> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://parabola.io/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What is a credit?

> How credits work in Parabola — how they're calculated, when they're consumed, and how to think about your team's usage.

At some point, you'll get asked a version of this question: *"How much Parabola capacity do we have left, and will we run out before the month resets?"* This lesson gives you what you need to answer it.

***

## Credits, defined

A **credit** is the unit Parabola uses to measure the work your flows do. Credits are consumed every time a flow runs or when an AI step performs a task.

<Note>
  Credits are only consumed when flows **run** — not while building, editing, or working in draft mode. Your team can build and iterate on flows as much as they want without using any credits.
</Note>

***

## How credits are calculated

The number of credits a flow run consumes depends on two things: the **number of unique steps** in the flow and the **type of work those steps do**.

| Step type          | How credits are counted                                                                        |
| ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Standard steps** | Flat rate per step — each unique step costs the same regardless of row count                   |
| **AI steps**       | Proportional to the work done — more data processed and more complex prompts mean more credits |

Steps that don't successfully execute — or that have zero input and output rows — do not consume credits.

### An illustration

Say a flow runs twice a day and consumes 10 credits per run. That's roughly 600 credits per month for just one flow. Multiply that across 8–10 flows running on similar schedules, and you're projecting 5,000–6,000 credits per month from automated runs alone — before any manual runs your team kicks off.

This kind of back-of-envelope math is usually enough to anticipate whether you're trending toward your plan limit or well within range.

***

## How automations drive consumption

The way a flow is triggered determines how often it runs — and that directly determines how many credits it uses.

| Trigger type  | How credits accumulate                                                        |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Manual**    | Credits consumed only when someone clicks "Run flow"                          |
| **Scheduled** | Credits consumed on every run according to the schedule (daily, hourly, etc.) |
| **Webhook**   | Credits consumed each time the webhook is called by an external system        |
| **Email**     | Credits consumed each time a qualifying email arrives and triggers the flow   |

<Tip>
  Automated flows (scheduled, webhook, and email-triggered) are the primary drivers of credit consumption for most teams. When you're evaluating your credit usage, start by looking at which flows are running automatically and how frequently.
</Tip>

The more automated flows your team has, the more predictable — and potentially significant — your monthly credit consumption will be. It's worth reviewing your highest-frequency flows periodically to make sure they're still necessary and running as efficiently as possible.

***

## Credit limits and alerts

Parabola sends **proactive email and in-product alerts** at **80%**, **95%**, and **100%** of your monthly credit limit — so you're never caught off guard.

Here's what happens when you hit the limit:

| Plan                | What happens                                                                                                                       |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Basic**           | Flow runs stop until the billing period resets the following month                                                                 |
| **All other plans** | Switches to **pay-per-credit** billing for any additional usage, then reverts to the plan's included credits when the month resets |

<Note>
  When your account switches to pay-per-credit billing, you can view the charges accruing for the current period directly on the **Billing & Usage** page.
</Note>

***

## What's next

Now that you understand how credits work, the next lesson covers how to actually monitor your team's consumption — broken down by user and by flow.

***

<Card icon="sparkles" title="Building challenge">
  Navigate to your [Billing & Usage page](https://parabola.io/app/billing) and check your team's current credit usage for the month.

  * How many credits have been consumed so far?
  * Look at the flows your team runs most frequently. Which ones are automated vs. manually triggered?
</Card>