# How are credits charged per recipient?

> Each recipient in to, cc and bcc costs one credit, charged when Emailit accepts the email. Learn how API, SMTP, campaigns, retries and forwards are counted.

Emailit charges by recipient, not by request. This article explains how many credits an email uses, when they're deducted, and why your usage can be higher than your number of API calls.

## Symptoms

- Credit usage is higher than the number of requests in **Email API → Logs**.
- One API call created several emails, each with its own `em_…` ID.
- Credits were used for emails that later bounced or were suppressed.

## Cause

Every action has a fixed price in credits:

| 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 |

How recipients are counted:

- **Every unique recipient is one email.** Emailit sends a separate copy to each address in `to`, `cc` and `bcc`, and each copy gets its own ID. A request with 2 addresses in `to`, 1 in `cc` and 1 in `bcc` costs 4 credits and returns all four IDs in the `ids` field.
- **Duplicates are removed first.** The same address in `to` and `cc`, in any letter case, is charged once.
- **SMTP counts envelope recipients.** Every `RCPT TO` address in the SMTP session becomes its own email, including addresses you only put in Bcc.
- **Campaigns cost 2 credits per recipient**, after unsubscribed, suppressed and duplicate contacts are removed.
- **Retry and forward are new sends.** They're charged again at the normal rate.

When credits are deducted:

- **API emails** are charged when the request is accepted. If you don't have enough credits for all recipients, the request fails with `402` and nothing is charged.
- **SMTP and campaign emails** are charged when Emailit processes each one for delivery. If credits run out then, the email is held.
- **Accepted emails aren't refunded** if they later bounce, are suppressed or are canceled.

Your monthly included credits are used first, then purchased credits.

## Fix

1. **See where credits went.** Open **Workspace → Billing**, select **Billable usage** and review the per-product table and daily chart.

2. **Count recipients, not requests.** In **Email API → Emails**, filter by date to see how many individual emails were created.

3. **Avoid paying for bad addresses.** Remove bounced and suppressed addresses from your own lists, and validate new sign-ups with [email verification](/docs/email-verification/). An email to a suppressed address is still charged when the API accepts it.

4. **Prevent accidental duplicates.** Use an [`Idempotency-Key`](/docs/email-api/idempotency/) so retries of the same request aren't charged twice.

5. **Plan for volume.** Compare per-credit prices across plans on [pricing](/pricing/) and in [Credits](/docs/billing/credits/).

If you run out often, turn on [auto-refill](/docs/billing/auto-refill/). For the error you get when credits run out, see [Why do I get 402 Insufficient credits?](/docs/kb/402-insufficient-credits/).

## Still stuck?

If your usage doesn't match what you sent, [contact support](/contact/) or ask in [Discord](https://discord.emailit.com) with your workspace name and the date range.

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Source: https://emailit.com/docs/kb/how-credits-are-charged-per-recipient/