What happens when my Novita account balance runs out?

When your available balance, including vouchers, can’t cover your bill, the account is overdue: new sandboxes can’t start, and running sandboxes are terminated, which loses their data. Creating a sandbox returns SandboxException: 402: insufficient balance until you top up.

Details

What happens	When
`sandbox.create` fails with `402: insufficient balance`	Balance can’t cover a new sandbox
Running sandboxes are terminated and their data is lost	The account becomes overdue
Notification emails are sent	After the account becomes overdue
Low-balance email	When balance drops below the alert threshold you set

Persist anything you can’t afford to lose — push code to Git, save snapshots, or copy files out with download.

How to

Set a low balance alert so you’re emailed before the balance runs out.
Check balance and vouchers on the Payments page, and top up there.
Handle the error in code so a batch stops cleanly instead of retrying:

from novita_sandbox import Novita, SandboxException

try:
    sandbox = Novita().sandbox.create()
except SandboxException as e:
    if "402" in str(e):
        raise SystemExit("Top up your Novita balance: https://novita.ai/billing")
    raise

import { Novita } from 'novita-sandbox'

try {
  const sandbox = await new Novita().sandbox.create()
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e).includes('402')) throw new Error('Top up your Novita balance: https://novita.ai/billing')
  throw e
}

Learn more: Pricing — overdue payment notice

Last modified on November 11, 2026

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