Credits
Credit packs, included usage, and auto-reload in Alvin.
Model usage is billed in dollars against your organization's balance. Every plan includes a monthly allowance; credit packs top you up beyond it.
Two balances
| Included usage | Credit packs | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it comes from | Your plan, monthly | Bought when you want it |
| Amount | Set by your plan — see Plans | $20, $50 or $100 |
| Resets | Every billing cycle | Never — carries forward |
| Available on | Every plan | Every plan |
Included usage is spent first. Credit packs are drawn on once it's exhausted.
How usage is charged
Each request costs the model's input rate times your prompt tokens, plus its output rate times the response:
cost = (input tokens × input rate) + (output tokens × output rate)
Rates vary widely between models — a frontier model can be 100× a small one for the same conversation. Per-model rates are listed in Supported models; the Model Hub shows the same numbers next to each model as you browse.
Letting Alvin route is the single biggest lever on cost: simple prompts go to small models, and the expensive ones are reserved for work that needs them.
Credit packs
| Pack | Price | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| $20 pack | $20 | $20 |
| $50 pack — most popular | $50 | $50 |
| $100 pack | $100 | $100 |
Packs are 1:1 — you get exactly what you pay for, with no bonus tiers and no markup.
Buying a pack
- Go to Settings > Billing > Credits
- Click Buy Credits
- Pick a pack and complete payment
Credit lands on your balance as soon as payment clears.
Auto-reload
Auto-reload buys a pack automatically when your balance falls below a threshold you set.
- Go to Settings > Billing
- Enable Auto-Reload
- Choose a pack, a threshold, and a monthly ceiling
| Setting | Range |
|---|---|
| Threshold | $5 – $10,000 |
| Monthly ceiling | Bounded per cycle — the limit is shown when you configure it |
A payment method is required to enable auto-reload. Larger packs are more efficient to top up with, so if you reload often, prefer the bigger pack.
Viewing your balance
Settings > Billing shows your current balance and this cycle's usage. Analytics > Costs breaks spend down over time and by model.
Policy
- Credit does not expire and carries forward indefinitely
- Credit is non-refundable
- Credit cannot be moved between organizations
- Free-plan usage stops when the allowance runs out — there are no overage charges
Keeping costs down
- Let Alvin route. Manual selection of a frontier model for everything is the most common cause of a surprise bill.
- Watch Analytics. The cost dashboard shows which models and which projects are spending.
- Set
max_tokenson API calls where you don't need a long answer. - Set a threshold alert so a runaway job doesn't quietly drain the balance.
Related
- Plans — what each plan includes
- Supported models — per-model rates
- Cost dashboard — track spending