How Credits Work
Open in CMSThis page goes one level deeper into the credit model: how credits are actually consumed, the difference between Free and Paid credit, how active credit is stored in batches that can expire, and a worked example so it all clicks.
How credits are consumed
Credits are spent per action. Every time an agent does something that costs money behind the scenes, a small amount of credit is deducted. Those actions are grouped into categories, so your usage is easy to read.
| Category | What it covers |
|---|---|
| LLM | The agent thinking and writing replies — the core of every conversation. |
| WebSearch | The agent searching the web for fresh information. |
| SpeechToText | Converting a voice message into text the agent can understand. |
| Voice calls | Talking with the agent in a live voice call. How it is billed depends on the agent's conversation style — see below. |
Different actions consume different amounts of credit. A short text reply costs a little; a web search or a long answer costs more. You don't set these amounts — they reflect the real work being done.
The AI model matters too. A + model (Light+, Smart+, Analyst+, Insight+, Thinker+, Sage+) is the same model as the one without the +, running on Fast mode: its answers arrive about 1.5–2x faster and cost twice as much. An answer that happened to run at normal speed under heavy load is billed at the normal rate. See Model levels and + models.
Voice calls
- Turn-by-turn calls are billed by what the call actually processes: the audio and text heard and spoken, plus transcription. A quiet call costs little.
- Natural conversation calls (beta) are billed by time: about 1,500 credits per minute (25 per second) for as long as the call is open — silence and muted time included. On top of that, every answer its Answering AI model writes is billed at that model's normal token rate, exactly like a chat answer, and tools such as web search are billed as usual. On the usage pages, voice time appears as
dialog-liveand the answers asdialog-live-backend.
Natural conversation calls end automatically after a quiet period and at a maximum length, which you set on the agent's Voice page.
Free vs Paid credit
Credit comes in two types, each shown with a chip in the app:
| Type | How you get it | Expiry | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Complimentary — for example, when you first start. | May expire after a period. | Trying things out, early usage. |
| Paid | Bought as a one-time top-up, or granted by a subscription. | Longer-lived; your dependable balance. | Ongoing, day-to-day usage. |
When an action is charged, Free credit is generally drawn down first so you use it before it expires, with Paid credit kept in reserve.
Active credit batches
Your credit isn't one big number — it's stored as batches. Each top-up, subscription grant, or free allocation creates its own batch with its own balance and expiry date. This is how the system can let Free credit expire while your Paid credit stays put.
You can see your batches by opening My Credit, then clicking View active credits to open the Active Credits modal. Each row is one batch:
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Credit Allocated | The original amount this batch started with. |
| Added Date | When this batch was added to your account. |
| Remaining Balance | How much of this batch is still left to spend. |
| Credit Type | Whether this batch is Free or Paid. |
| Expiry Date | The date this batch's remaining balance will expire (if any). |
Tip: If a balance seems to drop "on its own," check the Expiry Date column in the Active Credits modal — a Free batch may simply have expired.
Worked example
Goal: see how a single conversation spends credit across categories.
A customer asks your agent a detailed question. To answer it well, the agent:
- Makes several LLM calls to understand the question and write a clear reply — each call consumes some credit.
- Runs 1 WebSearch to pull in the latest figures — that consumes a bit more.
Each of those actions draws from your credit, Free batches first. In the Active Credits modal you'd see the Remaining Balance of the active Free batch tick down, and on the Usage & Reports page you'd see the spend split between LLM and WebSearch.
What this means for you
- Keep enough credit available so agents never stall mid-conversation.
- Expect Free credit to be used first, and to expire — plan to add Paid credit before it runs out.
- Use the Active Credits modal to see exactly what you have and when it expires.
The exact pricing for buying more credit — minimums, bonuses, and currencies — is on the next page.
Next step
Ready to add credit? Continue to Buying Credits.