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Credits
Every AI action on DevDojo — building a site, a premium build, an edit, a design — costs credits from your monthly allowance. This page explains what an action costs, where the price is shown, and how to keep an eye on your balance.
AI is woven through everything you build on DevDojo — the Apps builder chat, Sites generation, and the Designer canvas all put a real AI model to work for you. Credits are how that work is priced. Your plan includes a monthly allowance, every action has a known price, and that price is printed on the button before you press it.
What costs credits
Every AI action carries a fixed price for the engine you've picked:
| Action | What it is |
|---|---|
| Site Build | A prompt-first site built out across several pages |
| Premium Build | Four art-directed concepts, a full-page mockup, and a site built to match it |
| Site Edit | One turn of the assistant inside the Sites builder |
| Design | One generation in the Designer workspace |
| App Build Turn | One turn of the Apps builder agent |
| Concept Board | Regenerating one Premium concept |
Nothing else costs credits. Browsing, editing code by hand, publishing, previews, checkpoints, exports — all free.
Note — The price is charged when the action starts, and it's the price you were quoted. If the model ends up working harder than usual, you still pay the number on the button; if the action never gets off the ground, the credits come straight back.
The price is on the button
Wherever an action is about to spend credits, the cost sits right on the control that spends them:
- The dashboard's Create Design button carries its price, and re-prices instantly when you switch engines.
- Create Site doesn't quote a number, because pressing it doesn't spend anything yet — it opens the Quick / Premium chooser, and the two styles cost different amounts.
- The Quick / Premium chooser shows what each style costs, along with what you have left this month; the Continue button quotes the style you picked.
- The builder composers (Sites, Apps, Designer) show what one turn costs on the selected engine.
- The engine picker lists the price beside every model, so you can see what swapping engines saves before you commit.
Engines cost different amounts
Each engine has its own price, reflecting what the underlying model actually costs to run:
| Engine | Character | Relative price |
|---|---|---|
| Claude | The most capable — best for whole features and complex builds | Premium |
| OpenAI, Gemini, Grok | Strong all-rounders | Mid |
| Z.ai and friends | Fast and economical — great for iterating | Budget |
The same site build can cost roughly eighteen times fewer credits on the economy engine than on Claude, so it pays to match the engine to the job: iterate cheaply, then bring in a premium engine for the heavy lifting. Premium engines are available on paid plans; each action also has a recommended engine, which is the one selected for you by default.
Your monthly allowance
- Your plan includes a set number of credits each month — the free plan includes a starter allowance, and paid plans include much more.
- Allowances reset on the first of each calendar month. Unused credits don't roll over.
- When your balance can't cover an action, that action pauses until the month resets or you upgrade — everything you've built stays exactly where it is.
Watching your usage
Head to Settings → AI Usage to see:
- Used this month and remaining — your live balance, with a meter that shifts color as you approach the limit.
- Recent activity — each action with its date, what it was, the model that ran it, and the credits it cost. Refunds show up as their own
+row, so the history always adds up.
Your balance also lives in the account menu in the sidebar, one click from the usage page.
Tip — Building on a premium engine and refining on an economy one is the cheapest good workflow: the first pass is where model quality matters most, and small edits rarely need it.
Running out, and getting more
When your balance can't cover the next action:
- The Apps builder replies in chat to let you know, instead of running the turn.
- Sites and the Designer show a clear message before any generation starts.
- Nothing is lost — your apps, sites, designs, and conversations stay untouched.
To keep building, upgrade your plan from Account → Billing — new allowances apply immediately — or wait for the monthly reset.
Fair-use notes
- A price is per action, not per minute: a build that takes longer than usual never costs more than it quoted.
- If an action fails before the engine ran at all, the credits are returned automatically.
- Rate limits still apply independently of credits, to keep the platform fast for everyone.