--- title: "Understanding credits" description: "How credits work, what every action costs, where your balance shows, what happens when it runs out, and how to buy top-ups." url: https://help.rankprompt.com/en/articles/16-understanding-credits collection: "Getting started" updated: 2026-10-29 language: en --- # Understanding credits How credits work, what every action costs, where your balance shows, what happens when it runs out, and how to buy top-ups. Credits pay for the work in Rank Prompt that costs money to run: asking AI platforms your prompts, writing articles, running audits, buying Google data and finding outreach contacts. The short version: **1 credit asks one question on up to 3 AI platforms; 4 to 6 use 2 and all 7 use 3. An article costs 10. Monthly plan credits reset each month; top-up credits never expire.** ## Credits and the AI budget Your account has two separate balances: - **Credits** pay for reports, articles, audits, Google data, outreach and every other action in the tables below. - **AI budget** is the dollars the agent and inline editing (AI edits of text and images in the article editor) spend. Every plan includes a monthly AI budget. You can convert credits into more on **Plans > AI budget**; it is spent within the billing cycle and resets with your plan. Like credits, it belongs to the brand owner: whatever a teammate does with AI inside your brand spends your AI budget. * * * ## Where your credits come from

Pool	Where it comes from	Does it expire?
Monthly plan credits	Your plan, every month: 150 on Starter, 500 on Pro, 1,000 on Agency, 2,000 on Agency Plus	Yes: they reset each month and do not roll over
Top-up credits	Packs you buy, plus the credits you get free: 10 when you confirm your email on Free, 50 when you start a trial, 50 per referral, 10 for the survey	Never
API add-on credits	An API plan (API Starter: 500 a month, API Pro: 2,000 a month)	Yes: they reset each API billing period

Annual plans get their monthly credits every month, like monthly plans. During a free trial you spend the 50 trial credits; your plan's monthly credits start when the subscription does. ### Which credits go first Rank Prompt spends your monthly plan credits first, then API add-on credits, then top-up credits. Top-ups only get used once the month's plan credits are gone. * * * ## What each action costs ### Visibility reports Every plan runs on the same seven AI platforms: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity, Muse and Google AI Mode (AI Overviews). A new report starts with ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Mode (AI Overviews) selected.

AI platforms selected	Credits per prompt
1, 2 or 3	1
4, 5 or 6	2
all 7	3

Every AI platform weighs the same: any 3 cost 1 credit per prompt, any 6 cost 2, and all seven cost 3. - **A report** costs its prompts times the credits per prompt. 20 prompts on 3 AI platforms cost 20 credits; on 6, 40; on all seven, 60. - **A Scheduled Report** charges the same amount on every run, for each location it runs in. - **Retrying a failed analysis** is free: you pay once per report. - **If an AI platform fails for good**, the credits it would have used come back when that lowers the prompt's cost (for example, 4 platforms with 1 failing cost 1 credit per prompt instead of 2). - **Show me what to fix** on a report costs 1 credit. The first one for each brand is free. ### Content

Action	Credits
Generate an article	10 (9 when it reuses an outline preview you paid for)
Preview outline	1
Optimize a page you already have	10, refunded if it fails; never charged when the page cannot be read
Generate an image for an article from a text prompt	1
Content plan or Autopilot	10 per article, 9 each when the plan holds 5 or more and 8 each from 20. The size of the plan sets the price: one bulk plan from Opportunities, or one month of Autopilot (its articles per month under the cap). A retry pays the same price
AI edits of text and images in the article editor	Free in credits: they spend AI budget

### Brand Audit and brand facts

Action	Credits
Run a Brand Audit	10
Analyze citations in an audit	1 per 3 pages not analyzed before for the brand, rounded up; a page that could not be read is refunded
Generate action plan in an audit (recommendations and tasks)	3 each time you generate it
Research brand facts with AI	1 (the first time for each brand is free)

When you generate the action plan for an audit that has no citation analysis yet, it also analyzes up to 10 cited pages, inside the same 3 credits. ### Site health and Google data

Action	Credits
Lighthouse audit of a tracked page	1 (refunded if the audit fails)
Competitor audit	1
Technical audit	Free
Research (Explorer) from a keyword	1 per search; the same keyword in the same market is free for 24 hours
Track keywords or refresh their metrics	1 per batch, only when a keyword is not already cached
Check rankings	1 per 10 keywords; keywords checked in the last 20 hours are skipped for free
Google overview refresh (Competitors > Google)	1 per 5 sites that need new data, your own site included (data under 7 days old is free)
Keyword gap refresh (Explorer > What competitors win > In Google)	1 per refresh, covering up to 5 competitors that need new data (data under 7 days old is free; a brand's first gap, loaded after its first report names competitors, is free)
Research (Explorer) from a page URL	1; the same page is free for 24 hours, and an address that does not open costs nothing
Load the rankings in Your Google demand (Explorer)	1, at most once a week

### Outreach

Action	Credits
Find contacts (analyze pages)	1 per 3 pages, at least 1 per batch; your own pages and pages already analyzed are free
Generate an AI email	1
Verify a backlink	1
Send an email	Free
Community search	1 per search
Prospect search (Agency Plus)	5 per search, refunded when it finds nothing; checking who AI names, the contacts of its ten best businesses and the Google data of what you save are included
Weekly saved prospect search	5 per run, refunded when a run finds nothing
Prospect contact	1 per contact found on a saved prospect's website; nothing when no one is found
Prospect report	1 per prompt on up to 3 AI platforms, 2 on 4 to 6, 3 on all 7
Prospect pitch	1 per draft
Score an imported CSV with Google data	1 per 5 sites without data from the last 30 days, shown before the import

### Google Business Profile and Local rank

Action	Credits
Business Profile audit	Free
Prepare fixes of a Business Profile audit (every draft of the audit at once)	1 per audit
AI review reply or post draft	1 each
Weekly local pilot (replies and posts drafted each week)	Included in Starter, up to 60 replies and 12 posts per location a month
City pages plan	1 per batch of searches whose volume is not known yet; known searches are free
Prospect audit (Agency)	2
Local scan (Google Maps rank and AI answers on one grid)	1 per 3 AI answers (points times prompts, rounded up), the Google Maps ranks of every search included: with one prompt a 3x3 grid costs 3, 5x5 costs 9, 7x7 costs 17. Answers AI does not give are refunded
Google Maps scan alone (a schedule without prompts, or a Business Profile location)	1 per 16 points, for each search: a 3x3 grid costs 1, 5x5 costs 2, 7x7 costs 4 (refunded if the scan fails)
Local sources check	1 per 10 directories searched; directories already settled by a citation, by you or by a check in the last week cost nothing

### OpenAI Ads

Action	Credits
Context hints	1
Image prompt	1
Generate image	1

### Lead widget (Agency Plus) A lead report costs its prompts times the credits per prompt, with the prompt count (3 to 20) and the AI platforms (1 to 6) set in your widget: from 3 to 40 credits a lead, 5 with the default of 5 prompts on 3 AI platforms. The agency that owns the widget always pays; the visitor never sees a price. ### Free actions Generating prompts for a new report, mapping prompts to Google keywords, sending emails, technical audits and reading everything you already have cost nothing. * * * ## Checking your balance - **The Credits meter** at the foot of the sidebar shows the credits you have left, split into Monthly, Top-ups and API. When you run low it offers **Top up credits**. - **Subscription > Usage** shows each pool with what you used, the **Credit log** of every credit added and spent, and the **AI usage** of the agent. - Most buttons that spend credits show their cost before you run them. * * * ## When credits run low On a subscription or a trial, you get a notification in the app and by email when 25% of this period's credits are left, again at 10%, and when they run out. Turn it on or off under **Settings > Notifications** (**Low credit balance**). The same levels show as a banner with **Top up credits**. Free accounts do not get these warnings. ### At zero - Actions that need credits stop and show that there are not enough credits, with a link to top up - A Scheduled Report run that cannot reserve its credits fails and you are notified. On a paid subscription the schedule keeps its next run date; without an active subscription, the schedule is paused - Everything you already have stays: reports, articles and their history ### What you can do 1. **Buy a top-up**: one-time packs on **Plans > Top-ups** 2. **Upgrade your plan**: more monthly credits, added right away 3. **Wait for the reset**: your monthly credits come back at the start of the next cycle * * * ## Top-up packs

Pack	Price	Price per credit
50 credits	$18	$0.36
100 credits	$35	$0.35
200 credits	$65	$0.325

Open **Plans > Top-ups** and click the **Buy** button on a pack (for example **Buy 100 credits**). Top-up credits never expire, work on every plan (Free included) and are spent after your monthly plan credits. If a pack's payment is refunded or disputed, the credits of that pack you have not used yet come off your balance. Credits already spent stay spent, credits a running report has reserved still settle, and your balance never goes below zero. A dispute decided in your favor puts them back. The 50 credits of a free trial are never taken back. * * * ## Tips to spend credits well - **Pick AI platforms with care**: 3 AI platforms cost half as much per prompt as 4 to 6, and a third of all 7 - **Match the schedule to the question**: Daily for the prompts you watch closely, Weekly for regular tracking, Monthly for long-term trends - **Start small**: begin a Scheduled Report with fewer prompts and add more once you see what matters - **Use the free windows**: repeat keyword research, page prompts and rank checks inside their free windows instead of forcing a new run - **Plan articles together**: a content plan or an Autopilot month of 5 or more articles costs 9 credits each, and 8 from 20 * * * ## Next steps - [Credit usage](https://help.rankprompt.com/en/articles/66-credit-usage.md): read your balances and the credit log - [Plans and pricing](https://help.rankprompt.com/en/articles/15-plans-and-pricing.md): what each plan includes - [Earn free credits](https://help.rankprompt.com/en/articles/18-earn-free-credits.md): referrals and the survey * * * ## Questions? Email [support@rankprompt.com](mailto:support@rankprompt.com) and I'll help.