# GHAN pricing and rate card

> GHAN charges per cleared install at a published floor price set by the category of the app being installed. The floor never rises and anyone can always buy at it; above it, advertisers may bid for priority in contested inventory. No subscription, no minimum spend, 30 percent network fee.

Source: https://ghan.io/pricing/  
Published: 2026-09-22 · Updated: 2026-09-22  
Publisher: GHAN — the audited cross-promotion network for desktop apps (https://ghan.io)

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## The rate card

These are **floor** prices, not fixed prices. Any approved advertiser can always buy at them, and the floor never rises. Above it, [bidding](/bidding/) allocates priority when a category is contested. Prices are per **cleared** install — an install that was deterministically attributed and was still in use 48 hours later. Installs that do not clear are refunded and cost nothing.

| Category | Per cleared install | Typical members |
|---|---|---|
| Utilities and consumer | EUR 12–18 | Menu-bar utilities, cleaners, converters, window managers |
| Creator tools | EUR 20–30 | Screen recorders, editors, design tools, capture apps |
| Prosumer and B2B | EUR 35–50 | Developer tools, database clients, API clients, team software |

The card is stored in `packages/shared/ratecard.ts`, published through the `get_rate_card` MCP tool, and changing it is a versioned change that partners can see. There is no rate you can *negotiate* that is not on this page — the only way to pay more is to bid publicly for priority, and the only way to pay less does not exist.

## The split

For every cleared install:

- The **advertiser** pays the CPI for their category.
- The **serving app** earns 70 percent of it.
- **GHAN** keeps 30 percent, which pays for the vetting, the fraud pipeline, the escrow and the settlement.

If the serving app takes its earning as network credits instead of cash, the amount is multiplied by **1.2** — so 70 percent of the CPI becomes 84 percent of the CPI in spending power inside the network.

### A worked example

A creator tool priced at EUR 24 per cleared install:

| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Advertiser is charged at `install_claim` (escrow hold) | EUR 24.00 |
| Chain clears at 48 hours | — |
| Serving app earns, cash | EUR 16.80 |
| Serving app earns, taken as credits | EUR 20.16 of spending power |
| GHAN keeps | EUR 7.20 |

If that install had not survived 48 hours, every number in that table would be zero and the EUR 24 would be back in the advertiser's wallet.

## Credits

One credit is one euro cent. Credits are the single unit of account in the network:

- **Top up** with cash through Stripe Checkout, or machine-to-machine over x402 with USDC on Base if your agent is paying.
- **Earn** by serving placements that clear.
- **Spend** on your own campaigns at the published rate.
- **Cash out** through Stripe Connect once the balance reaches EUR 50, paid monthly.

An app that serves as much as it buys never touches a card. That is the intended steady state of the network, and the credit bonus exists to make it the cheapest one.

## What you are not charged for

- Impressions. Free, unlimited, never billed.
- Clicks. Free. A click that never becomes a surviving install costs nothing.
- Installs that fail the 48-hour retention check.
- Installs rejected by any fraud rule — token reuse, expiry, VM or datacenter signals, click-to-install-time anomalies.
- Chains that die for any reason at all. The default on ambiguity is refund.

## Bidding above the floor

Optional, and most members will never use it. Set `max_bid_cents` on a campaign and you compete for priority in contested inventory at **second price** — you pay one cent above the next-highest competing bid, never your own maximum. Leave it unset and you buy at floor forever.

Three things the floor guarantees regardless of what anyone bids:

1. **The floor never rises.** It is a constant in code, changed only as a versioned, announced change.
2. **Thirty percent of every category is reserved** at floor price and is never auctioned.
3. **Pair caps still bind.** A bid cannot buy its way out of a fraud control.

The serving app earns 70 percent of the price that *cleared*, not of the floor — which is how an app with genuinely good inventory ends up earning more than one without. Full mechanism: [bidding](/bidding/).

## Pair caps

Until both apps in a pair have a behaviour score, the net flow between them is capped at **EUR 500 per month**. Above EUR 500 per day, a pair clears on day-7 engagement rather than 48-hour retention.

These caps are not a pricing tier and cannot be bought out. They exist because two colluding apps are the cheapest attack on any two-sided install network, and a cap plus a slower clearing bar makes the attack unprofitable rather than merely detectable. Read [fraud prevention](/fraud-prevention/) for the rest of the ladder.

## Deposits and KYC

- Apps with no trading history buying above a small volume post a refundable **EUR 250** deposit, returned after 1000 cleared installs with clean retention.
- Apps with zero history buying more than EUR 1000 per month complete Stripe Identity verification.
- Payouts run through Stripe Connect Express, monthly, at a EUR 50 minimum.

## Getting a price without talking to anyone

```
get_rate_card {}
```

That MCP tool is public and unauthenticated. So is `get_network_stats`. You do not need an account, a sales call or an email address to know exactly what GHAN costs.

## Questions people ask about this

### What does a cleared install mean?

A cleared install is a referred install that was attributed by a valid single-use token, claimed by the receiving app with its own signature, and still present and in use 48 hours later. Installs that do not survive that window are refunded to the advertiser automatically and cost nothing.

### Is the rate card a floor or a fixed price?

A floor. Any approved advertiser can always buy at the published price and the floor never rises, which is the protection a one-time-licence app actually needs. Above the floor there is a second-price auction for priority when a category is contested, and thirty percent of every category is reserved at floor and never auctioned. A purely fixed price cannot clear a market or reward the apps supplying the best inventory; a floor plus a market above it does both. See /bidding/.

### What is the 1.2x credit bonus?

A serving app earns 70 percent of the CPI. If it takes that earning as network credits rather than a cash payout, the amount is multiplied by 1.2, so 70 percent of CPI becomes 84 percent of CPI in spending power. Credits keep value inside the network and cost GHAN less to settle than a bank transfer, so the bonus is shared back.

### Is there a minimum spend or subscription?

No. There is no subscription, no seat licence and no minimum spend. You top up a credit balance and spend it, or you earn credits by serving placements and never pay cash at all.

### What is the refundable deposit for?

Apps with no trading history that want to buy more than a small volume immediately post a refundable EUR 250 deposit. It is returned after 1000 cleared installs with clean retention. It exists because the cheapest attack on any install network is a funded buyer colluding with a seller, and a deposit makes the first round of that attack cost real money.