Credits
Credits are how usage is measured. See what uses them, where your balance lives, how they refresh, and what to do when you run low.
Credits are how Buildpad measures the work it does for you. Every plan comes with a monthly amount, and everything you ask for draws from it in proportion to the actual work involved: a short reply uses a fraction of a credit, while a deep research report uses many times more. The amounts per plan are on the pricing page.
Credits roll over 1 month
What uses credits
Everything Buildpad does for you runs on credits:
- Replies: every reply in a chat, including the notes and documents it writes to the canvas and the websites it builds. Editing a message or retrying a reply counts like a new one.
- Web searches: each quick search Buildpad runs to answer a question with sources.
- Deep research: a team of agents searches in parallel and writes a report. This is the biggest single task.
- Ultraplan: reading your whole conversation and canvas to lay out your phases.
- Interviews: every interview conversation, the voice on both sides, and the review that pulls out the answers.
Bigger tasks use more. A reply in a long conversation costs more than the same reply in a fresh one, because Buildpad reads the whole conversation to answer. Attachments add to that. Deep research with many agents and a long Ultraplan sit at the top end.
In a shared project, the credits come from the project owner. Collaborators spend the owner's balance, never their own. See Collaboration.
Where to see your balance
The credits pill at the top of the dashboard shows your balance. Hover over it or tap it, and you see your plan name, the balance, a bar for how much of this period's allowance is left, and a button: Add credits on a paid plan, Upgrade on a free account, Start subscription during your trial.
Settings → Usage lists what you spent in the last 30 days, grouped per action: the date, the activity, the project, and the credits used. Activities are Chat, Research, Deep research, Ultraplan and Interview. Very small amounts show as <0.1.
Usage
| Date | Activity | Project | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 18, 4:12 PM | Chat | Two Ends | |
| Oct 18, 3:40 PM | Deep research | Two Ends | |
| Oct 18, 3:38 PM | Chat | Two Ends | |
| Oct 17, 11:05 AM | Interview | Two Ends | |
| Oct 17, 10:51 AM | Chat | — | |
| Oct 16, 6:20 PM | Ultraplan | Two Ends | |
| Oct 16, 6:02 PM | Research | Two Ends |
Renewals and carry-over
On your renewal date Buildpad adds your plan's full allowance to whatever you have left. Unused credits carry over, with a limit: at most one full allowance carries over, plus any credit packs you bought during that period. Anything above the limit is dropped at renewal, so your balance can never grow much beyond two allowances. Credits do not expire in the middle of a period.
On quarterly billing you receive the whole quarter's credits at once and the same limit applies at the end of the quarter.
An upgrade to Max that takes effect today works differently: the Max credits are added on top of your balance with no limit, and your renewal date moves to one month from that day. See Your subscription.
During your trial, credits refresh every day instead. See Free trial.
Running low
When your balance drops below a small amount, a banner appears on the dashboard and above the chat with your remaining credits and an Add credits button. You also get one email per billing period telling you that you are running low.
When you reach zero
- Buildpad does not start a new reply, and it tells you that you have used all your credits. A prompt opens with Add credits on a paid plan or Upgrade on a free account.
- A reply that is already running stops before its next step once what it has used so far would empty your balance. Everything written so far stays.
- A deep research that has already started always finishes. The chat does not continue afterwards until you have credits again.
- An interview that is collecting responses stops accepting new ones, and you get an email so you can top up.
- A big task can use a little more than you had left. Your balance stops at zero. Nothing is owed and your next credits are not reduced.
Buying more credits
Click Add credits in the credits pill, in the low-credit banner, or in the prompt that opens when you run out. The window offers a smaller pack and a larger pack. Pick one, complete the checkout, and the credits land in your balance right away.
A few things to know:
- Packs are a one-time purchase, not a subscription. Buy one whenever you need it.
- Packs need an active paid plan. They are not available during the trial.
- Purchased credits join your balance and do not expire with the month. At your next renewal they raise the carry-over limit by the amount you bought, so they are never dropped there.
- All credits end with your subscription. When it ends, your balance goes to zero, packs included.
The same window offers Or upgrade to Max. If you buy packs most months, moving to Max gives you more credits every month without the extra step.
Tip
Before a deep research or an Ultraplan, glance at the credits pill. If you are low, add credits first, so the work does not stop halfway through.
Still unsure about something? Check the help center or send us a message.
Help center