AI credits
What AI credits are, what spends them, where to see your balance, what happens when they run out, and why a failed AI request can still use some.
AI credits are the balance your workspace spends whenever an AI feature does work, including every answer from the Agent. When the balance reaches zero, only the AI features pause. Invoices, payment links, payments and everything else carry on. Your workspace has one balance, shared by everyone in it.
What spends credits
Credits are worked out from how much the AI reads and writes for a request. The page lists AI use by feature, for example:
- Agent answers
- Line item, product and service suggestions
- Reminder drafts and reminder schedule drafts
- Payment plan and collections explanations
- The invoice template designer and the pay page designer
- Business type setup
- Import column matching
- The document organizer
The AI credits page also shows what each feature typically costs. Anything that is not an AI feature, such as creating an invoice, sending it or taking a payment, does not use credits.
Where credits come from
Your balance is made of lots, and the What your balance is made of card on the Overview tab lists each one:
- The plan's monthly allowance. Some plans include one. It is used first. A new allowance starts with each billing period (each calendar month on the free plan), and what is left of the previous one expires.
- Sign-up and trial credits. New workspaces start with some.
- Credits you bought. The owner can buy packs on any plan. They last 12 months from purchase and are used after the allowance.
- Credits from BillingMart. Added by us if we adjust your balance.
Lots that expire sooner are spent first. The plan you are on decides whether it has an allowance.
See your balance
- On the web. The header shows your credits left. Owners and admins can open AI credits in the left menu. It has an Overview, an Add credits tab and a History tab that lists every change to the balance. Other people who open it are told to ask an owner or admin.
- On the phones. Owners and admins can open Plan & credits under More to see the balance, its lots and the history.
In Test mode, AI spends the live workspace's balance. The balance you see there is the live one.
When credits run out
AI requests are refused with the message that the workspace has no AI credits left. In the Agent you see an Out of AI credits card. Conversations stay readable and approvals waiting for a person can still be decided, but the Agent cannot answer.
- The owner is shown how to add credits.
- Staff and admins on the web see Ask the owner. That sends the owner one request to buy a credit pack. The owner approves it in Approvals with their second factor. See Approve or reject what the Agent proposes.
Credits can arrive as soon as a payment clears, and the Agent works again.
Why a failed request can still use credits
The AI provider charges for the work it did, whether or not the answer was usable. If an answer came back in a form BillingMart could not accept, you may still have used credits for that call. Credits are taken after the answer, so a few requests already running when the balance hits zero can take it slightly below zero. The next credits you receive cover that, and the Overview tab shows it as use beyond the balance. The next request is then refused.
Separate safety ceiling
Your workspace also has a monthly safety guard on AI use, to stop a runaway. It is separate from your balance. If you reach it while you still have credits, new AI requests are refused. Contact support if your workspace needs it raised. See Contact support.