AI credits are the shared currency for AI features in Instant: the Agent (build and edit tasks) and Studio (product imagery). One balance covers all of them, so you don't manage separate wallets per feature.
Included credits by plan
Monthly allowances differ by plan and reset each billing cycle:
Plan | Included AI credits | Typical capacity* |
Free | 0 | Previews and manual building only |
Starter | 1,000 | ~50 Agent tasks, ~100 Studio images |
Pro | 4,000 | ~200 Agent tasks, ~400 Studio images |
Business | 10,000 | ~500 Agent tasks, ~1,000 Studio images |
*Capacity varies by request size. A simple copy edit uses fewer credits than generating a full multi-section page or a batch of Studio images.
Your exact balance for this cycle appears in Project → Plan.
What consumes credits
Instant AI / Agent
Building a new section or page from a prompt
Multi-step edits that restructure a layout
Long conversational threads with large outputs
Light prompts (short copy tweaks) generally cost less than full rebuilds.
Studio
Generating product shots and lifestyle images
Regenerating variations
Studio and the Agent draw from the same pool. Heavy Studio usage can leave fewer credits for Agent work that month, and vice versa.
What does not use credits
Manual editing in the builder (drag-and-drop, settings panels)
Publishing to Shopify
A/B testing (those use separate A/B test session limits on eligible plans)
Checking your balance
Open Project → Plan (or the credits indicator on the Studio composer). You'll see:
Your remaining monthly plan credits and when they reset
Any purchased credits — these are used after your monthly credits and don't expire
A Get credits button to buy more if your account offers add-on credits
Running out of credits
When your balance hits zero:
Agent requests are blocked until credits refresh or you add more
Studio generation is blocked for the same reason
Existing pages and published storefronts are unaffected
To continue immediately, upgrade to a higher plan (see Upgrade your plan) or buy more credits from Project → Plan if your account offers them.
Credits vs other limits
AI credits are independent from:
Published page, section, and template limits (see Plan limits reference)
A/B test sessions — unique-visitor caps for experiments; vary by Pro and Business
Hitting a publishing limit does not consume credits, and hitting zero credits does not unpublish anything.
Best practices
Draft with AI, polish manually — use the Agent for structure, then fine-tune without spending more credits.
Batch Studio work — generate related images in one session for visual consistency.
Upgrade before big launches — campaign seasons with heavy AI and testing may warrant Pro or Business.
Measure the payoff — use Attributed revenue in Analytics to judge whether AI-assisted pages earned their credit cost.
For feature-specific guidance, see Build pages with AI, Edit with AI, and Studio: AI product imagery.