How Credits Work

When you spend a credit in Playcode, most of that money flows straight through to the AI provider on your behalf. Here is exactly what you are paying for and why there is no honest "unlimited" plan.

Where your credits go

Playcode is powered by AI providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. They charge us per token: every word the AI reads when it looks at your project, and every word it writes when it edits a file. When you send a message, we forward most of what you pay straight to the provider and keep a thin margin to run the product.

That means credits are not an abstract "service fee". They represent real AI tokens purchased on your behalf. When you see credits drop in your usage log, that money is already with the AI provider.

Why there is no "unlimited AI" plan

Because we pay the AI per token, an unlimited plan is physically impossible to offer honestly. A product that promises unlimited AI is either bleeding money on power users, or throttling you quietly in the background. Sometimes both.

We would rather show you the meter so you can make informed decisions.

Building vs. living in: the two cost phases

The expensive phase is active building: the AI is writing new pages, laying out new features, making architectural decisions, and reading your entire project to understand context. This is where most of a project's AI spend lives.

Once your site is mostly done and you are just polishing copy, fixing small bugs, or making the occasional change, costs drop sharply. Think of it as the difference between building a house and living in one. Understanding this ahead of time helps you plan your top-ups.

Bigger top-ups come with bonus credits

In Billing → Buy Credits, larger packages come with bonus credits. For example:

• $25 = 100 credits
• $100 = 440 credits (40 bonus)
• $200 = 960 credits (160 bonus, worth $40 on a single purchase)

If you know you will spend a certain amount anyway, buying in larger chunks pays you back. Always buy the biggest size you realistically expect to use.

Viewing your spend in real time

Your Billing → Usage page updates in real time as you work. Every message, every credit, every chat is there, always. If you want to check how things are going mid-session, open it. It is built for exactly that moment.

Need help?

Have questions about credits or your bill? Reach out through the chat button in the bottom right corner of any Playcode page. A human will reply.