Simmate is entirely open-source , and all data is shared freely. So costs occur only when...
USDC is for compute costs (1 USDC = $1)
Tokens are free & for budget tracking
All data is accessible for free.
And if you are on our public website, free data access includes *all* calculations ever submitted by *all* users. We recognize that this is undesirable for many research groups, but be aware you can still download Simmate and manage your database+compute privately. The public site will remain focused on our mission of openness.
Also, note that many of our datasets are made available through third-parties — such as the Materials Project, OQMD, JARVIS, and more. We will never charge for the access of data that is already free & open. Be sure to thank and properly attribute the original communities!
Compute costs are based on the total resources and time used by a workflow run. The price is listed after providing your input structure(s)/molecules(s), and payment is carried out as soon as the workflow is submitted. Note, a refund is made in cases where the calculation fails or after a review when results are unsatisfactory.
It is important to recognize that price is not determined until you provide all input parameters, including your structure/molecule. This is because total CPU usage can vary even for identical workflows (e.g., due to differences in convergence). However, expected CPU time heavily depends on the submitted structure/molecule, meaning we can provide fair pricing before you submit. Paying at the start of calculations is counter to how other cloud platforms typically bill users. Is it more common to charge users after a calculation completes or even at a fixed rate throughout the compute run. We opt for the pay-first, run-second setup for several reasons:
Overall, this is why each workflow provides cost estimates and historical runtime data on its submission page.
Currently, all computations run on Kubernetes Pods hosted on DigitalOcean, so our pricing aligns closely with DigitalOcean’s rates, averaging about $0.50 per CPU hour.
| Workflow | CPU Time (hrs) |
Cost Estimate w. Cloud Compute
|
Cost Estimate w. Personal Compute
|
Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Static Energy | 0.001 | $0.0005 | $0.000075 | Single-point SCF calculation of the 4-atom primitive cell. Used to determine the baseline electronic energy without ionic movement. |
| Relaxation | 0.005 | $0.0025 | $0.000375 | Full geometry optimization of the unit cell to find equilibrium lattice parameters and internal atomic positions. |
| DOS & Band-Structure | 0.5 | $0.75 | $0.1125 | Electronic property suite: high-k-mesh SCF followed by a non-SCF line-mode calculation to map the band gap and density of states. |
| Li+ Diffusion (NEB) | 12 | $6 | $0.90 | Nudged Elastic Band (NEB) with 5 images to calculate the migration barrier of a lithium ion moving between octahedral sites. |
| Molecular Dynamics (AIMD) | 40 | $20 | $3.00 | Ab-initio Molecular Dynamics (AIMD) on a 3x3x1 supercell. Simulates 2 ps of thermal trajectory at 300K to study lattice stability. |
| Fixed-Composition Search (Li3Co3O6) | 50 | $25 | $3.75 | Fix-composition structure search to find the most stable LiCoO2 polymorphs for up to 12-atom unitcells. This involves ~200-300 individual structure relaxations. |
| Chemical System Search (Li-Co-O) | 500 | $250 | $37.50 | Global structure search to find stable Li-Co-O polymorphs, involving >5,000 individual structure relaxations for unitcells with up to 12 atoms. |
USDC
USDC is used to pay for compute costs when you are using Simmate's computational resources, rather than supplying your own.
Configure your preferred payment method on your Profile page, where you are given the following options:
most popular 5% fee $25 minimum
This is the most straightforward method as it supports familiar payment options such as credit and debit cards. Simmate enforces a minimum payment of $25 and 5% fee for Stripe transactions to negate Stripe’s fees and to encourage users to switch to USDC.
recommended no fee no minimum
If you are new to cryptocurrencies, we recommend that you first read our Beginner's Guide to Ethereum and USDC. For experienced users, you must simply (1) link your wallet address to your Simmate account and then (2) send USDC to the simmate.eth ENS wallet to fund your account. Your Simmate account is not self-custody, so this is the equivalent of funding a Coinbase or Kraken account. Only Ethereum and Base chains are supported at this time. {% comment %} USDC (USD-Circle) is a cryptocurrency token, and for every USDC in existance, Circle holds $1 in bonds and cash-equivalents. This means that 1 USDC is always equal to (and redeemable for) $1 USD. Because it is tokenized, USDC enables secure peer-to-peer payments on the Ethereum blockchain to anyone & anywhere in world. Compare this to traditional USD payments where you need a third-party to send a payment to someone else - i.e., you go through a bank, credit card provider, or (for online payments) companies like Stripe/Venmo. By using USDC, Simmate can more easily accept payments and even pay out USDC to compute providers -- all without needed your bank information. {% endcomment %}
not recommended 5% fee $25 minimum
In the US, Venmo is a well established and convienient method for small transactions. Payment made via Venmo must be manually added to the Simmate system by a member of our team - so there will be a delay in the funds showing in your balance of up to 5 days. For this reason, we ask that users fund via Venmo only as a last resort. And just like with Stripe, we enforce a minimum payment of $25 and 5% fee for Venmo transactions to negate Venmo’s fees and to encourage users to switch to USDC.
** Regardless of the original funding method used, withdrawls are only available via USDC on the Ethereum and Base chains. All withdrawls are reviewed by our team before processing.
Tokens
Simmate tokens have no physical value and are only used for planning and budgeting. Your token balance is unlimited since Tokens are purely theoretical, and you can adjust your balance in the navbar.
As an example of how tokens are used, let's say you submit a molecule to the "Synthesis Tracker" app, indicating that you plan to run a synthesis of it. This costs nothing to submit & track in the website, but you may still want to record the total costs of actually running this synthesis in the lab (e.g., labor, reagents, etc.). You track these costs using Tokens. And as you record many syntheses and assay runs, you will be able to track real-world costs dedicated to specific projects, regions chemical chemical space, or specific hypotheses.