Developer Tiers — split, caps, payouts
Four developer tiers unlock higher revenue splits, more apps, and bigger rate limits
Imperal's marketplace works on a tier system. Each developer is in one of four tiers; the tier controls your revenue split, app cap, payout access, and rate limits. Higher tier = more money per call + bigger ceiling.
TL;DR — your default is explorer (70/30 split, no payout). To unlock 80/20 + payouts you pay an annual tier subscription in tokens. Renews each year; if you stop paying, you drop back to explorer (existing earnings stay in your balance).
The four tiers
| Tier | Revenue split (dev/platform) | Max apps | Payout enabled | Analytics window | Rate limit | Annual price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| explorer | 70 / 30 | 1 | ❌ accrue only | 7 days | 100 req/min | Free (default) |
| indie | 80 / 20 | 3 | ✅ | 30 days | 500 req/min | 9,000 tokens / year |
| studio | 85 / 15 | 10 | ✅ | 90 days | 2,000 req/min | 29,000 tokens / year |
| partner | 95 / 5 | unlimited | ✅ | 365 days | 5,000 req/min | 79,000 tokens / year |
What "Payout enabled" means
On explorer tier you still earn — developer_share accrues into developer_earnings rows just like every other tier. But you cannot withdraw to USD until you upgrade to indie or higher. When you upgrade, all your accrued earnings become payout-eligible immediately.
Think of explorer as "try the marketplace risk-free." Build, ship, see real users use it, watch earnings tick up. When the numbers justify, upgrade to indie and cash out.
What "Max apps" means
Hard cap on the number of developer_apps rows you can own with status ∈ ('draft', 'pending_review', 'active', 'suspended'). Permanently archived apps don't count. If you hit the cap, either delete an unused draft or upgrade.
What "Analytics window" means
The maximum days parameter for GET /v1/developer/apps/{app_id}/analytics?days=N. Beyond your tier's window the API returns 400.
- explorer: last 7 days only
- indie: last 30 days
- studio: last 90 days
- partner: full year (365 days)
What "Rate limit" means
Per-developer cap on Dev Portal API requests per minute (anti-abuse). Won't normally matter unless you're scripting bulk operations.
Upgrade math — when does indie pay back?
Indie costs 9,000 tokens / year (~$9/year at default topup_rate=0.001 USD/token). The 80/20 split vs explorer's 70/30 means you keep an extra 10 percentage points of every action call. Break-even depends on your action volume:
extra_per_action = action_cost × 0.10
break_even_actions = 9000 / extra_per_actionFor a typical 5-token action: extra = 0.5 tokens, break-even = 18,000 calls per year. If you ship an extension that gets 100 daily active users invoking 6 actions each, that's 600 calls/day = 18,000 calls in 30 days — you're past break-even after one month, and the remaining 11 months are pure extra income vs staying on explorer.
Studio + partner — when does it matter?
Studio (85/15, 29k tokens/year) pays back faster than indie ONLY if you cross ~80k actions/month — viable for popular productivity tools or developer-utility extensions used by other developers.
Partner (95/5, 79k tokens/year) is for "marketplace anchors" — apps that drive measurable platform retention. The 95/5 split means you keep almost everything; Imperal effectively becomes infrastructure for you at that point.
Renewal & lapse
Tier subscriptions auto-renew once a year on the anniversary of your last upgrade. The renewal cost = current tier's annual price (deducted from your token wallet — keep enough tokens to cover, or set up auto-topup).
If renewal fails (insufficient balance + no auto-topup):
- You drop back to explorer tier (70/30, 1 app cap, no payout)
- Existing earnings stay in your balance (NOT clawed back)
- Existing apps stay active BUT their
revenue_split_devstays at the historic rate until you edit them - Payouts already in
status='approved'continue to process - New payout requests blocked until you re-upgrade
Re-upgrade any time to restore your previous tier; no penalty for lapse, just lost time at higher split.
Partner tier today is admin-promoted only, not self-upgrade. We talk to you first about partnership terms (multi-month commitments, co-marketing, etc.). If you have a hit extension, reach out via Dev Portal → Support.
How to upgrade (or initially become a developer)
First time signing up as a developer:
- Open Imperal Panel → Developer Portal → Become a Developer
- Choose nickname (3-30 chars, unique) + starting tier
- If choosing indie/studio: token amount deducted immediately from your wallet for the first year
- Your
developer_tieris stamped +developer_registered_at = now - Auto-renew enabled by default; cancel any time via Settings
Upgrading existing developer to a higher tier:
- Open Dev Portal → Settings → Tier
- Select target tier (indie / studio)
- Confirm — annual price deducted from your wallet immediately
developer_tierflips in DB;revenue_split_devdefault for your future apps changes to match new tier; analytics window + rate limit re-apply
See also: Becoming a Developer for the full onboarding flow.
Caveat: existing apps keep their currently-set
revenue_split_devwhen you upgrade. New apps you create after the upgrade get the new tier's default. To bump split on an existing app: Pause → Edit Pricing → Save (admin re-review).
Tier locking — pricing IS pinned to tier at app creation time
If you create an app on explorer (70%) and later upgrade to indie (80%), your existing app's revenue_split_dev stays at 70 until you explicitly edit it — Imperal doesn't auto-bump because the original price was negotiated with users at the lower split.
To re-negotiate: Pause + Edit pricing in Dev Portal (admin reviews + approves, prices re-sync to Redis).
What stays the same across tiers
- Idempotency / ledger semantics
- BYOLLM pricing impact (
platform_fee = 0regardless of tier) - Stripe Connect requirements for payout (Connect needed once)
- USD conversion rate (
topup_rate, default $0.001/token)
Federal-tier promotion
Tier changes are audited in token_ledger as reason='tier_upgrade'. Bring receipts if you ever need to dispute.