The unit
A credit is a fixed fraction of a US cent. It is not a currency with a floating value, it does not change worth between plans, and a credit bought in a pack is the same size as a credit granted by a subscription. That sounds obvious and it is not universal — a great many credit systems quietly revalue the unit between tiers, which makes the tiers impossible to compare, which is generally the point.
Everything metered is priced in that one unit. An image costs some number of credits; a second of video costs some number of credits. The numbers differ by model, because the models cost us different amounts, and the current figures are shown in the studio next to the thing you are about to run rather than only on the pricing page.
Reserve, then settle
The part worth understanding, because it is the part that looks like a bug the first time you see it.
When you press Run, we do not know what the job will cost. A video generation can end early, a provider can fail halfway, a model can return a shorter clip than requested. So the balance is not debited at the end — it is reserved at the start, at the most the job could possibly cost, and settled afterwards at what it actually cost.
Reserve
Your balance drops by the maximum this job could cost — for a video, the full requested duration at that model's rate. This is why the number moves before anything has been generated.
Run
The job goes to a provider. If every slot is busy it waits in a queue with a visible position rather than failing, and the reservation is held while it waits.
Settle
The difference between reserved and actual comes back. A four-second clip that reserved for eight seconds returns the four seconds it did not use.
Or refund
A run that fails, or that you cancel, returns the whole reservation. You are never charged for a job that produced nothing.
The alternative — debit on completion — is simpler to explain and lets a single account start unbounded work against a balance it does not have, because nothing is committed until the money is already spent. Reserving first is the only version where the ceiling is real.
The two ceilings, which are different things
- A daily credit cap
- Money. When it trips, generation stops until the window rolls over. It exists so that a compromised account, or a loop in somebody's script, cannot spend a provider balance overnight.
- A concurrency window
- Rate, not money. When it trips, nothing stops — your run is queued with a position and starts when a slot frees. Hitting this costs you time and no credits.
They are worth telling apart because the interface treats them differently and so should you. Being queued is normal and means the platform is busy. Being capped means something should be looked at.
Questions we get
Do credits expire?
Purchased credits last two years. Credits granted by a subscription belong to the month they were granted in. Free daily grants expire the same day and are bound to the cheapest model — they are there to let you try things, not to accumulate into a balance.
Why did my balance drop before the video finished?
That is the reservation. The maximum the job could cost is held while it runs, and the unused part comes back when it settles. A clip that finishes shorter than requested returns the difference.
What happens if a generation fails?
The whole reservation is returned. A failed run costs nothing. If a run appears to have failed but the credits have not come back, the sweeper has not reached it yet — it finishes runs nobody is watching, so closing the tab is safe.
Can I see what a run will cost before I run it?
Yes. The studio quotes the reservation before you commit, and the plan and usage pill shows the allowance this deployment actually enforces rather than the one the pricing page advertises.
Are prices in anything other than US dollars?
No. Prices are USD only. Other currencies were carried for a while and removed, because a second currency that is not actively maintained becomes a wrong price rather than a convenience.