Skip to main content

What is free in MindMax, and what you actually pay for

· 4 min read
The MindMax team
The MindMax team
Building MindMax

MindMax itself is free to use: reading, writing, searching and keeping your files in your own folder cost nothing, and the only thing you pay for is AI work, either through a subscription or with your own API key. Opening a PDF, highlighting, searching your folder, editing a note and exporting to Word never spend credits. Asking, explaining, annotating, translating, recognising a scan or transcribing your voice is AI work, and does.

That line is deliberate, and this post explains where it sits and why — because "free tier" in most software means "a demo that runs out on day two", and that is not what we mean.

What never costs anything​

  • Opening and reading PDFs, EPUB and Kindle books, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, images and Markdown.
  • Highlights, comments and your own notes, kept in your folder.
  • Search across everything in the folder.
  • Writing and editing in the Markdown editor, including version history.
  • Exporting to Word, PDF or images — it happens on your computer.
  • Your files themselves. Everything MindMax produces lives in your own folder and stays readable if you stop paying.

None of these touch a model, so there is nothing to charge for.

What spends credits​

Anything where a model does work for you:

  • Asking about a document, a folder or a boxed region, and Explain on a selected passage.
  • An AI reading pass over a paper or a book — the larger the document, the larger the job.
  • Translation of a document or a whole book.
  • Recognising a scanned PDF, which is why it only starts when you press the button on that document.
  • Canvas skills, inline AI in the editor, revisions, and long-form drafting.
  • Voice transcription, and searching the web from a conversation on plans that include it.

The pattern: short questions are small jobs, whole-book passes and translations are large ones. Try a large job on one chapter before committing a shelf.

Three ways to pay for the AI part​

  1. The free plan includes a small weekly AI allowance. There is no trial countdown — the app does not stop working when the allowance is used; AI work pauses until the week rolls over.
  2. A paid plan adds a larger weekly allowance and no keys to manage. If you run out, AI work pauses until the week rolls over or you move up a tier. Nothing is charged automatically.
  3. Your own API key, one you already pay for with a provider (a chat subscription is not one). Every feature works, with no allowance and no account. You pay your provider directly, and nothing stops a job that runs long — so keep an eye on usage.

You can mix them: point some kinds of work at your own key and the rest at the subscription. Credits are spent only on what goes through the subscription.

How to keep costs predictable​

  • Ask about the part you need. A boxed figure or a selected passage is a smaller job than the whole paper.
  • Follow-ups are cheaper than they look. A document read whole is reused between turns rather than paid for again with each question.
  • Recognise and translate on purpose. Both are deliberate buttons, never run silently over a folder.
  • Watch the usage view. It shows credits and tokens by task, so a surprising week has an explanation.

Why the line is drawn here​

AI usage is a real cost to whoever pays for it; reading a file on your own computer is not. Charging for the second to fund the first would mean holding your own files hostage to a subscription. So the free part is the software, and the paid part is the compute — which is also why using your own key is a first-class option rather than a reduced mode (more on that).

Current plans and allowances are on the pricing page; prices are not repeated here so this post does not go out of date. Setting up your own key: use your own API key. Download MindMax — the app costs nothing to try.