--- title: "Pricing | KYE Protocol™" description: "KYE Protocol™ pricing is value-based, not transactional: open-source SDKs to validate the fit, the Audit Pilot™ to prove it to your board, and enterprise envelopes with platform and professional fees." url: https://kyeprotocol.com/pricing/ lang: en source: "KYE Protocol" --- > KYE Protocol™ pricing is value-based, not transactional: open-source SDKs to validate the fit, the Audit Pilot™ to prove it to your board, and enterprise envelopes with platform and professional fees. Pricing # Start free. Prove it. Scale. Validate the fit with open tooling, prove it to your board with a scoped pilot, then scale with confidence. Exact numbers are disclosed under qualification. Open Source ## Validate the fit. - SDK (TypeScript · Python · Go) - CLI and local adjudication - Self-assessment fixtures - Community support [Explore the SDK](https://kyeprotocol.com/developers/) Recommended · Audit Pilot™ ## Prove it to your board. - A scoped Evidence Pack™ - Regulator-ready report - Standard mutual NDA on request - Guided onboarding [Start a pilot](https://kyeprotocol.com/pilot-apply/) Enterprise ## Scale with confidence. - HSM-ready (BYOK) signing - Dedicated support - Custom sector packs - Private connector profiles [Talk to us](https://kyeprotocol.com/book-a-demo/) Why annual recurring ## The protocol runs continuously. Value compounds. Three things stay true every single day a KYE™ runtime is deployed: ### The audit chain accumulates Every privileged AI-agent action emits a evidence chain. WORM-retained. Replayable from public keys alone. Year 2 evidence is more valuable than year 1 evidence — it shows the trend regulators care about. ### The attestations refresh Compliance attestations carry ≤90-day decay clocks. Frameworks shift. Regulator interpretations shift. Coverage maps shift. The runtime keeps the framework binding current; that is the work the renewal fee buys. ### The threat surface shifts Security patches, schema migrations, JWKS rotations, dictionary updates. None of these are one-time deliverables. They are the continuous protocol-as-a-service obligation, and they earn the runtime fee every quarter they ship. **The CEO direction, verbatim (2026-05-29):** “all pricing must be value based pricing and kye adds huge value annual runtime fee renewal fee annual pack maintenance fee certification fee etc”. This page describes the model that direction locked into the constitution. Ten fee components, grouped into platform fees and professional fees ## Every SKU resolves to these ten — 5 platform fees, 5 professional fees. ### Platform fees · ratable ARR — recognised over the service period ### 1. Entry fee One-time. Implementation, build, setup. The existing pilot / annual list price. Credits 100% against year-1 recurring when signed within 60 days — the conversion mechanic survives unchanged. ### 2. Annual runtime fee What the customer pays per year for runtime hosting, protocol upgrades, security patches, attestation refreshes. Tier basis: _flat_ · _per-deployment_ · _per-decision_ · _per-tenant_ · _per-counterparty_ · _per-pack_. ### 3. Annual renewal fee Separate from runtime. Per-tenant protocol-licence renewal — framework binding currency, registry currency, schema version migration, certification badge continuity, JWKS rotation acknowledgement. ### 4. Pack maintenance fee Per productised Sector Pack the customer deploys — framework version tracking, regulator update propagation, rule-pack drift detection, dictionary refresh. Foundry packs especially. ### 5. Certification program fee Annual entitlement to the KYE™ certification engine + replay-proof issuance + badge currency for the chosen L1/L2/L3/L4 level. Distinct from per-claim assessor work (see #10). ### Professional fees · milestone-billed — recognised on delivery ### 6. Onboarding fee Implementation, tenant setup, IDP wiring, gateway integration. Milestone-billed across the onboarding window. Not ratable ARR. ### 7. Smoke test fee Pre-production conformance validation, framework binding sanity, SCCT (smoke-conformance-coverage-test) verdict. Gates production cutover. ### 8. Consulting fee Advisory engagements outside the SKU envelope — supplementary regulator engagement, framework rewrite, claim copy review. Discretionary; time-and-materials or retainer. ### 9. Document evaluation fee Per-Pack legal review, IP-ownership attestation review, conflicting-IP audit, framework-mapping audit, claim-set legal screen. Milestone-billed; mandatory for Pack-bearing SKUs. ### 10. Certification engagement fee Per-claim assessor work. Splits from #5: the program is the annual entitlement; the engagement is the per-event cost-plus across the year's claims. ### Lifecycle artefacts · not fees, but commercial primitives every envelope binds to ### IP ownership attestation Sworn statement schema + verification flow. Required at contract signing for every Pack-bearing SKU. Bound on the envelope via `lifecycle_artefacts.ip_attestation_ref`. ### Payout policy Foundry™ / partner revenue-share envelope + payout legal terms. Required on every envelope that declares `revenue_share`. Bound via `lifecycle_artefacts.payout_policy_ref`. ### + optional revenue share Partner-sourced deals favour the partner (default 35/65) to compensate ground-game lead generation. KYE-sourced deals favour KYE™ to compensate platform investment. Reviewed quarterly. The 5+5 split mirrors industry-standard platform pricing: ratable ARR recognised over the service period (rev-rec under ASC 606 / IFRS 15 as a series of distinct performance obligations); milestone-billed professional services recognised on delivery. Two distinct rev-rec posts — cleaner audit trail, dual-budget procurement-friendly for enterprise buyers. Per-tier examples ## How the shape lands across the catalogue. Exact numbers are disclosed under qualification per [constitution](https://github.com/KYE-Protocol/app/blob/main/constitution/26-COMMERCIAL.md). Below is the _shape_ across four representative SKU classes. ### Pilot · Runtime Console Entry: implementation. Runtime: per-tenant. Renewal: per-tenant. Certification: L3 cycle. Pack maintenance: not applicable (no Pack deployed yet). ### Annual · Starter / Pro / Enterprise Entry: tenant stand-up. Runtime: per-tenant scale. Renewal: per-tenant. Pack maintenance: per Pack chosen from catalogue. Certification: optional L3 badge. ### Foundry · Scout / Build / Venture Scout: entry-only (assessment). Build: entry + runtime + renewal + pack maintenance + L3 certification + 60/40 KYE-sourced · 35/65 partner-sourced revenue share. Venture: scaled multi-Pack portfolio + L4 certification + named engineer. ### Certification · L3 / L4 L3 (auditor-issued): entry + per-cycle re-cert + low-flat annual audit refresh. L4 (third-party accredited): higher entry + per-cycle re-cert + higher audit refresh (accredited firm engagement). The canonical envelope set lives at `public/examples/commercial/value-based-pricing-set.json`; the schema at `internal`; the bijection enforcer at `scripts/gates/value-based-pricing-coverage.mjs`. Every privileged customer-touching surface gates on it. Value drivers ## What the annual runtime + renewal fee buys. Each envelope declares 1–8 canonical value drivers. The full taxonomy across the published catalogue: ### Protocol upgrades Every schema, every rule pack, every dictionary moves forward on the renewal cohort. No customer is forced into a stale protocol version. ### Schema migrations Schema-version bumps land with migrators; the runtime applies them in-place; the customer’s evidence stream stays replayable. ### Attestation refreshes Compliance attestations carry ≤90-day decay. The runtime refreshes them; the dashboard refreshes; the regulator-facing artefact stays current. ### Security patches JWKS rotation, key compromise response, dependency CVE remediation, edge-bundle re-signing. Continuous. ### Authority Finality™ runtime Every privileged AI-agent action enforced 24x7. No protocol claim survives without a runtime that enforces it; that runtime is the renewal fee. ### Evidence Pack™ signing Per-decision signed evidence. WORM-retained. Replayable from public keys alone. ### Dashboard regeneration Coverage dashboards, compliance dashboards, board exports. Regenerated on signal, not on cron. ### Audit chain WORM retention Framework-justified retention windows. Object-store immutability. Datastore append-only triggers. The audit chain that earns trust is the audit chain that survives 7+ years. ## Try it free before you price it You do not have to take pricing on faith. Every paid envelope starts from the same free surfaces — prove the model on one action in your browser, then scope a tenant. Free trial today, account this week, signed pilot in 4–8 weeks. Try · free ### Start free Try · free Use the [free tools](https://kyeprotocol.com/free-tools/) — the [sandbox](https://kyeprotocol.com/sandbox/) and the [Authority Finality™ diagnostic](https://kyeprotocol.com/diagnostic/) — to prove the model on one action. No card, no signup. Adopt · account ### Create an account Adopt · account Run the rail against your own agents and get a signed [Evidence Pack™](https://kyeprotocol.com/evidence-pack/) per decision. Start a [governed proof of concept](https://kyeprotocol.com/poc/) to size the envelope. Adopt · paid ### Scope a pilot Adopt · paid The five components above are the model. Apply for an [Audit Pilot™](https://kyeprotocol.com/pilot-apply/) for a quoted envelope, or [book a demo](https://kyeprotocol.com/book-a-demo/) to walk one real action first. ## Ready to scope a value-based envelope for your tenant? The five components are the model. The numbers are quoted under qualification — closed-registration per [constitution](https://github.com/KYE-Protocol/app/blob/main/constitution/26-COMMERCIAL.md). [Apply for pilot →](https://kyeprotocol.com/pilot-apply/) [Certification program →](https://kyeprotocol.com/certification/) Canonical KYE™ surfaces referenced on this page: [Audit Pilot](https://kyeprotocol.com/auditors/) · [KYE Protocol™](https://kyeprotocol.com/).