---
title: "Free-tier abuse · Ataris"
description: "Signup checks judge the account. Free-tier farmers pass them, then spend your credits on mining, scanning, and spam. Ataris watches what accounts do after approval and links the ones that behave the same."
canonical: "https://ataris.dev/use-cases/free-tier-abuse"
last-updated: 2026-11-02
---
# Keep the free tier. Lose the farmers.

Signup checks judge the account. Free-tier farmers pass them, then spend your credits on mining, scanning, and spam. Ataris watches what accounts do after approval and links the ones that behave the same.

## Abuse starts after the account is approved.

Card checks, phone verification, and fraud scores all run at signup. Blunt limits like card gates and no free GPUs stop abuse by stopping growth. Runtime behavior catches the farmers and leaves real users alone.

### 1. Watch: Behavior after signup.

Every new account's VMs are watched from the host, from first boot.

Example (vm-3f1c · first hour): signup checks = passed; first VM = +98 s; mining = +3 min.

### 2. Link: Accounts that behave the same.

Runtime patterns are linked across accounts and joined with the signup and billing data you share, so one operator's ten accounts become one case.

Example (linked accounts): same pattern = 4 accounts; card type = prepaid; email domain age = 3 days.

### 3. Decide: A person decides.

Cases are ranked and report-only, so a real user who happens to look similar isn't banned by a script.

Example (CASE #0417): rank = #2; evidence = runtime + account; automatic action = none.

## What gets farmed, and how Ataris sees it.

Free compute is valuable. These are the ways it gets taken.

- **Abuse.** What farmed credits buy. cryptomining, port scanning, spam, egress abuse.
- **Account signals.** Joined from your data. plan and credits, card type, email domain, signup time.
- **Outcome.** For the provider. free tier stays open, instant signup stays, fewer false bans.

## Related

- [Case queue](https://ataris.dev/product/case-queue.md): Ranked, evidence-backed, report-only
- [Abuse detection](https://ataris.dev/product/abuse-detection.md): Mining, scanning, spam, farmed free tiers
- [Cryptomining](https://ataris.dev/use-cases/cryptomining.md): Miners on free and paid accounts

## Keep free signups open.

Book a demo and we'll show how farmed accounts surface in the case queue.

[Book a demo](https://ataris.dev/contact)