Credit System
U-Gen uses a single-pool credit system. Every video, voice-over, and keyframe pulls from one balance, regardless of whether the credits came from a subscription allowance or a prepaid top-up pack. Credits are reserved when a job starts and consumed when it completes.
Two ways to get credits
Subscription allowance
Each paid plan grants a monthly credit allowance that lands in your balance at the start of every billing cycle. Free tier accounts start with 150 starter credits (one-time, no monthly refresh).
Prepaid top-up packs
Buy credit packs anytime via Stripe or PayPal — useful for one-off bursts or when your monthly allowance runs low. Top-up credits never expire.
See the Plans page for current subscription tiers and the top-up page for live pack pricing.
How credits work
Reserve
When you create a job, the estimated credit cost is reserved from your available balance. This guarantees enough credits exist to complete the job.
Consume
When the job completes, credits are settled. If the actual cost was less than reserved, the difference is automatically released.
Release
If a job fails or is cancelled, all reserved credits are released back to your available balance immediately.
Balance Formula
Available = Balance − Reserved — You can only create new jobs using your available credits. Reserved credits are held until the associated job completes, fails, or is cancelled. The same formula applies whether your credits arrived via allowance or top-up.What determines cost
The total credit cost of a video is the sum of these components:
Video model
Each model has a per-generation or per-second credit rate. Kling models bill per second of output; Veo models bill a flat rate per segment. See /pricing for current per-model rates.
Segment count
More segments = proportionally higher cost. Jobs support 1–10 segments. Each segment also requires keyframe generation (N+1 keyframes for N segments).
Keyframe resolution
1K costs 8 credits/keyframe, 2K costs 12, and 4K costs 18. Higher resolution = sharper anchor frames but higher cost.
Voice-over
Adding an ElevenLabs voice costs 15 credits (or 20 for a custom voice override).
Background music
Enabling background music adds 15 credits to the estimate.
Custom captions
Custom caption styles add 20 credits. Standard captions are included at no extra cost.
Post-processing
A flat 10-credit surcharge covers final rendering (concat, audio mix, caption burn-in).
QA retries
When QA is enabled, the estimate includes a buffer for potential keyframe and video retries (50% of generation cost × max retries).
Cost Estimation
Retries and credit safety
Retrying a failed job re-reserves credits from the restart stage onward. The system uses LEAST() clamping in the settlement SQL to ensure you're never charged more than the original reservation, even if a job is restarted multiple times.
If your balance is insufficient when creating or retrying a job, the API returns a 402 error with the required and available amounts.
Checking your balance via API
Use the Credits API to check your balance and view transaction history programmatically. The GET /api/v1/credits/balance endpoint returns your current balance, reserved amount, and available credits.