name: PancakeSwap API Financial Operations
description: >
  PancakeSwap's public APIs (Info API v2 and Profile API) are free to use with
  no direct monetary cost. Financial considerations arise when using subgraphs
  on The Graph Protocol's decentralized network (GRT token fees), NodeReal
  MegaNode for enterprise BSC subgraph access, or when building applications
  that interact with PancakeSwap smart contracts (gas fees on BNB Chain and
  other supported networks). PancakeSwap itself charges a trading fee on swaps
  that generates protocol revenue.
costs:
  - name: Info API v2
    description: Free, no cost, no authentication required
    type: free
    amount: 0
    currency: USD
    notes: >
      Open REST API hosted on Vercel. No API key, no billing.

  - name: Profile API
    description: Free, no cost, no authentication required for read operations
    type: free
    amount: 0
    currency: USD
    notes: >
      Open REST API. Write operations (registration) require wallet signature;
      no monetary cost for the API call itself.

  - name: The Graph Decentralized Network Queries
    description: >
      Query fees paid in GRT (Graph Token) to indexers when using PancakeSwap
      subgraphs on The Graph's decentralized network. Fee per query varies based
      on market conditions, query complexity, and network demand.
    type: usage-based
    currency: GRT
    notes: >
      GRT must be purchased on open market exchanges. Query fees are typically
      a fraction of 1 GRT per query. See https://thegraph.com for current rates.

  - name: NodeReal MegaNode Subscription
    description: >
      Monthly subscription for access to PancakeSwap Exchange V2 GraphQL on
      BNB Smart Chain via NodeReal MegaNode API Marketplace. Pricing tiers vary
      based on Compute Unit (CU) consumption per month.
    type: subscription
    currency: USD
    notes: >
      Free developer tier available with limited CUs. Paid plans start at
      enterprise pricing. See https://nodereal.io/meganode for current tiers.

  - name: PancakeSwap Trading Fees (Protocol Revenue)
    description: >
      When end-users execute swaps through the PancakeSwap protocol, trading
      fees are charged. V2 pairs charge 0.25% per swap (0.17% to LPs, 0.03%
      to treasury, 0.05% to CAKE buyback). V3 pools offer fee tiers of 0.01%,
      0.05%, 0.25%, and 1%. These are on-chain costs borne by the trader,
      not the API consumer.
    type: protocol-fee
    v2Fee: "0.25%"
    v3Tiers:
      - "0.01%"
      - "0.05%"
      - "0.25%"
      - "1.00%"
    currency: percentage-of-swap
    notes: >
      These fees apply to smart contract interactions, not API calls.
      API access is free; protocol fees are only incurred when executing
      on-chain transactions.

  - name: Gas Fees (BNB Chain and Multi-Chain)
    description: >
      On-chain interactions (swaps, liquidity provision, staking) require
      gas fees in the native token of the respective blockchain. On BNB Chain
      gas is paid in BNB; on Ethereum in ETH; on Arbitrum in ETH; etc.
      API reads do not incur gas fees.
    type: gas
    notes: >
      Not an API cost. Relevant only for developers building DeFi applications
      that submit transactions to PancakeSwap smart contracts.