# Create an account

LowRouter accounts are individual: one email, one identity, one credit
balance. Team accounts and shared workspaces are on the roadmap; until
they ship, share access via separate API keys rather than shared
credentials.

## Get an invite

LowRouter is in **invite-only beta**. Self-service sign-up is closed, so
visiting the register page without an invite shows a waitlist form
rather than a sign-up form. Join the waitlist there and we'll email an
invite link when a place opens up.

The invite link is single-use and expires — it takes you straight to
the sign-up form with your email already filled in.

## Sign up

Follow the invite link and fill in:

- **Email** — used for verification, sign-in, and billing receipts.
- **Password** — a strong, unique one. The full policy is below.
- **Country** — used to compute the right tax treatment on invoices.
  You can correct it later from the settings page.

Alternatively, sign in with a federated identity provider listed on the
sign-up page. Federated sign-in does not change anything about how your
data is stored — see [the privacy policy](/privacy) for the full
picture.

### Password policy

A password must be at least **8 characters** and contain at least one
of each of:

- an **uppercase** letter (`A`–`Z`)
- a **lowercase** letter (`a`–`z`)
- a **digit** (`0`–`9`)
- a **symbol** — anything that is not a letter or a digit (`!`, `?`,
  `-`, `#`, and so on)

There is no maximum length, and no character is forbidden. Every rule
is enforced server-side as well as in the form, so a password that
fails one is rejected with a `400` naming the rule it missed rather
than a generic error.

## Verify your email

After registration we send a verification link. The link is valid for
24 hours. Until you verify, you can sign in but you cannot create API
keys or top up credits — guarding against typos and disposable-mailbox
sign-ups.

If the email doesn't arrive, check spam, then use **Resend
verification** on the sign-in page. If it still doesn't arrive, contact
support — see the email on the [legal page](/impressum).

## Top up credits

LowRouter is pre-paid. To send a request you need a non-zero credit
balance.

1. Go to **Dashboard → Credits**.
2. Click **Add credits**.
3. Pick an amount and complete the Stripe-hosted checkout.

Credits land in your account when Stripe confirms the payment, usually
within a few seconds. The credit amount you pick is exclusive of the
top-up fees and VAT: checkout adds a payment-processing fee (8%, €0.75
minimum) and a 1.5% LowRouter fee, itemizes the total before you pay,
and Stripe — the seller of record — adds VAT and issues the invoice
that lands in your inbox. Worked examples are on the
[pricing page](/pricing).

The full pricing model is documented in [credits and
billing](../guides/credits-and-billing).

## What's stored

After sign-up the platform stores:

- Your email address (sign-in, billing receipts).
- A salted hash of your password (never the plaintext).
- The country and any billing details you provided.
- A unique numeric user ID used internally.

We do not store any prompt or response content. Token counts, model
IDs, provider IDs, regions, latencies, and the eco numbers are stored
per request — see [usage accounting](../guides/usage-accounting) for
the full schema.

## Next

[Create your first API key →](api-keys)