Credits
Credits are the unit of usage on Dust. Every AI interaction — sending a message, running an agent, using a tool — consumes credits. This page explains what credits are, how they're calculated, and when usage is free.
What is a credit?
A credit represents a unit of AI work performed on Dust. Credits are consumed whenever you interact with agents, use tools, or run automated workflows.
Credits are not transferable between users, do not roll over to the next billing period, and are not refundable.
How credits are calculated
Each interaction consumes credits based on two components that are added together:
total credits = token credits + action credits
Token credits
Token credits are proportional to the amount of AI processing involved in generating a response. More complex queries, longer contexts, and more capable models consume more token credits.
Action credits
Action credits are a fixed amount charged per tool action, regardless of response length. Tools are grouped into two tiers:
| Tier | Credits per action | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | 1 credit | Web search, agent routing, memory, platform utilities |
| Advanced | 3 credits | Data retrieval, data warehouses, connectors, file and image generation, external MCP servers |
Sub-agent costs
When an agent runs sub-agents in the background, each sub-agent's credit cost is added to the total. Costs accumulate across the full agent chain and are displayed alongside the main agent cost.
Credit cost display
After each message, Dust shows the credit cost of that interaction directly in the conversation. This lets every member track their usage in real time without navigating to the Usage page.
The display includes the cost of the main agent response and any sub-agents that ran in the background as part of that interaction.
When credits are not consumed
Some interactions and platform features are exempt from credit consumption:
- Sidekick: all Sidekick interactions (Tokens and Actions) are free and do not consume credits.
- Platform tools in regular conversations: routing, memory, and common utility tools do not charge action credits. The underlying token processing within those tools may still consume token credits.
Credit allocations by seat type
Each seat type includes a credit allocation (see Seat management for details on seat types and how to assign them):
| Seat type | Credits |
|---|---|
| Free seat | 500 credits (one-time lifetime allocation) |
| Pro seat | 8,000 credits/month |
| Max seat | 40,000 credits/month |
Credits are tied to the individual user, not the seat. Changing or unassigning a seat does not revoke credits already allocated — the user retains them and can continue consuming them until the end of their current period.
For details on how credits are drawn from different sources (individual allocation, workspace pool, overage), see Credit management.
Credit reset
Individual seat credits reset monthly, on the anniversary of your subscription start date. Unused credits do not carry over to the following month.
Free seat credits are a one-time lifetime allocation and do not reset.