Account and billing
Credit and top-ups
The two credit accounts, how they are spent, and what happens when they run out.
Credit is what runs are paid from. There are two balances behind the single number you see in the sidebar; they are spent in a fixed order, and the app tells you when the one paying changes.
Where credit comes from
| Source | Lands in |
|---|---|
| Welcome grant, once, when the account is created | Plan credit, with no expiry |
| A paid plan, once per month | Plan credit for that cycle |
| A credit pack you buy at any time | Usage credits, which never expire |
| A referral reward | Free runs, which are neither; see Referrals |
| A correction or refund from support | Whichever balance it belongs to, with a line in your activity |
Pro plan
ActiveNo included runs · renews 1 Sep
Credit
$12.40
Around 25 typical runs left at your plan's rate.
The order things are spent in
- 1
Free runs from a referral
If you have any, a generation, project edit, debug or optimize run uses one of these first. Questions and clarifying questions do not.
- 2
Plan credit
This month's credit from your plan, or the welcome grant if you are on Free. It is used before anything you bought separately, because it expires and usage credits do not.
- 3
Usage credits
Your top-up balance takes over when plan credit is gone. Work carries on without interruption; the composer shows a line telling you the change happened.
Note
While a paid plan is active, the welcome grant you were given on day one is held back rather than being spent alongside it. It is there as a floor for when a plan ends, and spending it quietly during a paid month would empty it before it is needed.
What expires and what does not
| Balance | Lifetime |
|---|---|
| Welcome grant | Never expires. It is yours until you spend it. |
| Monthly plan credit | Expires at the end of its cycle. Unspent credit does not roll into the next month. |
| Usage credits | Never expire, and are not reset by a billing period. |
| Free runs from a referral | Never expire. |
Upgrading mid-cycle carries whatever is left of your plan credit onto the new plan and starts a fresh cycle. Credit that has already expired is gone; that is what makes the expiry mean something.
Why your balance dips before a run finishes
Starting a run sets aside credit for it. When the run settles, that hold is released and the real cost is charged instead, so your activity table shows a reservation and a release around the same time. That is the normal shape of one run, not a double charge.
Holding the credit up front is also what makes it safe to start two runs at once; they cannot both spend the same last dollar.
Note
Your balance also caps how much a single run may spend on itself. A small balance gives a run less room rather than letting it overspend, so it stops cleanly instead of running out mid-way.
Running out
Below a small minimum, a run is refused before it starts rather than being started and abandoned half way. Nothing you typed is lost; add credit or pick a plan and send the same message again.
The minimum is not the same for every kind of run. Debug and Optimize ask for more than a plain generation, because both do real work establishing the starting position before they can try anything; starting one on the last few cents guarantees it stops with nothing to show. The message tells you which case you are in, since "not enough for this run" and "out of credit" are different situations and a cheaper run may still go through.
The Usage section lists the run kinds your current balance cannot start, so you can see it before you hit it.
Topping up
Credit packs sit under Usage credits in the Usage section of Settings, in three sizes. They are a one-off purchase; they do not change your plan, do not renew, and never expire. Buying one takes effect as soon as the payment is confirmed.