Understanding Credits

How credits work Credits are Krater's universal currency. One balance covers everything: chat, images, video, audio, documents, and every slash command. Chat messages are billed on actual token usa...

How credits work

Credits are Krater’s universal currency. One balance covers everything: chat, images, video, audio, documents, and every slash command. Chat messages are billed on actual token usage, while tools and commands have fixed or usage-based rates. You only pay for what you use.

How chat billing works

Chat costs are calculated from the tokens the model actually processes:

Each model has its own per-token rate, so the same question costs different amounts on different models. Shorter conversations cost less, concise prompts save credits, and starting a fresh chat for a new topic keeps context (and cost) small.

Model cost tiers

Every model shows a cost badge based on a typical message (about 500 input + 250 output tokens):

Tier Typical cost per message Best for
Budget under 0.21 credits Quick questions, everyday chat
Standard 0.21 to 1.5 credits Most work: writing, analysis, coding
Pro 1.5+ credits Frontier reasoning, long documents

Auto Routers bill at the picked model’s real cost. Lite costs least and Frontier costs most. auto/lite is the lowest-cost tier. Routers are available on Ultra and Max; Smart is also available in Persona chats on every plan.

Your plan also sets the context window: Pro 150K tokens, Ultra 400K, Max 1M. A larger window lets you send longer documents, and longer inputs cost more.

All 17 slash commands and their costs

The picker shows an estimate before you run a command. Some commands bill a fixed rate, others bill from actual provider usage:

Command What it does Credits
/image Generate images (Nano Banana default) 10 default; other models vary, 3 minimum
/video Create AI videos (Veo, Sora 2, Kling, LTX) ~5 to 25 per second, model-dependent
/upscale Upscale images and video 25 minimum per image, billed per output megapixel; 75 estimate for video
/build Generate apps, sites, and code; publish to *.krater.site 5 estimate; bills actual model usage
/sound Music and sound effects 15 per song; effects priced by duration
/tts Text-to-speech (ElevenLabs voices) 10 per 1,000 characters
/voice AI voice changer 5 minimum; billed per minute of audio
/transcribe Convert audio or video to text 3 minimum (covers ~90 seconds); per minute beyond, up to 4 hours
/research Web research with depth tiers a few credits, by depth and usage
/summarize Summarize URLs and documents ~3, billed at the selected model’s rate
/detect Check if text is AI-written 3 per 1,000 characters
/plagiarism Check text for plagiarism 6 per 1,000 characters
/humanize Make AI text sound natural selected model’s chat rate
/compare Run models side by side actual per-model cost, max 100 per model and 300 total
/slides Generate slide decks ~12 per slide typical
/document Generate structured documents variable, billed on output tokens
/3d Text or image to 3D models ~67 text-to-3D, ~101 image-to-3D

Video generation costs

Video is billed per second of output, and the rate depends on the model. Fast models like LTX run about 5 credits per second; top-tier models like Sora 2 run about 25 credits per second. The picker shows the exact cost for your model and duration before you confirm. Shorter clips cost less.

Other feature costs

Feature Credits
Voice Mode (real-time voice chat) 0.25 per second (~15 per minute), 30-minute session cap, paid plans only
In-app dictation (speech-to-text) 3 minimum, then ~1 per minute
Download to Keep 1 flat
API requests (api.krater.ai, Ultra and Max) model rate; 5,000 per day default cap per key

Why credits?

Transparency: you see the estimated cost before every action and the actual charge after.

Flexibility: one balance works across chat, image, video, audio, and every tool.

Fairness: you pay for what you use, not flat fees for features you never touch.

One subscription: 500+ AI models and every tool, with no separate provider accounts.

Viewing your balance

Your credit balance sits at the top of the chat interface. Click it to view remaining credits, see usage history, track spending by feature, and buy top-ups. Full analytics live under Settings → Usage.

Monthly credit resets

Monthly credits refresh on your subscription’s billing date. If you subscribed on the 16th, credits refresh on the 16th of every month. Yearly subscribers still get fresh credits monthly, on the same day they originally subscribed.

Plan Credits Reset
Pro 1500/month Monthly, on your billing date
Ultra 4000/month Monthly, on your billing date
Max 10000/month Monthly, on your billing date

Unused monthly credits do not roll over. Top-up credits never expire and stay in your account until used.

Buying more credits

Top-ups are one-time credit purchases available on Ultra and Max: 500 to 100,000 credits per purchase at $1.21 to $1.00 per 100 credits, with the price dropping up to 30% as volume grows.

Team bulk credits are a flat $1.00 per 100 credits, starting at 50,000.

Tips for saving credits

  1. Use Budget-tier models for simple tasks; save Pro-tier models for hard reasoning.
  2. Let an Auto Router pick: it matches model cost to the task, and auto/lite minimizes spend.
  3. Choose shorter video durations when possible.
  4. Use /summarize instead of pasting full documents into chat.
  5. Keep prompts concise: shorter messages mean fewer input tokens.
  6. Start new conversations for unrelated topics to keep context small.
  7. Check the ~ estimate before sending.

Related: Slash commands · Plans overview · Credit renewal and rollover · Krater Keep

More in Plans & Credits

See Krater pricing or contact support.