How credits work: estimate, reserve, settle

What is free

Reading your papers, OCR for scanned pages, search, citations, notes, coding by hand and exporting never use credits. Only AI actions do.

Reusing something you already have is free too. A paper's analyses travel with it into every project, so using them again costs 0 credits. See Baggage.

Where you see your credits

• The top bar shows Credits: your balance, at all times. Choose it to open billing and usage.
• Home has a Credits and plan panel: what you Used this period, what you Saved by reuse, and when your credits Resets.
• Settings → Billing shows Credits: how many you have left, how many of this month's are left and when they reset, and any top-up credits with the date they are valid until.

1. Estimate: see the cost first

Before any AI job, CurTask shows an Estimate: "Before this runs, here is what it will cost." It lists:

• Papers in scope: the papers the job would cover.
• Reused from baggage: work you already have, at 0 credits.
• To compute: what is new.
• Cannot run yet: papers left out, and why (for example, a paper with no PDF).
• Estimated cost and Your balance.

Nothing runs until you confirm. For a large job you can choose Preview on 3 papers first to see the results on a few papers before running the rest.

A longer paper, such as a thesis, uses more credits. The estimate always shows the amount.

2. Reserve: credits are held when it starts

When you confirm, the estimated credits are set aside for that job. While some writing tools work, you see this as, for example, "~4 credits reserved".

If your balance can't cover the whole job, it doesn't start at all: "Nothing was charged." CurTask never runs half a job and then stops for lack of credits. Choose fewer papers, buy a top-up, or wait for your monthly credits.

3. Settle: you pay for what was done

When the job ends, it uses the credits for the work actually done. If it stops part of the way, the credits for the unfinished part come back: "Unused credits were returned."

You are never charged twice for the same work, even if your connection drops and you try again.

Monthly credits and top-ups

Each plan comes with credits every month. They reset each month and don't carry over. See Plans and what paid plans add.

Need more before your credits reset? Buy a top-up on any plan, including Free: in Settings → Billing, choose Buy more credits, pick a Pack (500, 1,400 or 3,000 credits), choose how you'd like to pay (FPX online banking or card), then Continue to payment. You pay once on a secure payment page; nothing renews. Step by step: Upgrade your plan or buy credits.

Top-up credits last 12 months and are used after the month's credits run out.

If CurTask gave you credits, for example welcome credits for testing CurTask, they show in Settings → Billing with the date to use them by.

When credits run low

You get a notification under the bell when your credits are running low. Your papers, notes and earlier analyses keep working whatever your balance: only new AI work needs credits.