> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.chargerdojo.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What you can do without paying

> The sandbox, the browser simulator and the MCP server are free and need no card. Here is exactly where the paid line falls, and why the API key sits on the far side of it.

Most of this documentation is written for someone automating ChargerDojo from a script, and
that needs a paid plan. This page is the other half: what you can do today, for nothing,
before you decide anything.

## The line, in one sentence

**Running against our sandbox is free. Running against your own or a partner's endpoint is
paid.** That is the whole rule, and it holds at every tier including a signed-out browser.

One thing about it trips people up. The [quickstart](/guide/quickstart) drives a *free*
sandbox run through the API, and the API needs a `cdojo_` key, which needs a paid plan. So
the run is free and the key is not. Without a key, do the same run in the browser.

## Free, no account at all

**The simulator and the learning content.** Open
[chargerdojo.com](https://chargerdojo.com), pick CPOs, eMSPs and chargers, and watch the OCPI
messages move between them. The [Learn section](https://chargerdojo.com/learn/) explains the
protocol itself: what a CPO and an eMSP are, what a CDR is, how a session becomes a bill, and
what changed between OCPI versions. If the vocabulary in these guides is unfamiliar, start
there, not here.

**Guided scenarios**, which are the fastest way to understand a failure you are actually
looking at: [a charge billed twice](https://chargerdojo.com/learn/scenarios/charged-twice/),
[a session that never closes](https://chargerdojo.com/learn/scenarios/session-never-closes/),
[a bill higher than the price shown](https://chargerdojo.com/learn/scenarios/bill-higher-than-shown/).

**The MCP server**, if you work in a coding agent. Six tools, no key, no signup: which OCPI
versions exist, what changed between two of them, how each encodes the credentials token,
which suites and journeys can be run. See [Connect a coding agent](/guide/connect-a-coding-agent).

## Free, and better once you sign in

Sandbox runs need no plan at any tier, signed in or not. Signing in is what gives them somewhere
to live: your runs are saved, listed and shareable instead of vanishing with the tab.

**Conformance runs against the built-in sandbox.** The sandbox is a real OCPI peer, not a
recording: the run discovers its versions and makes real HTTP calls to real module endpoints. You
get the same report, with the same per-check evidence, that a paid run produces. Registration is
the one shortcut: the sandbox's credentials are written directly rather than handshaken over
loopback, which our own SSRF guard would rightly refuse.

Be clear-eyed about what that proves. A sandbox run exercises **our** client against **our**
server, so a green result tells you the tool works and shows you what a report looks like. It
is not evidence about your implementation. For that you need your own endpoint, which is the
paid line.

**Charging journeys against the sandbox**, the same way: a full story over time rather than
module-by-module checks. Load journeys, which run one at volume, are the exception: those need the
Automate plan even against the sandbox.

## What a plan adds

|                                     | Free    | Paid   |
| ----------------------------------- | ------- | ------ |
| Sandbox runs                        | Yes     | Yes    |
| Your own or a partner's endpoint    | No      | Yes    |
| API keys, so any of it runs from CI | No      | Yes    |
| The MCP server's account tools      | No      | Yes    |
| Report retention                    | Shorter | Longer |

Connections and run rate differ by plan and are set per deployment. Retention differs between
free and paid, not between paid plans. The active-key cap is the same for every account. Read
your own rather than trusting a number on a page:

```bash theme={null}
curl -fsS "https://chargerdojo.com/api/v1/usage" -H "Authorization: Bearer $DOJO_KEY" | jq '.data'
```

What each plan costs and unlocks is on [Plans and pricing](/guide/plans).

## The honest reason the free tier stops where it does

A run against your endpoint costs us minutes of a runner and a real HTTP conversation with a
third party. A run against our own sandbox costs us almost nothing. So the line is drawn at
whose infrastructure the run touches, not at how good the report is: the free report is the
same report.

## Next

* [Connect a coding agent](/guide/connect-a-coding-agent), free and about two minutes.
* [Read your report](/guide/read-your-report) to see what a verdict does and does not license,
  which is worth reading before you pay for anything.
* [Quickstart](/guide/quickstart) when you have a key.