# How AI credits work

> Understand AI credits, your monthly allowance, and credit packs.

Source: https://notate.md/docs/account/ai-credits/

Category: Account & billing

Updated: 2026-08-16

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On the AI plan, AI features in Notate run on **credits**. This page explains what credits are, how your plan includes them, and how to get more.

If you use [your own provider keys](https://notate.md/docs/ai/bring-your-own-keys/) on the Sync plan, none of this applies to you: your provider bills you directly and nothing on this page is spent.

## What a credit is

A credit is a small unit of AI usage. Each time you use an AI feature it spends some credits, based on how much work the request takes.

You can always see how many you have left in **Settings → Billing**.

## Your monthly allowance

The AI plan includes a set number of credits each month, your **monthly allowance**. It refreshes at the start of each billing period. Unused monthly credits do not carry over to the next month.

## Credit packs

If you need more than your monthly allowance, you can buy a **credit pack** from **Settings → Billing**. Credit packs are one-time purchases, and:

- They **never expire**.
- They are used only **after** your monthly allowance runs out, so your included allowance is always spent first.

So a pack you buy stays as a reserve until you need it, even across months.

If a credit pack purchase is refunded or reversed, the credits it added are removed from your account (your balance never goes below zero).

## What uses credits

Credits are used by Notate's AI features, such as:

- Chatting with your notes and asking questions, with cited sources
- Summaries and auto-tagging
- Rewrites and writing suggestions
- Recording and transcribing audio into notes

## Running low

When your monthly allowance and any purchased credits are used up, AI features pause until your allowance refreshes next month or you buy a credit pack. Your notes are never affected, and the rest of Notate keeps working normally.

## A note on credit value

A credit stands for an amount of AI usage that depends on the cost of the AI models behind it. As those costs change over time, we may adjust how much AI usage a credit represents. See our [Terms of Service](https://notate.md/terms/) for details.