Usage & Top-ups

How chat and AI credits work on Free, Pro, Team, and Enterprise. Chat is unlimited on paid plans, subject to fair use, and AI credits cover bulk work like PDF pages, enriched rows, and deep research. Top-ups add more credits.

Better Analyst keeps usage simple. Chat is unlimited on every paid plan. Bulk work, like converting PDF pages, enriching rows, and running deep research, uses one allowance: AI credits. This guide explains what counts, what each plan includes, and what happens when you need more.

Chat

What Counts as a Message

Each time you send a prompt to the AI, it counts as one message:

Asking a question
Requesting a chart
Running analysis
Follow-up questions

What Doesn't Count

Viewing results
Downloading exports
Managing files
Changing settings

Chat by Plan

Plan	Chat
Free	10 messages each month
Pro	Unlimited, subject to fair use
Team	Unlimited for every person, subject to fair use
Enterprise	Unlimited, subject to fair use

Chat never uses AI credits, on any plan.

Fair Use on Paid Plans

Chat on Pro, Team, and Enterprise is unlimited for people doing their own work. Fair use applies to each person separately and sits far above normal use, even heavy daily use. It exists to stop automated or shared-account abuse.

If someone reaches the fair-use limit:

Chat pauses for that person, and they see a notice in the chat instead of an answer
We're notified automatically and get back to you, usually within a day
Files, dashboards, and AI credits keep working
Chat resumes when we lift the limit, or at the monthly reset

See the Fair Use Policy.

AI Credits

AI credits are only used for bulk work: a PDF page is 10 credits, an enriched row is 1, and a deep research report is 20. Chat never uses credits.

Work	AI credits
PDF to Excel (AI Extract) or PDF analysis	10 per page
PDF to Excel (Table Extract)	1 per file
AI enrichment and text analysis	1 per row
Deep research report	20 per report
Chat, formulas, charts, spreadsheets, and dashboards	None

Credits by Plan

Plan	AI credits per month
Free	100 (deep research needs Pro or above)
Pro	3,000
Team	10,000, shared across the workspace, plus 1,000 for each person beyond the 5 included
Enterprise	Sized to your contract

On Team, everyone draws from the same monthly credit allowance. Free and Starter members also draw from it in their personal workspace. A member who pays for their own Pro, Max, or Business plan keeps that plan and its credits in their personal workspace, and uses the team's credits only in the team workspace.

Deep research

Each deep research run that produces a cited report uses 20 credits. Quick web research inside a normal chat uses none.

PDF to Excel

AI Extract uses 10 credits for each page you select for conversion, and Table Extract uses 1 credit per file. The converter shows the page count before you start, so you can narrow the page range when you only need part of a document. AI Extract supports up to 500 selected pages per file.

AI enrichment

Enrichment uses 1 credit for each row an enrichment column processes, such as sentiment, translation, classification, or extraction. Enrichments in tasks use credits each time the task runs, so plan for scheduled automation.

Test an enrichment on a small sample first, then run it on the full table once the output looks right.

Top-ups

When a month runs over, Pro, Team, Max, and Business can buy a top-up instead of waiting for the reset:

AI credits: $10 per 1,000 credits
On Pro or Max, buy them from Billing
On Team or Business, the billing contact buys them from Team settings > Billing, and they're added to the shared allowance

A top-up counts in the calendar month you buy it and the month after. Each month your monthly allowance is used first, then top-ups carried over from last month, then this month's top-ups, so unused top-up credits carry over one month and then expire. Billing shows how many carried over.

Top-ups are one-time purchases with an emailed receipt. They don't change your plan or your renewal price. If a top-up is refunded, its unused credits are removed.

Checking Your Usage

Dashboard View

See your current usage:

Look at the sidebar bottom
Shows your AI credits for the month (and messages on Free)
Updates in real time

Detailed Breakdown

For more detail:

Go to Billing
View your AI credit usage for the month
On Team, admins see the workspace's shared credits

Usage Resets

When Limits Reset

Allowances reset on the 1st of each calendar month (UTC), whatever your billing date
Annual plans reset on the 1st of every month too

Rollover Policy

Unused monthly messages and AI credits do not roll over
Unused top-ups carry over one month, then expire

Running Low?

Options When Approaching Limits

Wait: allowances reset on the 1st of each month (UTC)
Top up: add 1,000 AI credits for $10
Upgrade: move to a plan with a larger allowance

Notifications

You'll see a notice in the app as you approach a limit and when you reach it.

Exceeding Limits

What Happens

Work that needs AI credits pauses until the reset, a top-up, or an upgrade
Chat keeps working on paid plans
Existing data remains accessible
You can still export previous results

No Overage Charges

Better Analyst does not charge overage fees. You only pay for top-ups you choose to buy.

Older Plans and AI Actions

If you subscribed to Starter, Max, Business, or Embed before November 2026, you keep your plan at the price you pay today, and nobody is moved to a new plan automatically.

Max and Business now count bulk work in AI credits instead of AI Actions. They keep at least the allowance they had. A PDF page is still 10 credits, and a research report is 20 instead of 50.

Max includes everything in Pro, with 5,000 AI credits per person a month.
Max (Legacy) includes everything in Pro, with at least as many AI credits a month as it had AI Actions.
Business includes everything in Team, plus SSO, SCIM, and the full audit log, with 15,000 AI credits per person a month, shared across the team.
Starter keeps its monthly message and AI Action allowances. On Starter, formula generation, PDF to Excel, and enrichments use AI Actions, and the converter shows the AI Action estimate before you submit. Switching to Pro moves you to unlimited chat and AI credits.
Embed is an end-user plan for embedded chat. It keeps its features and AI Actions.