Why saving costs more when the memory is longer
A memory is not only hashed: its encrypted content is written on-chain. That is what lets you decrypt it years later from a different device, and what lets a third party confirm the record was not altered. It also means every byte is permanent and consumes network gas.
Measured on the live network on 5 August 2026, over 16 real transactions spanning 4 to 17,231 bytes. The total cost of saving a memory is 0.00134 AIC + 0.00000071 AIC per byte of text. That already includes the 0.001 protocol fee, the gas of the two fee transfers and the gas of the on-chain write. It holds at the current network gas price of 1 gwei; if that price changes, the gas portion scales with it.
| Text length | Measured total |
|---|---|
| 1,000 bytes | 0.0020 AIC |
| 2,000 bytes | 0.0028 AIC |
| 5,000 bytes | 0.0049 AIC |
| 8,000 bytes | 0.0070 AIC |
| 17,000 bytes | 0.0134 AIC |
| 19,972 bytes — the ceiling | 0.0155 AIC |
ChainMemory imposes no character limit. The only ceiling is technical: a single memory must fit in one network transaction. That limit is 20,000 bytes of encrypted content. Encryption adds exactly 28 bytes (a 12-byte IV and a 16-byte authentication tag), so the real ceiling is 19,972 bytes of text — about 19,972 characters of plain ASCII, and fewer when the text uses accents, emoji or non-Latin scripts, since those take 2 to 4 bytes each.
Check the price before you pay
Two operations let you see the exact cost first, at no charge:
Which memory ids exist, which do not, total characters, estimated tokens, the exact AIC cost with its burn and treasury split, and whether your balance covers it. Free.
Pass dry_run: true and both return the complete audit result without charging. Pay only when you need the audit on record.
Plans
Protocol fees are independent of your subscription plan: a Free account and an Enterprise account pay the same AIC per operation. What the plan changes is volume — how many memories, injections and projects you may hold — and the organization features: role-based access control, member and project keys, and audit trail.
Plans and their limits are listed at chainmemory.ai. Paid plans also include a monthly allowance of AIC.