> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.loopiq.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Understand credit usage

## What credits cover

On Paid, credits cover new AI jobs, LoopIQ-hosted test execution, opted-in workflow actions, advanced form processing and generation of a new release certification version. Analytics adds AI generation and custom-resource creation/monthly charges. The [rate card](/administration/credit-operation-rate-card) defines 71 operations in backend rate version `2026-09-06.proposed.v5`.

Review the quote and approved budget before chargeable work begins.

## Work that stays included

Within your tier and applicable service allowances:

* Create and edit ideas, projects and ordinary work records manually.
* Design forms and workflow rules; validate configuration without running chargeable work.
* Display a form, validate fields, accept a submission and create its standard intake record.
* Perform manual tests and read saved test results, logs and evidence.
* Request, grant or reject required approvals and record governed decisions.
* Evaluate deterministic release gates, required compliance checks and ordinary coverage calculations.
* Authenticate, verify permissions, resolve organization access, manage bot credentials and record audit events.
* Send standard verification, password-reset, security and transactional notifications.
* View dashboards, run standard reports, download existing evidence and read saved AI outputs.
* Discover MCP tools and perform ordinary API/MCP record operations.
* Receive provider webhooks and perform standard integration synchronization.

Storage, API and integration service limits still apply. Credits are not an unlimited-capacity entitlement or a substitute for permissions.

## Workflow and form automation

An opted-in custom assignment, status update, additional record, escalation, custom SLA action or notification can consume credits. Scheduling and event delivery do not themselves add charges.

A form-triggered assignment is the same assignment action as one invoked elsewhere. Do not charge both a form fee and an assignment fee. Multi-step workflows aggregate the completed actions; rule evaluation, unmatched conditions, waiting and required approval pauses remain included.

If a workflow invokes AI, apply the named AI rate once instead of adding a generic action fee to that AI step. Separately requested non-AI actions remain itemized.

## Release certification generation

The proposed rate is **25 credits (\$0.25) per successfully generated and persisted version**.

* Explicitly generating a new version is a new generation.
* Opening, reviewing, approving or re-downloading an existing certification costs no generation credits.
* Mandatory security and deterministic release checks remain included.
* A failed generation or delivery retry does not justify another charge.
* Automatic background refreshes must not silently generate chargeable versions.
* AI readiness analysis and AI-written Release Compliance Dossier generation are separate, optional quoted operations. Do not enable them merely because a user opens or approves a certification.

## Settle once and preserve trust

1. Resolve the correct organization, user or bot, permissions and requested scope before execution.
2. Show a confirmed rate, workload boundary and estimate before a chargeable job; obtain approval for larger jobs.
3. For recurring automation, require explicit opt-in, schedule and an approved budget.
4. Track related steps under one parent job and preserve idempotency across retries.
5. Charge completed eligible work once. Internal Helix, MCP, agent-pack and transport hops do not add fees.
6. Exclude platform failures, duplicate events, recovery retries, queue time and approval waiting.
7. Itemize actual eligible usage and release unused reservations; report partial-job settlement without charging failed work.
8. If budget is unavailable, do not silently incur overages or bypass approvals. Preserve required governance and access to existing evidence.

A missing
trusted receipt keeps the reservation pending reconciliation; it must not be treated
as proof of successful billable work.

## Analytics creation and monthly charges

Analytics requires the Paid platform plus its \$4.99/user/month add-on. A custom metric
costs **5 credits to create, then 5 credits/month** while active. A custom dashboard
costs **20 credits to create, then 20 credits/month** while active. Views, edits and
refreshes do not add another charge. These are per resource, not per viewer.

The first renewal is one calendar month after successful creation. Explicit recurring
consent is required. Failed creation and duplicate retries are free. Existing resources
are not automatically enrolled. See [renewal details](/analytics/analytics-addon-and-credit-usage).

A completed automated test that detects a defect still consumed runner time. An explicitly requested rerun is new compute. Customer-owned models and runners are not rebilled as LoopIQ compute; separately enabled LoopIQ actions may still consume credits.

## Non-expiring balance

### Purchase plans and credits

1. Select your organization and open `Organization → Subscription`.
2. A `Billing Admin` can select `Paid`, enter the total platform seats and continue
   to Stripe. Core costs \$4.99 per user/month. Existing subscribers use the billing
   portal to manage payment details, seats or cancellation.
3. After Core payment is verified, use `Analytics add-on` to select Analytics seats
   at an additional \$4.99 per Analytics user/month. `Manage Analytics subscription`
   opens its Stripe billing portal.
4. Under `Add credits`, choose a one-time pack: 5,000/$50, 20,000/$200,
   50,000/$500 or 100,000/$1,000. Pack charges are separate from seat subscriptions.
5. Return to LoopIQ and refresh billing. A redirect is not proof of payment;
   subscription activation and credit grants wait for backend payment verification.

If checkout is pending, resume it instead of starting another purchase. A cancelled
checkout does not grant credits. If payment verification remains pending, contact
your billing administrator rather than paying again. Purchasing controls remain
disabled if purchasing is not enabled, Core is ineligible or a payment hold applies.

The organization-scoped `Billing Admin` role grants billing and credit management
permissions. Organization admins receive these permissions automatically after the
billing permission update. Regular members and read-only viewers cannot purchase.
Purchased balances remain in the organization after cancellation; spending requires
an eligible active plan. Refunds and chargebacks can reverse purchased credits or
place the wallet on a payment hold.

Purchased usage credits never expire and do not reset monthly. Packs are one-time purchases, not subscriptions or extra feature tiers. A balance belongs to the organization; users, bots and agents do not gain access to another organization's balance or records.

## Before enabling chargeable work

1. Confirm the active organization, team and billing authorization.
2. Find the operation and unit in the rate card.
3. Confirm whether the meter is live in your deployment and whether its rate matches your agreement.
4. Confirm the workload quote and budget. Do not assume a browser refresh or default schedule has spending authorization.
5. Review results and itemized usage when available; report discrepancies with job references, not credentials.

## Related guidance

* [Manage billing and subscription](/administration/manage-billing-and-subscription)
* [Credit operation rate card](/administration/credit-operation-rate-card)