Certora Prover Access and Billing

Use Certora Prover to verify contracts against your own specifications. Use AutoProver when you want the platform to generate specifications and run an automated analysis. The Runs API reference covers those engine runs; this guide covers classic Prover access and verification-minute billing.

You can learn CVL in the Certora Verification Language documentation. For installation, configuration files, and verification options, use the official Certora Prover documentation.

Create a key

1. Sign in, select the organization whose balance should pay for verification, and open API in its sidebar.
2. Create an API key, enable Use Certora Prover under Permissions, and copy the full value shown once. Any verified organization member can create a key.
3. Configure a Prover client that supports organization API keys, following that client release's credential setup.
4. Use your existing verification configuration. For certoraRun configuration-file usage, see the official CLI guide.

Prover key access is available on Free and paid plans. A key with Use Certora Prover gives access to Prover verification; Runs API engine endpoints still require an eligible plan.

Existing keys are not granted this permission automatically, and key permissions cannot be changed after creation. If your key lacks Use Certora Prover, create a new key with it enabled, update your client, and revoke the old key when it is no longer needed.

The key identifies both its organization and the member who created it. Verification uses that member's personal allowance and that organization's shared allowance and balance. A key from another organization cannot charge the selected organization. Keys stop working when they expire, are revoked, or their creator is banned or leaves the organization.

Client compatibility

Organization-key verification requires a compatible Prover client and backend. Follow the credential setup supplied with that client release. Legacy certoraRun releases that only accept hexadecimal CERTORAKEY credentials cannot use an organization API key through that setting. The CERTORA_API_KEY shell variable shown in Runs API examples supplies those HTTP examples; it does not configure a legacy certoraRun installation.

If your CLI rejects the key format or has no organization-key setup option, contact Support for the compatible client version. Keep your existing legacy credential setup until that client is available.

Compatible clients handle authentication and job billing for you. Developers building a client can use the advanced Prover integration reference.

Check your usage

Open the organization's API page and choose Certora Prover. The usage summary shows this UTC calendar month's free minutes used, held by open jobs, and remaining, for both you and the organization.

Your personal allowance covers verification under your identity across all organizations. The organization allowance covers all its members. A shared API key uses its creator's personal allowance, so the signed-in user's personal summary may differ from the key creator's usage.

Free-minute usage counts only minutes covered by the allowance. Settled paid usage separately shows billable verification minutes and charges for your jobs across organizations and for all members of the selected organization. Open holds and released reservations are excluded from paid totals. These monthly summaries group jobs by their UTC reservation month, even if they finish in a later month.

An organization owner can check the prepaid balance and add funds in Settings → Billing.

Verification minutes and billing

Free minutes reset at the start of each UTC calendar month. A job receives free minutes only while both allowances have minutes available:

The free part of a job is the smaller remaining allowance. Administrators can set different allowances; the usage summary shows your current limits. Creating another key does not create another allowance.

Both completed free usage and minutes held by open jobs count against the allowances. Before a job starts, the Prover reserves its maximum verification minutes and the billable part of their cost. The normal reservation is 120 minutes. A fully free job needs no prepaid balance. A partly or fully billable job starts only if the organization has enough balance for its reservation.

Billable verification costs $0.0207 per minute, with the same rate on every plan. Engine-run plan discounts do not apply to these minutes. An organization owner can add balance through Settings → Billing.

When the job finishes, billing uses its actual settled verification minutes, up to the reserved ceiling. Unused money and free-minute holds are returned. A job that never starts releases its reservation; a refunded job returns its money and free-minute holds. A job crossing a month boundary settles against the month in which it reserved its minutes.

For example, suppose you have 80 free minutes left and the organization has 30. A 120-minute reservation receives 30 free minutes and holds $1.8630 for 90 billable minutes. If the job settles 50 minutes, it uses 30 free minutes and costs $0.4140 for the remaining 20; $1.4490 of the money hold returns to the organization.

These allowances cover classic Certora Prover verification. AI Auditor, AutoProver, AutoFuzzer, and All in one engine runs follow their own run billing rules.

Legacy CERTORAKEY jobs

Legacy CERTORAKEY jobs keep their separate free-minute allowance, with a default 2,000-minute cap. Those minutes and organization-key verification minutes are separate pools. Using a legacy key does not consume or replenish the platform's personal or organization allowances.

Troubleshooting access and reservations

Open reservations left unclosed for more than 24 hours are released automatically. If a hold remains or an unexpected charge appears, contact Support with the job link and organization name.