# You see the price before the run, not after

looot prices every operation by what it actually costs to run, shows you the quote first, and never adds an invented markup.

## Four rules, no exceptions

- Priced by what the operation charges for -- per call, per result, or per matched record, whichever the provider actually bills on.
- You see the quote before you run -- inspect returns the price basis, run returns the quoted price before it executes.
- No invented markup -- the price shown is the provider's own cost basis.
- Reserve, settle, refund -- never a silent charge. A run reserves against your balance, settles once it finishes, and refunds the difference.

## Example prices

- Hunter (hunter-email-finder), per result -- $0.0265
- Exa (exa-search), quoted -- $0.009
- Diffbot (diffbot-article), settled -- $0.0032

## For agents

Numeric prices for the same three example operations, plus the reserve/settle mechanism as the run lifecycle sees it.

- **hunter-email-finder price basis**: per result, $0.0265
- **exa-search price basis**: quoted, $0.009
- **diffbot-article price basis**: settled, $0.0032
- **lifecycle**: quote (inspect/run) -> reserve -> settle -> refund difference