What are AI credits?
The unit a product deducts per model call, wrapping the provider's own per-token cost into a simpler number.
AI credits — AI credits are a prepaid or included unit a SaaS product deducts for each model call, usually priced above the provider's raw cost to cover the vendor's margin and infrastructure. They exist to meter AI usage without exposing per-token pricing.
Why it matters
Language model providers charge by the token, a unit far smaller than a customer or a sales rep wants to think about. AI credits translate that into something readable: a bundle included in a plan, or a prepaid balance a customer tops up, deducted at some rate every time the product makes a model call on their behalf. The rate is set by the vendor, and it is almost never the provider's raw per-token cost, because the vendor is also covering infrastructure and margin on top of it.
What matters to a customer is the conversion: how many dollars one credit represents, and how many credits a typical action, like drafting an email or summarising a record, actually consumes. A product that hides that conversion behind an opaque credit count makes it hard to predict a bill until it arrives. A customer who cares about cost control is better served knowing the number up front, or choosing BYOK instead, where the provider bills them directly at cost rather than through a marked-up credit.
How AI credits are consumed
- 1
A plan includes or sells a credit balance
Either bundled into a subscription or purchased separately.
- 2
The product makes a model call on the customer's behalf
Drafting, summarising, classifying, or another AI action.
- 3
Credits are deducted at a set rate
The rate reflects the vendor's cost plus margin, not the provider's raw price.
- 4
The balance is tracked and shown
Ideally on a usage page the customer can check at any time.
- 5
The customer tops up or upgrades
When the balance runs low, to keep AI features working.
The mistake to watch for
Questions
- How are AI credits different from usage-based pricing?
- Usage-based pricing typically bills directly for measured consumption at a stated rate. AI credits wrap that consumption into a bundled or prepaid unit, which can obscure the underlying rate unless the vendor publishes it.
- Are AI credits the same as BYOK?
- No, they are opposites in a sense. AI credits are sold by the vendor at a markup; BYOK has the customer pay the AI provider directly at the provider's own rate, with no vendor markup on the model calls.
- Do unused AI credits usually roll over?
- It depends on the vendor's plan terms; some expire monthly and some carry over, so it is worth checking rather than assuming either way.