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This section answers common questions about credits, generation limits and what happens when you run out. Use it to troubleshoot credit issues and decide when to upgrade your plan.

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Understanding Credits

Credits are consumed whenever you use AI features. Image generation, video generation, editing tools and model training all consume credits. Uploading, viewing and downloading assets are free.
When you create your first workspace, you’ll receive one-time credits to explore Kive’s features. To access ongoing monthly credits for regular use, upgrade to a paid plan.
Due to spam abuse, free credits are only available to verified Google or Google Workspace accounts. You must sign up using the Login with Google button to receive your starter credits — simply providing a Gmail email address is not enough.

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Viewing credit information

You can view your current credit balance in Settings → Subscription. Before generating, you can see how many credits each action will consume by clicking the settings icon next to the generation button (in the lower right corner of the generation bar). For editing tools, the credit cost is displayed next to the generation button. Credit spend history is not available — you can only view your current balance and see costs before generating.

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Common Credit Issues & Solutions

Cannot generate more images: You’ve reached your monthly credit limit, your subscription expired or team members have exhausted shared credits. Check your balance in Settings → Subscription, wait for the billing cycle to reset or upgrade your plan. Why am I seeing “Upgrade” when I already have a Pro plan? This message appears when your monthly credits are depleted, not because your plan isn’t recognized. You’ve used all your credits for this billing cycle. You can increase your monthly credits on the upgrade page. Running out of credits quickly: Use batch operations and choose quality settings appropriately to stretch your credits. Can I buy additional credits without upgrading? No, pay-as-you-go credits are not currently offered. Workaround: Upgrade to a higher plan (credits are added instantly), then downgrade afterward for months with lower usage. The minimum credit refill is 2,000 credits (Basic plan). A credit reload feature is a top priority and coming soon. I have credits but can’t generate anything. You likely don’t have enough credits for the generation type. Image generation requires 16-24 credits depending on settings. Check Settings → Subscription for your current balance. Consider lowering generation settings (fewer outputs, disable Max Res) or upgrading your plan. When do my credits renew? Credits renew with your billing cycle. Check your balance and renewal date in Settings → Subscription. Note that upgrading your plan resets your billing cycle to the upgrade date and gives you credits immediately. Do unused credits roll over? Yes, unused credits roll over to the next month. However, there’s a rollover limit of 2x your plan amount at renewal. If you downgrade, credits above the new plan’s rollover limit are lost. Will I be charged for failed or filtered generations? No. Credits are only deducted for successful generations. Failed generations and content-filtered outputs are automatically refunded. I need more than 40,000 credits per month. For needs exceeding standard plans, contact team@kive.ai or sales@kive.ai to discuss custom enterprise solutions.

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Credit Consumption by Feature

See the Editing tools overview and Plans sections for detailed credit costs and plan allocations.

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Plan Comparison & Allocation

Consult the Plans, credits & pricing guide for monthly credit allocations and plan features (Free, Basic, Pro, Enterprise).

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Maximizing Your Credits

Adopt smart generation strategies: always preview before final generation, batch similar operations, select appropriate quality, and reuse models and prompts. Establish credit-saving workflows for different projects (content creation, product photography, team collaboration).

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Troubleshooting Credit Issues

Credits not refreshing: Check your billing cycle date, payment method and plan status in Settings → Subscription. Credits didn’t appear after payment: Credits should activate as soon as a payment is confirmed. If credits haven’t appeared:
  1. Check Settings → Subscription → ”…” → Manage Billing & Invoices to confirm your payment was successful
  2. Verify you’re in the correct workspace (click your name to switch workspaces)
  3. Contact support if credits haven’t appeared after 24 hours
Unexpected credit depletion: Review activity logs for heavy usage by team members or failed generations; set guidelines for credit use. Features still locked after credit purchase: Ensure credits were added to the correct workspace, confirm your subscription tier supports the feature, clear browser cache and wait for account sync.

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When to Upgrade

See the Plans section for scenarios when it makes sense to move from Free to Basic, Basic to Pro and Pro to Enterprise.

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Can I get credits back for generations I’m not happy with?

Unfortunately, we cannot refund credits for individual generations. While we’re working hard to make every generation excellent, AI generation isn’t as predictable as manual photo editing. Even when reusing the same prompt, model, and product references, the output can vary slightly from generation to generation, especially when it comes to faces and fine details. That variability is an inherent trade-off of working with generative AI. At the same time, AI enables much more flexible and scalable “shoots” — you can explore different scenes, styles, and compositions without hiring models, booking a studio, or organizing a physical photoshoot. That freedom is one of the biggest advantages of using AI for content creation. Just like with real photography, not every result will be a perfect final image on the first try. Even in a traditional shoot, photographers take many photos and only select a few for actual use. With AI, it’s similar: sometimes a couple of iterations are needed to land on the best result. If you’re getting different results on different generations, this is expected behavior and doesn’t indicate that anything is broken or misconfigured. We’re continuously improving face consistency and realism, but some level of variation is unavoidable with current AI technology.
To limit credit consumption while iterating on your prompt, reduce the number of outputs to 1 or 2 instead of the full 4. Once you’re happy with the results, you can generate more variations.

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Pricing & Plans FAQ

Is there a free trial? Yes, a 7-day Pro trial with 500 limited credits is available for prospective customers to test the platform. Is there a discount code available? No traditional discount codes are offered. The best savings come from yearly billing (25% off). Promotions like double credits are time-limited offers (e.g., Black Friday). Can I get a demo or coaching session? Live demos and 1:1 coaching aren’t offered for standard plans. Explore the documentation to get started. Enterprise customers can contact sales@kive.ai for dedicated support.