Auto Drive was built to make permanent, on-chain storage as simple as any cloud storage tool you already use. Today, we are taking a meaningful step toward the broader vision: you can now pay for storage directly with AI3, the native token of the Autonomys Network.
What This Means
Until now, accessing Auto Drive credits required going through us. Foundation grants, manual credit allocations, and forms to fill out. That worked as a starting point, but it was never the end state. Pay with AI3 removes the intermediary entirely. If you hold AI3, you can purchase storage credits directly, on your own terms, without asking anyone for permission.
For developers, that shift has a practical benefit worth naming. You can now build applications on top of Auto Drive with a storage layer that is self-sufficient from day one, funded by the token, and free from any dependency on foundation access programs. That is a meaningful shift in what it means to build on Autonomys.
How It Works
The flow is straightforward. Sign in via Google, connect your EVM wallet, select how much storage you want to purchase, and complete the transaction. Your credits are available immediately. From there, the experience is identical to what Auto Drive users already know: upload through the dashboard at ai3.storage, integrate via the Auto SDK, or call the REST API directly.
Storage pricing is derived from the on-chain cost of the Autonomys Distributed Storage Network, with a service fee applied on top. The price per byte is transparent and updated every block.
To learn how to Pay with AI3, visit: https://youtu.be/KMpVhpOaFgU
A Note on Current Limitations
We want to be upfront about the restrictions in place at launch. These are deliberate economic protections, not permanent product decisions. The Autonomys Network is still in its early growth phase, and we need to prevent storage credit hoarding or speculative accumulation that would work against how the system is designed to operate. The goal is for credits to be used, not held.
The protections currently in place are these:
We want people storing data, not accumulating capacity they never intend to use.
These constraints will be revisited as the network matures and we have clearer data on real usage patterns. If you are building something that these limits add friction to, reach out.
For full details on Pay with AI3 Terms of Use, please visit: autonomys.xyz/auto-drive-terms-of-use
Building on Top of Pay with AI3
If you are building an application that stores data on behalf of your users, the natural question is how payment works in that context. Pay with AI3 gives you options. Your application can handle storage costs directly, or you can have users purchase their own credits under their own Auto Drive identity. The right approach depends on your use case, and we expect different patterns to emerge as the ecosystem matures.
The first application built against it is Eulonomys, a tool for creating permanent, on-chain eulogies. It is open source (GitHub) and designed to serve as a reference for how third-party applications can integrate Auto Drive and Pay with AI3 end to end.
To see how the application works, visit: https://youtu.be/cMlaWvectS8
The developer experience matters to us as much as the end-user experience. As more applications come online, the integration surface will mature, and we will document the patterns that prove out in practice. If you are building something now and want guidance, reach out.
For Web2 Developers
If you are new to Web3 and do not yet hold AI3, that is not a barrier to getting started. We are still happy to provide a meaningful amount of complimentary credits so you can explore Auto Drive, test integrations, and build with confidence before committing to a purchase. Sign up at ai3.storage and the free tier is available immediately upon account creation.
Looking further ahead, we are actively exploring fiat payment options. The vision for Auto Drive has always been that anyone, regardless of their familiarity with crypto or token markets, should be able to access permanent decentralized storage on their own terms. Pay with AI3 is a major step in that direction. Fiat access would complete it, and we are thinking carefully about what that looks like. It is also worth noting that nothing prevents a third party from building that bridge independently, and we think that is an interesting opportunity for the right builder.
Why This Matters
The Autonomys Network was built from the ground up to provide permanent, on-chain storage as a protocol-level guarantee. What was missing was a direct, permissionless path to access it through AI3. Pay with AI3 addresses that directly. It connects the economic layer of the Autonomys Network to the storage layer in a way that does not require trusting a foundation, waiting on a grant, or asking for access. That is the kind of infrastructure that developers building production applications can actually depend on, and it is what we have been working toward from the start.
Get started at: ai3.storage.
Full SDK documentation is available at: develop.autonomys.xyz/sdk/auto-drive
