How to compare AI credits without misleading output counts
Learn what subscription credits measure, why native units differ and how to check the price of a real generation job.
Bestivio editorial · Updated October 21, 2026 · Educational examples, not a provider checkout quote.
A credit is a provider-defined unit
Credits, compute units and Fast Tokens are accounting units inside a particular service. They do not measure the same amount of computation across companies. A plan with 8,000 credits is not necessarily more generous than one with 1,000 credits: the charge for the intended job is the missing part of that comparison.
Write down the job before calculating
Record the exact model version, operation, resolution, video duration, audio setting and number of outputs per request. Then inspect the credit amount shown beside Generate. A pricing-page example can use a cheaper model or a different resolution than the one you intend to use.
Worked example: attempts and outputs
Illustrative figures, not a provider offer: 600 monthly credits divided by 12 credits per request allows 50 billed requests. If each request returns two images, that is 100 theoretical images. Changing the batch size or the credit charge changes the result. A generated image is not automatically a finished asset you will keep.
Budget for revisions separately
With the same illustrative allowance, keeping only one result from every two requests would produce fewer usable results than the theoretical image count. Keep an acceptance-rate assumption explicit. The Bestivio budget calculator compares monthly subscription payments; it does not predict failed attempts, revisions or production-ready output.
Check expiry, pools and refunds
Subscription credits, daily bonuses and purchased packs can have different rules. Confirm when each pool refreshes, which expires first and whether a failed job is refunded. For annual billing, verify whether credits arrive monthly or as one annual allocation. A yearly payment is not evidence of a yearly pool.
Use a small observed sample
Before a larger commitment, run a small representative task on the provider, record credits before and after, and compare the charge with its current rules. Keep the model and settings with the result. This gives you a workload estimate specific to your process rather than a ranking based only on headline allowances.
Apply this to a real subscription
Browse provider sources and dated plan observations. The current Luma billing policy and OpenArt pricing FAQ are examples of why payment and credit schedules need separate checks: Luma billing policy ↗ · OpenArt plans and FAQ ↗.
Open the monthly budget calculator ↗ · Read our evidence policy ↗