Credits Policy

Everything AI in ChatCut costs credits. This page explains what drives cost for each feature. Exact per-action rates appear in the editor before you confirm, and live rates are the source of truth; they can be adjusted without a code release.

Quick stats

Default USD per credit: $0.25
Free starter credits: 25
Video generation: 0.6 credits per second
Estimates: shown live in the editor

How to get credits

There are two ways to get credits in ChatCut:

Purchase a subscription

Choose a paid subscription plan to receive a recurring monthly credit allowance. Your subscription credits renew with each billing cycle and unlock the paid creation workflows that use credits.

Add credit packs after subscribing

After you have an active subscription, you can buy additional credit packs on top of your monthly allowance. Credit packs are useful when you need more capacity for a larger project, a heavier generation session, or extra renders before your next subscription renewal.

What does not cost credits

Start here, because it is most things:

Uploading media
Auto-transcription as part of upload
Editing by hand: trim, split, move, delete
Playback and preview
Adding captions from existing transcripts
Saving versions
Navigating the timeline

Hand editing is unmetered

You can spend an entire session on the timeline without using a credit. Credits only come in when AI work runs: agent turns, generation, or rendering.

What does cost credits

Agent chat turns

Each turn the agent runs costs credits based on the models and tools involved. A short prompt with no generation runs cheap; a turn that generates video and motion graphics runs higher.

Drivers: model used, token counts, tool calls
Billing: tokens multiplied by model rate; cache reads and cache creations are priced separately

Video generation

Video generation is billed at 0.6 credits per second of generated output, regardless of generation mode or resolution. A 10-second clip is 6 credits; a 15-second max-length clip is 9 credits.

Image generation

Image generation is priced per image and scaled by:

Resolution: 1K, 2K, and 4K have multipliers applied
Model: standard model vs. Pro-plan higher-quality model

Motion graphics

Motion graphics are priced per generated animation.

Drivers: complexity, number of elements, duration

Music generation

Music generation is priced per generated track and scaled by duration.

AI narration

AI narration is priced by generated audio duration.

Engine: ElevenLabs and Doubao / SeedTTS 2.0 have different rates
Driver: length of script and chosen voice tier

Rendering

Rendering is priced by duration and codec choice. Available options include H.264, VP8, and ProRes 4444 for Pro motion graphic export with alpha.

Drivers: final video duration and codec choice
Max resolution: 1080p across all plans

Live estimates before every action

Every action that costs credits shows an estimate in the editor before you confirm. Rates update server-side without editor releases, so the live estimate is always current.

Where you see estimates:

Agent turn: the chat shows an estimated cost before running a turn that involves generation
Render dialog: the export panel shows estimated credits before you confirm
Generation prompts: image, video, music, and narration panels show per-action cost

Not charged for failures

If a generation is rejected by a safety filter, hits a timeout, or errors out, no credits are deducted. Iterating on prompts stays cheap.

Budgeting a project

A rule of thumb for a typical vertical UGC ad: 15 seconds, 1 video clip, 1 narration, 1 music bed, captions, and a 1080p render.

Video generation: about 9 credits (15 seconds x 0.6)
Narration: small, scales with script length
Music: small, scales with duration
Agent turns: a few credits across the session
Render: small, about 1 credit for a 15-second 1080p H.264 export

Total lands well within a Pro plan’s smallest monthly allotment of 100 credits; you could run this project about 8 to 10 times per month at minimum.

Longer explainers or multi-clip ads scale up proportionally. Check the estimator before each run.

Where to see what you spent

Editor header: current credit balance, live
Usage history panel: per-day and per-feature breakdowns
Billing page: transactions, plan, and credit pack purchases

Credit expiry

Subscription credits from Pro plans expire 60 days after grant
Credit pack credits expire 365 days after grant
Initial free credits expire 365 days after grant

Credits from a new grant do not invalidate earlier ones. They stack, and older credits are used first.

Next steps

Compare plans and allotments: Plans and pricing
Track where credits go: Usage history
Understand credits conceptually: Credits, briefly