Credit management

Credits are the unit of AI work on Dust. See Credits for how they’re calculated and what each seat type includes. When using Dust, members can draw credits from different sources depending on their plan and seat type. This page explains how those sources work, in what order they are consumed, how admins can set limits, and how to monitor your workspace’s usage. The seat allocations, shared pool, personal limits, limits per member, group budgets, and top-ups described here apply to credit-priced plans. On non-credit-priced plans, Admin > Spend > Credits shows programmatic usage and settings instead of seat or workspace-pool tables. When a user or automated workflow consumes credits on a credit-priced plan, they are drawn in this order:

1. Individual credits: from the user’s seat credit pool (see Credits)
2. Workspace credit pool: a shared pool managed by your admin
3. Overage / Pay As You Go: Enterprise plans only

A user is only blocked when all available sources are exhausted, when their spend limit is reached, or when their group budget is used up. Each member’s individual credit allocation comes from their seat type:

• Free seat: 500 credits (lifetime)
• Pro seat: 8,000 credits/month
• Max seat: 40,000 credits/month

These credits belong to the individual user. They are not shared across users and reset monthly (except Free seat credits).

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Workspace credit pool

The workspace credit pool is a shared credit reserve that Pro and Max seat members can draw from once their individual credits are exhausted. On the Enterprise Pooled plan, members have no individual credit allocation and draw directly from this shared pool as their only credit source. The pool is managed by workspace admins:

• Business plan: admins can purchase top-up credit packages as needed. Credits purchased through workspace pool top-ups are valid for one year from the date of purchase.
• Enterprise plans: the pool is funded by the committed credits defined in your contract.

Free seat users do not have access to the workspace pool.

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Overage / Pay As You Go (Enterprise only)

Enterprise customers can continue using Dust after the workspace pool is exhausted through Pay As You Go (PAYG) billing. A spending cap is configured for your workspace to prevent unexpected charges. PAYG is not available on the Business plan. Business customers must purchase workspace pool top-up packages in advance. Business plan Enterprise Seat-based plan Enterprise Pooled plan By default, all members with workspace pool access can draw from it without individual limit. Admins can configure a personal spend limit for each member to cap how much of the shared pool they can consume. The personal spend limit applies on top of a member’s individual seat credits: it restricts access to the workspace pool, not the seat credits themselves.

• A group’s Limit per member caps what each member of that group can spend. A personal spend limit takes priority over limits per member. Without a personal limit, the highest limit per member among the member’s groups applies, then the workspace default if none of their groups sets one. If none of these limits is set, the member has unlimited pool access.
• When a member reaches their cap, they are blocked from further pool usage and receive an in-app notification.
• Dust checks the limit before each message starts. A message’s credits count toward the limit once the message finishes, so a message that starts below the limit can take the member past it. They are then blocked from sending new messages. To limit how much a single long task can spend, see Credit-spend checkpoints.
• Admins can set a workspace-wide default limit. When the default is updated, only members currently on the previous default are affected.

Admins and group managers with access can view members’ personal spend limits under Admin > Spend > Credits > Members.

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Group budgets

A group budget is one credit amount per billing cycle that all members of a group share. Everything the members spend together counts against it. A group budget works alongside the group’s Limit per member, and both apply:

• Limit per member caps what each member spends.
• Group budget caps what the group spends as a whole.

A group budget counts every non-free credit its members spend. Programmatic usage (API calls, triggers, and integrations) does not count toward it.

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When a group budget is used up

When a group budget is used up, the members who draw from it are blocked and see Group budget reached. Admins are pointed to the usage page. Other members are asked to contact their group managers or an administrator. Raising a member’s personal limit does not unblock them: you need to raise or remove the group budget. Usage counts from zero again at the start of the next billing cycle. When a member is blocked, Dust reports the first reason that applies, in this order:

1. The member has no seat.
2. The member reached their personal limit.
3. The member’s group budget is used up.
4. The workspace has no credits left.

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Members in several groups

A member draws from exactly one group budget. Among their groups that have a budget, it’s the group that comes first in the order of group budgets. Members can’t choose which budget they use.

• A group goes to the end of the order when you set its first budget.
• Removing a group’s budget takes the group out of the order. If you set a budget again later, the group goes back to the end.

The Group budget column of the Members table shows which budget each member draws from. You can change the order from the Order tab of the group dialog: see Change the order of group budgets.

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Who can manage group budgets

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Set a group budget

1. Go to Admin > Spend > Credits and open the Groups tab.
2. Click a group to open Edit limits for the group.
3. In the Limits tab, enter an amount in Group budget. The field shows how many credits the group has used so far this cycle.
4. Optionally, set Limit per member to cap each member as well.
5. Click Save.

To remove a limit, click Remove next to the field or empty the field, then click Save. If group seat provisioning is enabled, admins also see Granted seat in this tab. Dust asks you to confirm a seat change before saving. In the Groups table, the Group budget column shows credits used against the budget, with a progress bar that turns red when the budget is used up. Limit per member and Models tier appear next to it.

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Change the order of group budgets

The order decides which budget a member draws from when they belong to several groups with a budget.

1. Open the group from the Groups tab, then select the Order tab. The tab is available once the group has a group budget, saved or typed in the Limits tab.
2. Review the groups with a budget. Each row shows the group’s position, group budget, limit per member, and how many members it shares with this group.
3. Use the up and down arrows to move the group.
4. Click Save.

By default, the list shows only groups that share members with this group. Remove the Shares members with chip to see all groups with a budget, and click it again to reapply the filter. Save applies the limits first, then the order. If someone else changed the order while you were editing, Dust rejects your change and asks you to reopen the group. Programmatic usage covers all interactions that are not manually sent by a user, including API calls, Zapier automations, n8n workflows, Google Sheets integrations, Slack bots, and automated triggers. How programmatic usage draws credits: Programmatic usage is not tied to any individual user. It draws exclusively from the workspace credit pool, then from PAYG (Enterprise only) once the pool is exhausted. If neither is available, programmatic usage is blocked. There is no free credit baseline for programmatic usage. Monthly programmatic cap: Admins can configure a monthly cap on programmatic credit consumption from Admin > Spend > Credits > Settings. An email notification is sent when 80% of the cap is reached.

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Tracking usage

Workspace admins can view and manage credit-priced plan usage from Admin > Spend > Credits. On non-credit-priced plans, this page shows programmatic usage and settings. Group managers can use the same page to view usage, edit personal limits and limits per member, view group budgets, and handle requests for members of the groups they manage.

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Workspace credit pool

On credit-priced plans, the Credits page shows the current workspace credit pool balance (credits consumed vs. total available). Admins on Business plans can purchase top-up packages directly from this page using the Top up button. Each top-up is at least 100 credits, and there is a maximum per billing cycle. The Top up dialog limits the amount to what you can still buy in the current cycle. If an earlier top-up hasn’t been paid yet, you can’t buy more credits until its invoice is paid.

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Settings

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Spending policies

• Default workspace credit pool limit: sets the default amount of workspace pool credits each member can consume. This is added on top of each seat’s built-in allowance and can be overridden per member in the Members table. Set to 0 to remove pool access for all members by default.
• Upgrade request: when enabled, members who reach their credit limit can request an upgrade instead of being immediately blocked. Workspace admins and managers can review and act on those requests from the Requests tab in the Members section.
• Auto-upgrade seats: when enabled, members who reach their credit limit are automatically moved to the next seat tier (Free Pro, Pro Max) instead of being blocked. This may increase subscription costs.

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Programmatic usage

• Programmatic monthly limit: sets the maximum credits allowed for programmatic usage per month. Set to 0 to block all programmatic access.

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Notifications

• Workspace credit pool threshold: admins receive an email when the remaining workspace credit pool balance drops below the configured amount. Set to 0 to disable.
• Upgrade request emails: when enabled, all workspace admins receive an email whenever a member requests a spend-limit upgrade.

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Members table

The Members section lists all workspace members with their usage details. Admins can:

• See each member’s seat type (Free, Pro, Max, or Platform), credits consumed, and credits remaining for the current period.
• Search members by name and filter by seat type.
• Use the ··· menu on each member row to adjust their personal spend limit or seat type individually.
• See which group budget each member draws from in the Group budget column. Hover over it to see how much of the budget is used and when it resets.
• Review pending upgrade requests in the Requests tab. When a member is blocked by a group budget, click Edit group budget to open that group’s limits and raise its budget.

For a broader view of workspace credit consumption, trends, and contributing agents or members, see Analytics.