Mira is an open-source research platform operated on a full-disclosure basis. Its complete cost structure is published here and versioned in the public repository: every figure below is auditable, and every revision to it is part of the permanent record. Revenue will be published if any is received.
| Category | Detail | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Development machine | $400 |
| Engineering tooling | Agentic coding-tool subscriptions, 10 months | $1,340 |
| Cloud infrastructure | Compute, storage, and GPU sessions (Google Cloud) | ≈ $1,300 |
| Model usage | Development and evaluation (DeepSeek, OpenRouter) | ≈ $350 |
| Legacy hosting | Prior deployment during migration (Render), 12 months | $340 |
| Domain & DNS | Registration and name services (Cloudflare) | ≈ $50 |
| Total direct expenditure | ≈ $3,780 |
Figures marked ≈ are close estimates drawn from provider billing records. Contributed labor is not monetized as a line item.
The platform’s fixed running cost is a single small application server. The GPU host used for self-hosted open-source models remains dormant — it enters service only when revenue supports it — and costs nothing while stopped.
| Item | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Application server (24/7) | ≈ $98 | ≈ $1,175 |
| Storage | ≈ $15 | ≈ $180 |
| Network | ≈ $5 | ≈ $60 |
| GPU host (dormant) | $0 | $0 |
| Operating floor | ≈ $118 | ≈ $1,415 |
Model usage scales with actual demand and is additional to the floor; at zero usage it is $0.
Mira credits pay for the model tokens your work uses, itemized on every order before payment. Storage beyond the included allowance is $1 per GB per month. Hosted-access users receive technical support. Account creation is free, and non-model features carry no charge.
The entire work of making Mira run is volunteer-based. If you have technical skills and would like to volunteer, please contact [email protected].
Mira itself is free and open source; anyone may run it. What is offered for a fee is a ready-to-run copy, hosted and set up on rented infrastructure, so the fee pays for that convenience and not for the software. The primary way in is to apply as a researcher-collaborator: accepted scholars receive a ready-to-run Mira at no charge, our help securing a research grant, and a bridge to developer tools, in return for their disciplinary guidance. For those who can't take part in development but want a working Mira now, hosted access is available, offered as-is and without warranty while the program is in development: $10/month or $100/year, or a one-time $1 day pass for 24 hours, on the two OpenRouter-hosted options (Mira credits and your own OpenRouter key). Cancel anytime, with a no-questions-asked full refund within 30 days. Hosted access does not include model credits: those are bought separately or covered by your own key. Everything that brings its own compute is free of the hosting fee: research cloud credits (GCP), self-hosting, and the developer add-on. Connecting your Claude Code, Codex, or OpenCode subscription is a cost-reducing add-on on top of any option, and it never adds a fee.
Annual hosted-access subscribers get priority access to Mira’s own fine-tuned open-source models as that capacity scales. Those models run and operate today, but not yet at the scale needed; Mira Methods is an academic nonprofit, and this revenue is what expands that capacity.
Accepted researcher-collaborators receive a ready-to-run Mira at no charge, with no hosting fee needed. How a GCP award is used, the balance between the recipient’s own research and improving Mira for the community, is decided with each recipient individually, based on their specific research and collaboration interests.
[email protected] will work with any interested PhD student or faculty member in the humanities and social sciences to secure the $1,000 and $5,000 compute credits under the GCP program — including writing the project proposal.
Prefer not to pay the margin? Mira also accepts a personal OpenRouter API key (in the app: Settings → Account & Credits) — usage then bills your own OpenRouter account directly, with no margin and on a self-serve basis.