Credits & costs
Where Studio shows a cost before you spend, what the upgrade prompts mean, and how refunds and spending caps work.
Studio spends credits at several steps, not just the final render — and it shows you the cost every time before anything is charged. Current plans, credit packs and prices are always on Pricing.
What costs credits
| Step | Where you see the cost |
|---|---|
| Analysis | Inside Start Analysis |
| Visual concepts | Inside Continue to Ideation, and in the Add concepts / Revise selected panel |
| Character reference sheets | Next to Create (your first sheet is free) |
| Storyboard or Blueprint | Inside Generate Storyboard / Generate Blueprint — the whole plan at once |
| Scene images and videos | Inside Generate Videos, each part of the song, and every Regenerate |
| Lip-sync repair | In the Fix lip-sync estimate |
| Final video and upscale | Inside Render & Download, Re-render and Upscale to … |
Moving between stages, switching takes in Versions, editing lyrics and changing settings before generation are free.
Credit estimates
Regenerating or re-rendering opens a Credit Estimate with a breakdown and any discount, and a warning when the current image or clip will be replaced. Nothing is charged until you press Proceed. Some estimates also offer Don't ask me again before spending credits — estimates that replace your work always ask.
Unlock these settings
At setup, a video tier or output quality above your plan is labelled with the plan it needs. You can still select it — when you press Start Analysis, Studio opens Unlock these settings and tells you exactly which choice needs which plan, for example "Premium tier requires the Ultra plan". From there you can:
- Upgrade to the plan that includes it, or
- Switch to … and continue — Studio swaps in the best option your plan includes (for example Switch to Budget and continue) and starts.
When your balance runs short
- On the free plan, Generate Blueprint always opens the plan options, and Generate Storyboard opens them when your balance doesn't cover the storyboard.
- Paid plan, not enough credits — the prompt shows how many more credits you need and offers a top-up for the difference.
- In the AI Director chat — a Not enough credits card offers a top-up, or to generate just the scenes you can afford. See AI Director chat.
See what a project has cost
Click Usage in the top bar for Used in this project — the total, a breakdown by category, anything still pending, and your available credits. View details opens this project's credit history in the Project panel; Top up credits (or Upgrade plan) adds more. Your account-wide ledger is under Usage in your account settings.
Refunds
A generation that fails is refunded automatically — the card shows Credits refunded. Retrying charges the normal price once: you're never charged twice for a failure. If a scene was refused before any charge, Studio says "You weren't charged".
Spending cap and run budget
- Project spending cap — a safety ceiling per project that stops a runaway generation. A badge warns as you approach it and reads Cap reached at the limit. It's separate from your balance, so adding credits doesn't raise it — on paid plans, use Adjust to set a new ceiling. Free projects stop at a fixed ceiling.
- Run budget reached — a single run hit its own limit. Adding credits won't help; start a new run or contact support.
Next: Finals & export