Zerodha's Kite Connect API has two tiers: a free “Personal” plan and a paid “Connect” plan at ₹500/month per app. The difference is entirely about market data — and it means journaling your Zerodha trades can be completely free. This guide breaks down what each tier includes, the daily token expiry everyone trips on, and which tier you actually need. (Verified against Zerodha support, 13 July 2026.)

Is the Zerodha Kite Connect API free?

Partly — it depends on whether you need live market data:

Personal (free) — full order, GTT and alerts management, margin computation, and portfolio management. No historical or real-time market data.
Connect (₹500/month per app) — everything in Personal, plus real-time data over WebSockets and historical candle data, bundled at no extra charge.

There's no one-time signup fee, and there's no separate charge for the algo/trading functionality — the ₹500 is purely the data-inclusive tier. Startups building mass-retail products can get the APIs free via Zerodha's partnerships team. Official reference: Zerodha Kite API charges.

Personal vs Connect — which do you need?

Placing/managing orders, reading your positions & portfolio → free Personal plan is enough.
Streaming live prices or pulling historical candles into your own app → paid Connect (₹500/mo).
Journaling your executed trades → free Personal plan (order & portfolio management covers it).

The Kite access token expires every day

The most-searched Kite Connect pain point: the access token is valid for a single day and expires at midnight, regardless of when it was generated. It must be regenerated each trading day through the login flow. Any tool that connects to Kite has to handle this daily — otherwise your connection silently stops working the next morning.

Do you need the ₹500 plan for a trading journal?

No. A journal reads the trades you already placed — your order book and portfolio — which the free Personal plancovers. The ₹500 Connect plan only adds live and historical market data, which a journal doesn't need and never redistributes. So you can journal your Zerodha trades without paying for Kite Connect.

How CernoQuant connects to Zerodha

CernoQuant connects to Kite with read-onlyaccess, handles the daily token refresh for you, and turns your Zerodha trades into a full NSE F&O journal — STT decomposition, Greeks at entry, strategy win rate, expiry-day analytics, and behavioural pattern detection. It never places orders and never redistributes market data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Zerodha Kite Connect free?

The Personal plan is free (order, GTT, alerts, margin and portfolio management) but has no market data. The Connect plan is ₹500/month per app and adds live WebSocket + historical data. Verified 13 July 2026 — confirm current pricing with Zerodha.

Does historical/live data cost extra on Kite Connect?

No extra charge — both are bundled into the ₹500/month Connect plan. The free Personal plan has no market data.

When does the Kite access token expire?

It is valid for a single day and expires at midnight, whenever it was generated. It must be regenerated each trading day.

Do I need the paid plan to journal my Zerodha trades?

No. Reading your orders and portfolio is covered by the free Personal plan. The ₹500 plan is only for live/historical market data.

Journal your Zerodha trades — no ₹500 plan needed

Read-only, daily token handled for you. Full NSE F&O analytics included.

Connect Zerodha Free →

Zerodha pricing verified on 13 July 2026 and may change — confirm current charges with Zerodha. Figures are informational only. CernoQuant is a trading journal and analytics platform, not a SEBI-registered investment advisor. Trading decisions are your sole responsibility.

Zerodha Kite API Charges (2026): Free Personal Plan vs ₹500 Connect