How credits work
A quick overview of what credits are, which parts of building an app use them, and how to add more when you need to.
Costs at a glance: Emergent uses credits to measure the work the platform does for you - writing code, running tests, making your app live. You only pay for what you use. Credits can be added one-time (they never expire) or as part of a monthly plan (subscription credits refill to the plan cap each billing cycle and do not roll over).
What credits are
Credits are how Emergent measures usage. Every time the platform does work for you - writing code from a prompt, running tests, making your app live - it uses a few credits from your account. You'll see your current balance in the top-right corner of the workspace.
This means you only pay for what you actually use.
What uses credits
Credits get deducted when the platform performs any of these tasks:
- Code generation - Each prompt that writes, changes or extends your app's code uses credits. Bigger changes and more complex files cost more.
- Testing - Automated tests (unit tests, integration checks, visual scans) all use credits. More thorough test suites use more per run.
- Making your app live - Publishing your app uses a fixed monthly tier fee (Starter, Launch, Grow, Scale, or Elite), not a variable charge based on build time or app size.
- Connections to other services & background tasks - Calling a connection to another service (API), running scheduled jobs and background workers each deduct credits.
- Where your app stores its information (database) operations - Heavy database work (large queries, bulk inserts) incurs small incremental charges.
- LLM calls from your app - If your app itself calls language models at runtime using the Universal LLM Key, those API calls are billed through your Emergent credits.
When you turn on Maxx mode (the toggle in the prompt bar), the platform plans more carefully and runs deeper checks. You'll get higher-quality results, but it uses significantly more credits than a normal prompt.
How much a prompt costs
A single prompt can use anywhere from a handful of credits (for a small change to how your app looks and feels) to hundreds (for a full feature with tests and making it live).
When starting a task, you can set a per-session budget on the task form. If the agent exhausts that budget during a run, it pauses automatically, so you stay in control of spending. See Managing credit usage to track and manage limits.
Checking your balance & topping up
You can view your credit balance and usage breakdown in Account Settings → Credit Usage, where you'll see consumption by category (agent runs, published versions, Universal Key calls, and more).
You'll get an email alert when your balance drops below 20 % of your monthly allowance.
To add more credits:
- One-time top-ups never expire and roll over indefinitely.
- Monthly plan credits refill to the plan cap at each billing cycle and do not roll over.
- Emergent always spends expiring credits first, so you get the most value.
If your balance reaches zero during a build or making your app live, the operation will pause. You can resume immediately by adding credits - no work is lost, but your app won't go live until the process finishes.
Want more detail?
For a complete breakdown of credit rates, volume discounts and billing mechanics, see the full Managing credit usage reference.
Go deeper: Managing credit usage · Plans & the free tier
