---
title: "Free tier"
description: "Start without a paid plan, understand the development-mode limits, and check your remaining allowance."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.minima.ltd/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Free tier

Minima has a free tier for evaluating the CMS, building a frontend, and testing
publishing workflows. The API calls this **development mode**. It does not
expire: an organization stays in development mode until it moves to a paid
plan.

You can create an account, an organization, and an Admin API key from the CLI:

```sh
npx @twofutures/minima-cli@alpha auth signup
```

The command asks for your email address and a six-digit verification code. You
do not need to visit the dashboard or create an API key by hand. See
[Signing in](/cli/auth) for the full authentication flow.

## Included limits

Development mode allows each organization to create:

| Resource | Limit |
| --- | ---: |
| Articles | 10 |
| Pages | 10 |
| Images | 20 |

Starter themes are available in development mode. Subscriber confirmation is
also available for testing, with a limit of five confirmation emails per site
per day.

Custom domains, newsletter broadcasts, search indexing, and the full official
theme library require a paid plan.

## Check the remaining allowance

Agents and scripts should read the billing summary before a bulk import:

```sh
minima billing get --json
```

The response identifies the current mode and reports the used and remaining
capacity for articles, pages, and images. When an operation reaches a
development-mode limit, the API returns a payment-required error with the
billing path needed to move the organization to a paid plan.

Source: https://docs.minima.ltd/getting-started/free-tier/index.mdx