# Credits and costs

> Read estimates and actual charges, understand available and held balances, and find project and account spending records.

Source: https://kaitoi.io/docs/reference/credits/
Section: Account and help / Plans and credits
Written for: Anyone running paid work or managing a personal or team credit balance.
Last reviewed: 2026-10-24

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Kaitoi credits pay for managed provider work and applicable platform or
community charges. Cost depends on what executes: the operation, input and
output sizes, duration, token usage and other priced settings.

## Follow a hold through settlement


This fictional example begins with 100 units: 20 subscription units and 80 PAYG units. A 30-unit hold leaves 70 available. If confirmed usage settles at 18, the unused 12 is released and 82 remain available. These are explanatory units, not prices. A failed or stopped run may still have confirmed usage; inspect the actual transaction before repeating work.

*Figure: Reserved funds and final charges are different amounts.*

## Read the balance for the intended workspace

Open **Settings → Account → Billing** and select **Personal** or the intended
team. The header can show **Available to Spend**, **Balance**, or **Team
Allowance**, depending on your context and role.

**Balance breakdown** separates **Subscription Credits**, which are spent
first, from **PAYG Balance**. Where applicable it shows the included grant,
cap and renewal. Purchased PAYG funds remain a separate balance.

| Balance term | Meaning                                                                               |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Available    | Funds usable for new work.                                                            |
| On hold      | Funds set aside while charges are confirmed; an unused portion is released afterward. |
| Owed         | Earlier usage beyond what was reserved, covered before new work uses the balance.     |

A nominal balance does not guarantee a particular request can start. A team
member's weekly allowance can also stop new work. Members may see their
remaining **Team Allowance** or **Team-funded** status rather than the full
team balance. Team owners and admins can inspect team billing; **Add Funds**
for a team is owner-only.

## Estimate, reserve, settle

Read the estimate before running, including any incomplete or unpriced work.
A **+** on a Station estimate marks incomplete pricing. A required reservation
can be larger than a typical completed run's measured cost.

A node's credit icon identifies credit-spending work. Its footer can show
credits used by the last billed run; that amount is history, not a fresh quote
for the next input. Missing cost information does not prove free execution.

After work settles, inspect the transaction record. A hold that persists is a
reason to investigate or contact support, not to rerun the same operation.
Expand owed items and use **View transaction** when a transaction is linked.

## Find a charge or export records

In Billing:

1. Use **Usage → Spending Breakdown** and its period selector to inspect
   spending over time.
2. Open **Transactions → Transaction History**. Filter **All**, **In** or
   **Out**, and expand the relevant row.
3. Use **Refresh billing** if you need updated records.
4. Use **CSV** to export the available recent transactions. Check for a
   bounded or truncated result; this is not a promise of an all-time export.

Where configured, Billing also offers **Add Funds**, **Subscribe** and
**View Invoices**. Read the current offer and selected workspace before
confirming a purchase or subscription change.

For a saved project, **Project Spend** in the graph toolbar shows recorded
attribution. **Inherited at Save As** is a fixed starting total carried into
the copy's view; it is not another charge.

## Failed, stopped and repeated work

An overall failure does not mean every provider attempt did no work.
Already-performed work can remain chargeable. Stopping a workflow cannot
reliably recall an external request already sent; another attempt may incur
another charge.

Inspect retained results first. Supported Station **Resume** can reuse valid
work, while API callers should preserve the original run ID and supported
idempotency key. Reuse remains conditional on the specific operation.

A managed-provider `SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE` funding refusal is different from
your account lacking credits. Keep its opaque reference and investigate the
service error instead of repeatedly purchasing funds or submitting more calls.

## Personal keys and current prices

With a personal provider key, the provider bills the account behind that key.
Other applicable charges can still exist. Local execution can also have
hardware, rental or associated service costs.

Use the current [Pricing](https://kaitoi.io/pricing/) catalog and in-app terms
for amounts. Do not infer a universal node rate from a previous run or equate
provider tokens, currency and Kaitoi credits without the stated conversion.