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Understanding Credits

This guide explains how Hunch credits work, what consumes them, and how rollover and top-ups behave.

How Billing Works​

Hunch billing is credit-based:

  • Plans define your feature access and included monthly allocation
  • Credits pay for usage-heavy work
  • Top-ups let you add more credits mid-cycle

Credit Costs​

  • 1 credit: one successful AI response
  • 1 credit: one standard page ingest or refresh
  • 2 credits: one rendered or advanced extraction ingest
  • 1 credit: one successful billable MCP operation
  • 0 credits: cached responses
  • 0 credits: failed requests and failed jobs

Billable MCP operations include successful grounded reads, generated site actions, action follow-up turns, handoff exports, and live bridge tool runs. Failed billable MCP calls are refunded back into the same credit ledger.

Free Plan Usage​

Free accounts receive:

  • 500 lifetime credits
  • no monthly renewal
  • no access to further credit-consuming actions after the 500 credits are exhausted unless the account upgrades

Paid subscriptions receive recurring allocations:

  • Starter: 3,000 credits per month
  • Professional: 12,000 credits per month
  • Yearly plans still allocate credits monthly
  • Unused paid credits roll over and do not expire while the paid subscription remains active

Rollover Rules​

  • Current-cycle subscription credits are spent first
  • Then rollover credits
  • Then purchased top-up credits
  • Paid rollover balances are frozen when a paid subscription ends
  • Frozen paid credits become spendable again if the subscription is reactivated

Top-Ups​

If you hit zero mid-cycle:

  • AI responses and ingestion stop immediately
  • Paid plans can buy a top-up pack from the billing page
  • Top-up credits are added instantly
  • Top-up credits do not expire
  • Free-plan users need to subscribe to a paid plan after the initial 500 lifetime credits are exhausted

Monitoring Usage​

The dashboard billing page shows:

  • available credits
  • current-cycle credits
  • rollover credits
  • top-up credits
  • frozen paid credits
  • next allocation date

Alerts and Planning​

To avoid running out unexpectedly:

  1. Watch the remaining balance in Billing
  2. Expect low-credit warning emails at 25%, 10%, and 0% of your base plan allocation
  3. Expect a confirmation email when a paid top-up is added successfully
  4. Buy a top-up pack for temporary spikes
  5. Upgrade if you repeatedly consume your plan before the next allocation