# Credits

> How Emailit credits work: what each action costs, included vs purchased credits, monthly resets, buying credits, the Billable usage tab and running out.

Credits are the single currency for everything you do in Emailit. This page explains what uses credits, which credits are spent first, when they reset, and what happens when a workspace runs out.

## What each action costs

| Action | Credits |
| --- | --- |
| Email sent with the API or SMTP (per recipient) | 1 |
| Inbound email received | 1 |
| Campaign email (per recipient) | 2 |
| Automation run | 3 |
| Email verification (per address) | 5 |

- **API and SMTP email** costs 1 credit per recipient. A message to 3 addresses across `to`, `cc` and `bcc` costs 3 credits.
- **Inbound email** costs 1 credit for each message received on your inbound domain.
- **Campaign email** costs 2 credits per recipient.
- **Automation runs** cost 3 credits each. Emails a run sends are charged on top, like any other email.
- **Email verification** costs 5 credits per address. Verification lists are charged up front for every unique address in the list.

Retrying or forwarding an email creates a new email and costs credits again.

## Your balance

A workspace has two pools of credits:

| Pool | Where it comes from | Expires |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Included** | Your plan, plus any partner, referral or AppSumo bonus | Resets every month. Unused credits don't roll over. |
| **Purchased** | Credits you buy, auto-refills, claimed referral rewards and some one-time bonuses | Never |

Emailit always spends included credits first and only uses purchased credits once the month's included credits are gone. A single action can be split across both pools.

| | Pay as you go | Pro | Business | Custom |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Included credits / month | Up to 3,000 | 100,000 | 2,500,000 | Flexible |

### Included credit sources

Included credits can stack from several sources. On the **Billable usage** tab, hover the info icon next to **Workspace Included** to see them:

| Source | Amount |
| --- | --- |
| **Plan included** | The plan's monthly credits |
| **Partner** | +5,000 a month, or +10,000 on Pro and Business, if you signed up with a partner code |
| **Referral** | +5,000 a month, or +10,000 on Pro and Business, if you signed up with a referral code |
| **AppSumo plan included** | The monthly credits of your [AppSumo license](/docs/billing/appsumo/) tier |
| **License included** | Extra credits agreed for your workspace, for example on a Custom plan |

Partner and referral bonuses only apply to the first workspace the referred person creates.

## When included credits reset

| Your workspace | Reset |
| --- | --- |
| Monthly Pro or Business subscription | When the monthly renewal invoice is paid, at the start of each billing cycle |
| Everyone else: Pay as you go, yearly subscriptions and AppSumo-only workspaces | At 00:00 UTC on the 1st of each month |

Purchased credits are never reset.

## Buy credits

1. **Open Billable usage.** Go to **Workspace → Billing** and select the **Billable usage** tab. You need the Admin role.

2. **Choose an amount.** Use the slider or type a whole-dollar amount from $20 to $500. The control shows how many credits you get at your plan's rate.

3. **Purchase.** Select **Purchase $20** (the button shows your amount), check it in the **Purchase email credits** dialog and select **Buy $20 of credits** to open Stripe Checkout.

4. **Pay.** Complete the payment. The credits are added to the workspace as soon as Stripe confirms it.

You can also select **Top up** under the **Credits** meter in the sidebar, or on the **Credits & Pricing** card on the Dashboard.

| Plan | Credits per $1 | Price per 10,000 | $20 buys | $500 buys |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pay as you go | 5,000 | $2 | 100,000 | 2,500,000 |
| Pro and Business | 10,000 | $1 | 200,000 | 5,000,000 |

The rate is set when you buy. Credits you bought on Pay as you go keep their count when you upgrade. On Pay as you go, your first purchase also raises the sending domain limit from 3 to 25.

To buy automatically when your balance runs low, turn on [auto-refill](/docs/billing/auto-refill/).

## The Billable usage tab

| Element | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Show $ balance** | Shows amounts in dollars at your plan's rate instead of credits. Only the view changes. Charges stay in credits. |
| **Workspace Included** | This billing cycle's included credits, with their sources |
| **Purchased credits** | Purchased credits left in the workspace |
| **Total billing cycle spend** | Credits used this billing cycle across SMTP, inbound, campaigns, verification and automations |
| **Credits remaining** | Included credits left this cycle plus purchased credits |
| **This billing period** | A daily chart of usage per product |
| **Usage** | A table with usage for **SMTP / API**, **Inbound**, **Campaigns**, **Email verification** and **Automations** |

## When you run out

Each action checks for credits before it runs. If the workspace doesn't have enough:

| Action | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| API send, retry or forward | `402 Insufficient credits`. Nothing is sent or charged. See [Why do I get 402 Insufficient credits?](/docs/kb/402-insufficient-credits/) |
| SMTP and campaign email | The email is accepted, then held with "Workspace has not enough email credits to send this email." |
| Inbound email | The sending server gets `452 Insufficient credits to receive inbound email` and usually retries later. |
| Email verification | `402`. Lists aren't started. |
| Automation run | The run fails with the reason `insufficient_credits`. |

After you buy credits, retry held emails from the email's detail page or with [Retry an email](/docs/api-reference/emails/retry/). Retrying creates a new email. See [Held emails](/docs/kb/email-status-held/).

You get an email when your balance drops to 1,000 credits, unless you turned the alert off. See [Auto-refill and alerts](/docs/billing/auto-refill/).

## Refunds

If you're not satisfied with your first credit purchase, and you've sent up to 1,000 emails, contact [support@emailit.com](mailto:support@emailit.com) within 30 days for a full refund. See the FAQ on the [pricing page](/pricing/).

## Related

- [Plans](/docs/billing/plans/)
- [Auto-refill and alerts](/docs/billing/auto-refill/)
- [Invoices and billing details](/docs/billing/invoices/)

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Source: https://emailit.com/docs/billing/credits/