What it is
AI Visibility uses credits to reflect real usage. Your credit consumption is determined by three concrete decisions you make: what you track, where you track it, and how often you refresh it.
These credit rules apply to AI Visibility accessed through your Keyword.com project’s Prompts page.
Why it matters
Understanding credit usage helps you choose the prompts, AI engines, and refresh schedules that fit your tracking needs and monthly allowance.
The three factors that determine credit usage
Every credit used in AI Visibility comes down to a combination of:
Coverage - how many prompts and AI engines you track
Schedule - how often those prompts are refreshed
Engine and feature costs - the cost of each selected AI engine and any completed page audits
More prompts, more engines, and more frequent updates increase usage. The credit cost per run depends on the engine used.
How refreshes translate into credit usage
Each time you refresh a prompt, Keyword.com runs that prompt against the AI engines you’ve selected.
This creates what we call runs.
A run is best understood as:
Prompt × AI engine × refresh event
Examples:
1 prompt × 1 engine × 1 refresh → 1 run
1 prompt × 3 engines × 1 refresh → 3 runs
10 prompts × 2 engines × 1 refresh → 20 runs
Each run consumes credits based on the engine used. For example, 10 prompts × 2 chat apps × 1 refresh produces 20 runs at 0.25 credit each, using 5 credits.
When credits are used
A run uses credits when a result is saved, including an answer that does not mention your brand or a Google result with no AI Overview
A failed run with no result does not use credits. Paused prompts and disabled engines do not generate charged runs
Retries for the same run are charged once
Fractional costs add up: four runs at 0.25 credit use 1 credit
Refresh schedule options
You control how often refreshes happen per prompt. In Add prompts, open Advanced options → Schedule. The standard options are:
Every day (default)
Every 2 days
Every week
Every 2 weeks
Manual
Your account may show additional schedule options. Manual prompts run when you request an update using Refresh now or Refresh all.
More frequent refreshes generate more runs and therefore use more credits.
Tip: Track critical prompts daily, and keep secondary or exploratory prompts on weekly, every-two-week, or manual refresh.
Credits per AI engine
Different AI engines require different levels of computation. Credit cost reflects this.
AI engine | Credits per run |
Chat apps | |
ChatGPT | 0.25 |
Gemini | 0.25 |
Google AI Overview | 0.25 |
Google AI Mode | 0.25 |
API models | |
Claude Haiku | 1 |
Claude Sonnet | 3 |
OpenAI Search | 2 |
Gemini | 2 |
Perplexity Sonar | 1 |
Mistral | 1 |
DeepSeek | 1 |
Grok | 2 |
Each engine’s current credit cost is shown when you select it in the app. Prices can change; check the displayed cost before adding prompts. The model in use is shown in the API model’s tooltip.
Page audits use 5 credits per completed audit. A failed audit costs no credits. You need at least 5 credits available to start an audit.
Planning credit usage
Use the Credit limit meter to review usage against your account’s allowance. The balance is shared across all AI Visibility domains in the account.
When you add prompts, the app estimates their monthly usage based on the selected AI engines and schedule. For example, one prompt on one chat app with Every day selected is estimated at 7.5 credits/month for approximately 30 runs.
The estimate is a planning guide. Daily estimates use 30 runs per month and weekly estimates use 4; actual usage depends on the runs completed. Check your credit reset date in Settings → Subscriptions & Billing.
Using fewer credits
You can reduce usage by:
switching non-critical prompts to weekly, every-two-week, or manual refresh
reducing the number of engines on exploratory prompts
pausing low-value prompts temporarily
choosing chat apps when their results meet your needs, since they use fewer credits per run than API models
Monthly credit reset & expiry
Credits reset monthly, including on annual plans
Unused credits do not roll over
If you change your AI Visibility credit allowance, or a change to the plan that includes those credits is billed, your allowance restarts with the new amount and usage resets to 0
Review the reset date and allowance in Settings → Subscriptions & Billing. To get more AI Visibility credits, upgrade your plan or increase your AI Visibility credit allowance.
What happens when credits run out
If available credits reach zero:
Scheduled runs stop until credits reset or you increase the credit allowance
Manual refreshes are blocked if the balance cannot cover the whole request
You’ll be prompted to upgrade for more AI Visibility credits
There are no automatic overage charges.
A manual refresh requires enough credits for all selected prompts and engines. If there are not enough, the app shows how many credits the refresh needs and how many are left; it does not run only part of the request. One refresh can run up to 200 prompt-and-engine combinations, such as 50 prompts on 4 engines.
You can still add prompts. If the new scheduled prompts, together with your existing scheduled prompts, would use more than your monthly credit allowance, the prompts over the limit are added paused. Manual prompts are never added paused. Review the estimate and paused status before expecting automatic updates.
Adding prompts, requesting refreshes, and starting page audits require a team role that can edit projects.
How teams typically manage credits
Common usage patterns across teams:
Core brand or revenue prompts → daily refresh, multiple engines
Category or competitive prompts → weekly or every-two-week refresh
Exploratory or experimental prompts → manual refresh
Page audits → run selectively, not continuously
This approach balances visibility, cost, and signal quality.
Best practices
Start broad, then narrow to the engines that matter
Use the monthly estimate and Credit limit meter to plan usage
Review usage monthly and adjust the schedule before increasing your credit allowance