Character Credits
Character credits are the unit of usage for the CustodianAI API. Every plan includes a credit allowance that is consumed as you make API requests.
How credits are counted
Credits are counted based on the number of characters in the text you submit per request.
For example:
- A 200-character input uses 200 credits
- A 1,500-character input uses 1,500 credits
Spaces, punctuation, and newlines all count as characters.
Credit limits by plan
| Plan | Total Credits | Approx. words |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 50,000 | ~8,300 words |
| Starter | 10,000 | ~1,650 words |
| Beta | 500,000 | ~83,000 words |
| Professional | 100,000 | ~16,600 words |
Checking your remaining credits
There are two ways to check your credit balance:
1. In the dashboard
Go to API Keys in the sidebar. Each key shows a usage bar:
Credits used: 12,400 / 50,000 [██░░░░░░░░] 25%
2. In API responses
Every successful response includes credits_remaining:
{
"result": "...",
"characters_used": 312,
"credits_remaining": 37,288
}
What happens when credits run out
When your credits reach zero, the API returns:
{
"error": "character_limit_reached",
"message": "You have used all available character credits on this plan."
}
Your key will not process further requests until you upgrade or renew your plan.
Handling low credits in your app
We recommend monitoring credits_remaining in your responses and warning users before they run out:
const data = await response.json();
if (data.credits_remaining < 5000) {
console.warn('Warning: fewer than 5,000 character credits remaining.');
}
Renewing credits
Credits renew based on your subscription billing cycle. To get more credits immediately, upgrade to a higher plan from the Subscriptions page in the dashboard.