---
title: Streaming Payments
description: Implement streaming payments on Radius for compute, bandwidth, APIs, or content with continuous per-second settlement.
---
# Streaming Payments

*Enable continuous, per-second billing for compute, bandwidth, and content delivery.*


Use streaming payments on Radius to charge continuously based on real usage, with instant settlement and predictable costs.

## Problem statement

Traditional billing models create friction for both service providers and consumers:

- **Upfront payment risk**: Users pre-pay without knowing exact consumption, risking overpayment and fund lockup
- **Invoice-based delays**: Providers wait days or weeks to get paid, exposing themselves to default risk
- **Coarse billing granularity**: Services charge by month or hour, forcing users to pay for unused capacity

Radius solves this with **continuous micropayments**—pay-as-you-consume settlement at second-level granularity, eliminating both payment and credit risk entirely.

## How it works

Streaming payments establish an ongoing payment loop between client and server:

1. **Client initiates a session** with the server, providing an account with available funds
2. **Payments flow at regular intervals** (every second, every minute) based on service consumption
3. **Service continues uninterrupted** as long as payments arrive on schedule
4. **Either party can terminate** anytime—the client stops payments, or the server stops service

This creates a natural "circuit breaker": if the client runs out of funds or the server detects payment failure, service halts immediately.

## Benefits

Streaming payments unlock several key advantages:

| Benefit                 | Impact                                                |
| ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| **No overpayment**      | Pay only for what you consume, down to the second     |
| **No credit risk**      | Real-time settlement eliminates provider default risk |
| **Granular billing**    | Per-second pricing enables precise cost-matching      |
| **Instant termination** | Service stops immediately on payment failure          |
| **Predictable costs**   | Linear per-unit pricing with no hidden fees           |
| **Improved UX**         | Users pay gradually instead of upfront                |

## Use cases

Streaming payments are ideal for:

### Cloud compute

**Pay-per-second VMs and container instances**

- Traditional: Monthly subscriptions for over-provisioned capacity
- Streaming: Micro-VM charges by the second, scale up/down instantly
- Example: 0.01 USD per second per vCPU

### Video/content streaming

**Pay-per-minute or per-gigabyte**

- Traditional: Tiered monthly plans with bandwidth caps
- Streaming: Continuous payment as bytes flow, no caps or surprises
- Example: 0.01 USD per MB of video data

### WiFi and network access

**Pay-per-minute connectivity**

- Traditional: 24-hour passes or monthly contracts
- Streaming: Micropayments per minute of active connection
- Example: 0.01 USD per minute of active connection

### AI inference and APIs

**Pay-per-token or per-request**

- Traditional: Throttled APIs with prepaid tokens
- Streaming: Continuous settlement as tokens are generated
- Example: 0.01 USD per 1,000 tokens generated

## Network configuration

**Radius Testnet:**

- RPC Endpoint: https://rpc.testnet.radiustech.xyz
- Chain ID: 72344
- Native Token: RUSD
- Block time: ~2-3 seconds


> **ℹ️ Info:** Testnet is perfect for experimenting with streaming payment patterns. Get free RUSD tokens from the <a href={`$https://testnet.radiustech.xyz$/wallet`}>Radius Testnet Faucet</a>.


## Related workshop projects

- [`radius-stream-channel`](https://github.com/radius-workshop/radius-stream-channel) — EIP-712 payment channels with cumulative vouchers
- [`rad-router-proxy`](https://github.com/radius-workshop/rad-router-proxy) — AI IDE proxy that supports streaming model responses while handling x402 payments
- [Workshop playground](/use-cases/workshop-playground) — Catalog of public Radius sample and demo repositories

## What's next?

Learn more about building on Radius:

- **[Quick Start - First Payment](/get-started/claim-and-transact)** — Send your first transaction
- **[Agent payments](/use-cases/agent-payments)** — Build payable agent workflows

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