Guide
How credits work
One balance powers every capability. Here's what each capability costs — and where your credits actually go.
The two layers
Layer 1 · Retainer (monthly plan)
A recurring monthly plan that tops up credits.
The retainer is not a feature gate — every capability is unlocked on every plan. What you pay for is a predictable monthly credit allowance at a better per-credit rate (best rate today: $0.060/credit).
Layer 2 · Credit usage (pass-through)
Every action across the platform draws from the same balance.
Chat messages, audits, mindshare snapshots, optimizer steps, Attribution events and MCP invocations all debit the same wallet. When it hits zero, ingest and dispatch return HTTP 429 with an "add credits" hint — nothing is silently overcharged.
Chat-led capabilities (per-action)
These are the actions you trigger from the concierge or a dashboard button. Costs are fixed per call — no monthly cap, no plan gate.
| Action | Credits |
|---|---|
Full agentic readiness audit | 5 |
Mindshare snapshot | 3 |
Surface readiness probe (per agent) | 4 |
Intent volume estimate | 2 |
Optimizer step (per pillar × surface) | 3 |
Rival comparison | 6 |
Push a deploy (Optimizer push-live) | 8 |
Chat message (after first 3 per thread) | 1 |
Presence · URL knowledge import | 1 |
Presence · Sitemap crawl (per page) | 1 |
Presence · FAQ CSV import | 1 |
Presence · PDF import | 2 |
Presence · Concierge message | 1 |
Pass-through capabilities (Attribution + MCP)
Attribution and MCP are metered per unit — one event, one tool call, one day of storage. Neither has a subscription tier of its own; both draw from the same wallet as everything else. When the wallet hits zero, live dispatch pauses and the SDK / MCP client sees a 429 with an "add credits" hint.
| SKU | Rate | Worked example |
|---|---|---|
Attribution event One event ingested by the AI Attribution collector (visibility, referral, handoff, revenue). | 0.000200 cr / event | 100k events ≈ 20 credits |
Attribution retention One stored event kept for one extra day beyond the free 30-day window. | 0.000001 cr / event-day | 10k events retained 30d ≈ 0.3 credits |
MCP invocation One `tools/call` dispatched through your hosted MCP server. | 0.020000 cr / call | 1,000 tool calls ≈ 20 credits |
MCP retention One stored MCP invocation kept for one extra day beyond the free 30-day window. | 0.000010 cr / call-day | 10k calls retained 30d ≈ 3 credits |
Worked billing examples
Attribution tracker
A tracker ingesting 80k events / month with 30-day retention costs ~16 credits for ingest + ~0.024 credits for storage. Round trip: ~16 credits.
MCP server
An MCP server dispatching 5,000 tools/call per month costs ~100 credits (5,000 × 0.02). At the Growth plan rate, that's under $6.
Optimizer push-live
One optimizer step + a push-live for a flagged pillar: 3 + 8 = 11 credits, plus a change request queued in /approvals for a teammate to confirm before it ships.
What's never charged
- First 3 messages per concierge thread
- Viewing cached reports & dashboards
- Failed tool runs (auto-refunded via ledger)
- Rollbacks of a previously pushed deploy
- Rejected change requests in Approvals
- Admin accounts (pinned to 999 credits, always allow)
Human-in-the-loop guardrail
Any autonomous change — MCP spec-drift remediation, Attribution auto-heal, or Optimizer push-live — is queued as a change request in /approvals. Nothing hits your live surface until a team owner approves it. Rejected change requests do not consume credits.
How to monitor spend
The credit bar in the top-right of every page shows your current wallet balance. For a full breakdown, see /pricing (rates + top-ups) or your workspace credit ledger. Attribution trackers and MCP servers also show a per-capability "Credits used this month" card on their dashboard.
Credits glossary
Plain-English definitions for every billing term used across the platform. These used to live in the general Glossary; they belong here, next to the rates and worked examples.
- Credit
- The unit of usage across the whole platform. One credit balance powers audits, mindshare, optimizer, Attribution events, MCP tool calls — everything. Refill via a monthly retainer or one-off top-up.
- Retainer
- The monthly subscription plan. Not a feature gate — every capability is unlocked on every tier. What you're paying for is a predictable monthly credit allowance at a better per-credit rate.
- Pass-through credit
- A per-unit credit debit on ingest or dispatch (Attribution events, MCP tool calls, storage-days). No monthly cap; when the wallet hits zero the endpoint returns HTTP 429.
- Attribution event credit
- ~0.0002 credits per event ingested by the AI Attribution collector (100k events ≈ 20 credits).
- MCP invocation credit
- ~0.02 credits per tools/call dispatched through a hosted MCP server (1,000 calls ≈ 20 credits).
- Retention credit
- A fractional credit charged per stored event or invocation per day kept beyond the free 30-day window.
- HITL approval / change request
- Any autonomous change — MCP spec-drift remediation, Attribution auto-heal, Optimizer push-live — is queued as a change request in /approvals. A team owner must approve before anything hits production. Rejected requests do not consume credits.