Sistava

Understand Your Credits

Credits are the universal currency that powers everything your AI employees do.

TL;DR

1 credit is roughly $0.01. Every time an employee thinks, completes a task, makes a voice call, or uses a paid tool, it costs credits. Faster, simpler AI models cost fewer credits. You can see your balance in the top-right corner of your workspace at all times, and a full breakdown under Settings, Subscription, Credit Usage.

What Is a Credit?

A credit is the billing unit for all AI work on the platform. Instead of tracking individual costs for each type of activity, everything is measured in credits. This keeps things simple: you have a credit balance, your employees use credits when they work, and you top up or upgrade when you need more.

1 credit is approximately $0.01 USD. Your plan gives you a monthly credit allowance, and you can buy more anytime.

What Costs Credits

AI Usage (the biggest factor)

Every time an employee thinks, responds, or processes information, it uses an AI model. The cost depends on which model tier the employee is using.

Tier Speed Best For Relative Cost
Fast Quickest responses Simple lookups, formatting, drafts, quick Q&A Lowest (roughly 10x cheaper than Advanced)
Standard Balanced Everyday tasks, conversations, analysis Medium
Advanced Most capable Complex reasoning, long documents, nuanced work Highest

You choose the model tier per employee in their settings. Fast is great for routine work and saves credits. Advanced is best for tasks that need deeper thinking.

Other Credit Costs

Activity Cost When It Applies
Compute runtime 1 credit per minute While a workflow is actively running
Task completion 0.25 credits per task Each time a task is marked complete
Voice calls ~3 credits per minute During a voice conversation (speech and listening)
Meeting attendance ~1.5 credits per minute While your employee is sitting in a live Meet, Zoom, or Teams call
Image generation 4 or 8 credits Standard quality (4) or HD quality (8) per image
Connected app calls 0.05 credits per call When using Gmail, Slack, Notion, or other connected apps

What Does NOT Cost Credits

Where to See Your Credit Balance

The Credit Bar (always visible)

Look at the top-right corner of your workspace. You will see your current plan name, a progress bar showing how much of your monthly allowance remains, and the percentage left. This updates in real time as your employees work.

Click the credit bar to open a dropdown with more detail:

Per-Message Cost

Every chat message from your employee shows how many credits it cost. Click the inspect button on any message to see a detailed breakdown: input tokens, output tokens, and tool usage.

Credit Usage Page (Full Details)

For a complete picture, go to Settings (gear icon in the sidebar), Subscription, Credit Usage.

This page has three sections:

Credit Usage (current billing period)

A detailed table showing every category of spending:

Category What It Tracks
AI Usage Credits spent on AI processing, expandable by tier (Fast, Standard, Advanced) and then by individual model
Tool Calls Credits for paid tools (image generation, connected apps)
Internal Credits used by behind-the-scenes AI systems (safety checks, memory processing)
Compute Runtime Credits for workflow execution time
Tasks Completed Credits for completed tasks
Voice Calls Credits for voice conversations

Credit Grants

A table of all bonus credits you have received: welcome bonus, promo codes, referral rewards, and credit pack purchases. Each row shows the date, source, and amount.

Usage History

A month-by-month breakdown of your credit consumption. Expand any month to see the detailed category breakdown for that period.

How to Earn FREE Credits

Referral Program

Invite friends to the platform and you both earn credits. Here is how:

  1. Go to Settings (gear icon), Subscription, Get Free Credits
  2. You will see your personal referral link and stats
  3. Share your link by copying it, or send an email invite directly from the page
  4. When someone signs up using your link, you both receive bonus credits
  5. You can earn referral credits for up to 10 successful signups

The page shows your invites sent, how many were accepted, and total credits earned.

Welcome Bonus

Every new account starts with 1,000 credits at no cost. This is enough to test the platform, have several conversations, and complete a few tasks before deciding on a plan.

Promo Codes

Occasionally, promotional codes are available that grant bonus credits when you sign up. These are applied during registration and show up in your Credit Grants table.

Credit Alerts

You do not need to watch your balance constantly. The platform notifies you automatically:

Threshold What Happens
25% remaining You receive an in-app notification that credits are getting low
15% remaining A more urgent notification warns you credits are running critically low
0% remaining A final notification tells you credits are exhausted

Each alert fires only once per billing period, so you will not be spammed.

What Happens When Credits Run Out

When your balance hits zero:

To resume: upgrade your plan, buy a credit pack, or wait for your next billing period when your monthly credits refresh. Everything comes back online automatically once credits are available.

Tips & Tricks

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What happens when credits run out? A: All AI work pauses. Chat is disabled, scheduled tasks skip, and voice calls end. You are warned at 25% and 15% remaining. Top up or wait for your next billing cycle to resume.

Q: Can I see how many credits a single message costs? A: Yes. Every message shows its credit cost. Click the inspect button for a full breakdown by model and token type (input, output, reasoning).

Q: Do unused credits roll over to the next month? A: No. Monthly plan credits and top-up pack credits both reset at the start of each billing period.

Q: Are local AI models (Ollama) free? A: Yes, for AI processing. If an employee uses an Ollama model running on your machine, zero credits are charged for the AI thinking. Compute runtime and task completion credits still apply.

Q: Can I set a credit budget per employee? A: Not yet. Credits are tracked at the account level across all your organizations. Per-employee budgets are planned for a future release.

Q: What is the difference between Fast, Standard, and Advanced? A: These are model tiers. Fast models respond quickly and cost the least, great for simple tasks. Standard models balance capability and cost for everyday work. Advanced models are the most powerful for complex reasoning but cost more per message.

Q: How are credits tracked if I own multiple organizations? A: Credits are tracked per user, not per organization. If you own two organizations, your usage across both counts against the same credit balance.