# Create an account

LowRouter accounts are individual: one email, one identity, one credit
balance. Team accounts and shared workspaces are on the roadmap; until
they ship, share access via separate API keys rather than shared
credentials.

## Sign up

Go to [/register](/register) and fill in:

- **Email** — used for verification, sign-in, and billing receipts.
- **Password** — a strong, unique one. We do not enforce a maximum
  length; we do enforce a minimum that follows current OWASP guidance.
- **Country** — used to compute the right tax treatment on invoices.
  You can correct it later from the settings page.

Alternatively, sign in with a federated identity provider listed on the
register page. Federated sign-in does not change anything about how
your data is stored — see [the privacy policy](/privacy) for the full
picture.

## Verify your email

After registration we send a verification link. The link is valid for
24 hours. Until you verify, you can sign in but you cannot create API
keys or top up credits — guarding against typos and disposable-mailbox
sign-ups.

If the email doesn't arrive, check spam, then use **Resend
verification** on the sign-in page. If it still doesn't arrive, contact
support — see the email on the [legal page](/impressum).

## Top up credits

LowRouter is pre-paid. To send a request you need a non-zero credit
balance.

1. Go to **Dashboard → Credits**.
2. Click **Add credits**.
3. Pick an amount and complete the Stripe-hosted checkout.

Credits land in your account when Stripe confirms the payment, usually
within a few seconds. The amount you top up is exclusive of VAT; the
invoice that lands in your inbox afterwards has the VAT breakdown.

The full pricing model is documented in [credits and
billing](../guides/credits-and-billing).

## What's stored

After sign-up the platform stores:

- Your email address (sign-in, billing receipts).
- A salted hash of your password (never the plaintext).
- The country and any billing details you provided.
- A unique numeric user ID used internally.

We do not store any prompt or response content. Token counts, model
IDs, provider IDs, regions, latencies, and the eco numbers are stored
per request — see [usage accounting](../guides/usage-accounting) for
the full schema.

## Next

[Create your first API key →](api-keys)