Credits and spending

Credits are what a workspace spends to run models. What they cost, when they are charged, who can spend them, and where to see the balance.

A credit is the unit Endless charges for work that runs a model: generating an image or video, transcribing, a chat turn, a web or social lookup. Credits belong to the workspace, as one pool every member draws from. Reading, browsing, organizing projects and changing settings are free.

Where credits come from

Source	How it works
Free plan weekly refill	A workspace with no subscription gets a fixed allowance every week. Each refill replaces the last, so unused credits don't carry over.
Welcome grant	One-off credits a new workspace starts with. Last 12 months.
Purchased credits	Last 12 months. Never reset by the refill cycle.

There is no self-serve free trial; the Free plan is how you try Endless.

Where to check your balance

Credits, at the bottom of the sidebar (everyone): available balance, the limit that applies to you, time to the next refill, and a 14-day usage chart (your own; people who can read governance can switch to the whole workspace). Usage opens the full report; Billing reads "Buy credits" when you are running low.
Settings → Billing (needs the billing permission; Admin and Billing manager by default): the plan, what you can spend and where it comes from, "Next refill" with amount and date, and buying credits. Without the permission the entry is hidden and the address redirects to Settings → Account.

Cost and charging

The estimate comes first. The Image and Video composers show the cost of the run before you send it. It uses the same pricing and inputs as the charge, so it is usually exact.
"Varies" marks a model priced by the size or length of its inputs. The composer shows the real cost once your inputs are in place.
Before a run, Endless checks your available credits. If there aren't enough, nothing runs and nothing is charged.
You are charged when the run completes, for the outputs it actually produced. Fewer outputs than requested cost less than the estimate. A failed run costs nothing.
Long jobs (such as video) are charged when they finish, priced from their actual inputs. Closing the tab doesn't cancel the run or the charge.

Costs range widely: one video can cost many times an image, and on the Free plan one video can cost more than a week's credits. Check the estimate the first time you use a model. See Models.

Who can spend what

Endless picks your available balance from the first rule that applies to you:

Personal limit: credits per cycle set on your membership (Settings → Members → your profile → "Set spending limit"; default "No limit"). Set by someone who can manage members.
Team limit: your active team's limit, if you have no personal one. Set in Settings → Governance → Teams, which needs the permission to change workspace settings.
Workspace pool: no personal or team limit.

A personal limit replaces the team limit; it doesn't add to it. You can hit a limit while the workspace still has credits.

Message	Meaning
"You're out of credits"	The workspace pool is empty. On the Free plan it says when the next refill arrives; otherwise an admin can top up or change plan.
"You've reached your personal spending limit. Your workspace still has credits."	Ask an admin to raise your limit.
"This team reached its spending limit. Your workspace still has credits."	Your team's limit is used up.

Asking before spending

Where available, Settings → Governance → Spending decides whether the chat asks before a paid step (a generation, web search, social lookup or transcription). With "Ask before spending credits" on:

Costs below "Run without asking below" run at once.
Costs above "Always ask above" wait for an answer.
Costs in between ask with a countdown and run if nobody answers.

Scheduled runs never ask.

Seeing where credits went

View	Who	Shows
Sidebar Credits	Everyone	Your balance and last 14 days
Settings → Usage	Everyone (own usage); whole workspace for people who can read governance	Per day, member, team and tool
Settings → Members	Everyone	Each person's use this cycle against their limit
Settings → Governance → Activity	Admin by default	Generations, admin changes and credit movements, with total spent per period
Settings → Governance → Teams	Admin by default	Spending per team

Member, Viewer and Billing manager don't see the Governance section by default.

Workspaces and members: roles, teams and where limits are set.
Models: why one model costs a few credits and another hundreds.