Payment methods on DeskBoot: card, M-Pesa, and bank transfer

DeskBoot is prepaid — you top up a balance, and compute runs against it. Nothing surprises you at month-end. Here's how each supported top-up method actually works.

Card

Supported cards: Visa, Mastercard, Verve. Both international and locally-issued Kenyan cards work.

Currency: Charged in USD by default, KES if your account is set to KES.

Refundable balance: Yes. Unused card-funded balance is refundable when you close your account — see the refund policy for details.

M-Pesa (Kenya)

How it works: STK push to your phone. Confirm the transaction, DeskBoot credits your balance within a few seconds.

Currency: KES only. DeskBoot converts to USD internally for the compute meter; your dashboard shows both.

Setup: No pre-registration needed. First top-up screen asks for your Safaricom number, sends the STK push, and you're done.

Ceilings you should know: Safaricom sets a per-transaction ceiling around KES 150,000 (roughly $1,000). For most customers this never comes up — cloud desktops are hourly-billed, so you rarely need to park more than a few thousand shillings up front. If you do need to top up more, do it in multiple transactions or use a card. Safaricom also enforces daily transaction limits per line, set by your M-Pesa tier.

Refundability: One-way. M-Pesa payments to us are near-instant; payments from us back to M-Pesa aren't a supported flow in Paystack's payout API. If you need refundable top-ups, use a card.

Bank transfer

How it works: Standard bank transfer via Paystack. You get bank details, transfer the amount, funds credit within an hour or two.

Currency: Depends on the receiving bank; commonly KES for local banks.

Use case: Larger top-ups than M-Pesa's ceiling, or when card doesn't work for policy reasons.

USSD

For M-Pesa users who prefer USSD over app-based STK push. Slightly slower (menu-driven prompt) but works from feature phones.

What all methods share

• Auto-stop at $0 balance. Regardless of how you funded it, running sessions stop within a minute of your balance hitting zero. No credit line, no invoice.
• Low-balance emails. Three thresholds: 4 hours of runway, 1 hour, and zero.
• Balance persistence. Balance doesn't expire between sessions. If you top up $10 and only spend $2, the remaining $8 is still there next month.
• Under the hood, Paystack. We use Paystack for all payment methods above. DeskBoot never sees your card number or M-Pesa PIN — Paystack handles the sensitive parts.

Which to pick

• Occasional Kenyan user: M-Pesa. Fastest for small top-ups.
• International customer: Card.
• Business that needs an invoice for accounting: Bank transfer, and email support for an invoice.
• Anyone who wants refundable balance: Card.

Whichever method you pick, the top-up flow is the same — dashboard → Billing → Top up → enter amount → pick method → confirm.