How AI credits work
Updated
Every AI reply that Dartzo writes for you uses AI credits. Think of them as a monthly allowance: every plan gets one, including the free plan, a bigger plan gets a bigger one, and it resets each month. This page explains what a credit is, how to see where yours went, and what happens when you reach the end.
What a credit is
The AI reads text and writes text, and both are measured in *tokens* (small chunks of a word). Dartzo turns that into credits with one fixed rule:
| What the AI handles | Credits |
|---|---|
| Each token it reads (your FAQs, your voice settings and the fan’s question) | 1 credit |
| Each token it writes (the reply) | 4 credits |
Writing costs more because generating text is the expensive side. A reply that used any tokens at all costs at least 1 credit, and fractions are rounded up, so the ledger never under-counts.
Because your FAQs are sent along with every question, the size of your FAQs is the biggest driver of cost, more than the length of the reply. On our own estimate, a typical reply comes to roughly 3,000 credits, but yours will differ. Keep FAQs tight, as described in AI voice and tone, and each reply costs less.
What costs nothing
- Greeting replies. A plain “hi” answered by your greeting message uses no AI, so it uses no credits.
- Refused attempts. If a reply can’t be generated (out of credits, say), nothing was called, so nothing is charged. The Usage tab shows these as Refused (no spend).
- The typing indicator. The “…” a fan sees is not a message and is never charged.
- Replies on your own AI key. They’re billed by your provider, not by us. See Use your own AI key.
How many credits each plan includes
| Plan | AI credits each month | Daily ceiling (20%) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 25,000 | 5,000 |
| Pro | 250,000 | 50,000 |
| Max | 2,500,000 | 500,000 |
| Ultra | 15,000,000 | 3,000,000 |
The allowance is counted per calendar month and starts again at the beginning of the month. The month and the day are counted in UTC, so for India the reset lands at 5:30 in the morning on the 1st. To compare plans, see Plans and features; prices are on the pricing page.
- Upgrading mid-month raises your allowance to the new plan’s figure straight away. Credits you’ve already spent this month still count against it.
- Bonus credits are extra credits we grant on top (for example from an offer). They’re added to the month in which they start and aren’t carried over into the next month. The meter shows them as “+ N bonus credits”.
- Free trial and referral time. During a 14-day free trial, AI replies use a fixed trial allowance of 75,000 credits for the whole trial, not the plan’s monthly figure, and it doesn’t reset if the trial crosses the 1st. The 30 days of Pro a referred friend receives follow the same rule. See Plans and features and Referral program.
The daily ceiling
A single busy day can spend at most 20% of your month’s allowance. It exists so that one viral post can’t burn your whole month by Tuesday. When you’re getting close, the credits card shows a line such as “12,000 of today’s 50,000 used”. Once the day’s ceiling is reached it says “Today’s 50,000 are used — AI replies pick up again tomorrow.” Fans who write in after that get your fallback message, until the day rolls over.
See where your credits went
Open AI Agent in the sidebar. On the Build tab, the AI credits card on the right shows:
- A bar and a count: Monthly limit used (or Trial credits used during a trial), with “N credits left this month” beneath it.
- A breakdown by kind: FAQ replies, Studio previews and so on, with credits and number of calls for each.
- How many times AI honestly fell back, as “N fallbacks”.
- An Upgrade for more credits button on the Free and Pro plans.
For the full history, switch to the Usage tab. It’s headed Usage this month (or Usage in your free trial) with your total against your allowance, and lists every AI attempt, newest first:
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| When | The date and time of the attempt. |
| What | FAQ replies or Studio previews (your Test chat), or Refused (no spend). |
| Outcome | Answered, Sent, Greeting, Not in the FAQs, Handed to you, Out of credits, No AI key, No AI route or Failed. When something fails, the reason is shown under it in the provider’s own words. |
| Paid by | Dartzo credits or Your key. |
| Model | Which AI model wrote the reply. |
| Credits | What it cost. Refused and greeting rows read 0. |
When the credits run out
Nothing is ever dropped silently. When your credits for the month (or today’s ceiling) are used up:
- Fans still get a replyA fan whose question would have gone to the AI gets your When the FAQs can’t answer message instead. Greetings still go out, because they cost nothing. Keyword automations are not affected at all.
- You’re toldThe AI Agent page shows an Out of AI credits banner and badge. On the phone app you also get a notice at 80% used and again at 100%, which you can switch off in Settings (see Notifications).
- The attempt is loggedEach refused reply appears on the Usage tab as Out of credits, so you can see how many fans fell back and when.
In rare cases a limit on our side, not yours, can produce the same state for a short while. The wording is the same and so is the fallback. The error reference explains the state as no_credits.
Your options
- Wait for the reset. Your allowance returns on the 1st (UTC), or tomorrow if it was the daily ceiling.
- Upgrade for a bigger monthly allowance. See Plans and features.
- Use your own AI key (Pro and up). Replies then run on your own provider account and spend no Dartzo credits. See Use your own AI key.
- Make replies cheaper. Trim FAQs, switch off entries you don’t need and pick a shorter Typical reply length.
- Turn AI off for an automation and use a fixed message. It keeps working regardless of credits.