# Credits & usage

What a credit is, what spends one, and how to make a balance last.

Canonical page: https://beeuni.ai/docs/credits

Credits are Beeuni's unit of platform usage. Every account has a credit balance,
and running work draws it down. The more complex or lengthy the task, the more
credits it takes.

Model calls are the main driver. Credits are spent on input tokens (your prompt
and the context around it) and on output tokens (what the agent writes back),
and the rate depends on which model tier you pointed the session at. Billing and
the balance itself are account-level — see [Accounts & access](/docs/accounts#billing).

## Two kinds of credit

An account can hold both at once, and they behave differently:

- **Expiring credits** — $20 welcome credits, valid for 30 days; then $2 per monthly period with no rollover. Paid subscription allowances also expire each billing cycle. These credits cover computer runtime and official models.
- **Non-expiring credits** — purchased credits are stored separately and carry over. Refunds and other grants can also use this bucket; the welcome offer does not.

> **Spend order**
>
> Expiring credits are always consumed first. Non-expiring credits are only drawn
> on once the expiring balance reaches zero, so a monthly allowance can never
> silently eat a top-up you paid for.

## Getting more credits

| Source | Kind | How you get it |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly subscription credits | Expiring | Included with a paid plan, renewed automatically each month. |
| Top-up credits | Non-expiring | Bought when you need them. Available to premium members. |
| Promotional and event grants | Non-expiring | Bonus credits from events, promotions, or referrals. |
| Refunds | Non-expiring | Credits returned after a technical issue or a failed task. |

## When paid credits arrive

Credits follow settled payments. A payment that is accepted but not yet
settled adds nothing to the balance until it settles.

- **Top-ups paid by bank debit** — card payments settle at once. A bank debit
  (for example ACH) can take several business days; the credits arrive when
  it settles. A failed debit adds nothing.
- **Auto top-up** — the same rule applies. While one bank-debit top-up is
  still settling, auto top-up does not start a second charge.
- **Adding seats mid-cycle** — each added seat is charged now, prorated for the
  rest of the billing cycle. Once that charge is paid, the balance grows by the
  same prorated share of the seat's monthly allowance.
- **Removing seats mid-cycle** — the lower seat count is billed from your next
  renewal. The unused part of the current cycle is not refunded, and credits
  already granted stay in the balance.
- **Upgrading a plan mid-cycle** — the price difference is charged now, and
  the upgrade applies only when that payment succeeds. The balance then grows
  by the prorated share of the new plan's monthly allowance. Your next renewal
  grants the full allowance.

## When auto top-up fails

Auto top-up charges the saved payment method when the balance drops below
your threshold.

- A charge that fails for a temporary reason is tried again on a later debit:
  no sooner than 5 minutes after the first failure, and 30 minutes after the
  second.
- A hard decline (for example, insufficient funds or an expired card), or the
  third failed charge in a row, turns auto top-up off so it stops charging.
- When that happens, every owner of the account gets an email with the reason,
  and **Settings → Billing** shows the reason beside the switch. Update the
  payment method, then turn auto top-up back on.
- When the balance reaches $0, agents pause until the account is topped up.
  On a paid plan with auto top-up off, every owner gets an email the first
  time the balance reaches $0 each day.
  A member who cannot add credits can press **Ask an owner** in the
  out-of-credits notice: every owner gets an email with the balance and a link
  to Billing. Each member can ask once a day.

## Tracking your usage

Two places in settings, for two different questions:

- **Settings → Billing** — the current balance, broken down into expiring and
  non-expiring.
- **Settings → Usage** — consumption per thread and conversation, which is how
  you find the sessions that cost the most.

## Making a balance last

- **Match the model to the work.** Point simple work at a smaller model and keep
  the frontier tier for reasoning that needs it. The rate difference between
  tiers is far larger than the difference in output quality on an easy task.
- **Give clear instructions.** A well-defined task cuts the back-and-forth with
  the agent, and every round trip is tokens.
- **Watch the Usage tab.** Find the conversations that consume the most and
  adjust those first.
- **Stay in the thread.** Repeated turns in one thread hit prompt caching, which
  reduces token cost significantly.

## If a number looks wrong

If a figure here does not match what you were charged, email
[hello@valkorai.com](mailto:hello@valkorai.com) or ask in
[Discord](https://discord.com/invite/Yr7UjwbYPC). We are committed to fair and
transparent billing — if you believe there is an error in your credit usage,
contact support and we will investigate promptly.