How credits work
Credits pay for new public data and processing your own files. One purchased credit costs $1 USD.
Where your credits come from
| Source | How it works |
|---|---|
| Welcome credits | 15 credits once for a new Free account. Use them for public data or file processing; they do not renew each month. |
| Starter subscription | 50 credits per monthly billing period. Buy more when you need them. |
| Credit purchases | $1 per credit, with the same rate for every purchase size. Your balance updates after Stripe confirms payment. |
| Credit returns | Approved adjustments for charged data or processing. These appear separately from charges in Usage. |
Credits belong to the named user who receives or buys them. They are not a company-wide pool. Professional includes interactive search queries but still charges for personal file processing; Enterprise follows your agreement.
Read your balance
Billing → Overview shows the credits available to spend and any credits reserved for work in progress. The sidebar shows a compact balance for Free, Starter and Monitoring accounts, including when it is collapsed. Professional and Enterprise users can check their processing balance in Billing.
| Balance | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Available | Credits you can use for the next search or processing job. |
| Reserved | Credits held for work in progress. They are not yet completed usage charges. |
| Credit grants | The source of each allocation, how much remains and any expiry date. |
Open Credit grants to review the allocations behind your balance. The Usage tab reports completed charges for the selected month; it is not your remaining balance.
What uses credits
Free and Starter accounts pay for newly opened public map data at the published rates. A search with more new data costs more; an empty search or one containing only records you have already acquired costs nothing. There is no minimum public search charge.
Processing your own files is a separate charge, including on Professional. Some processing services have a minimum charge. Once your files are processed, searching them uses no search credits. Read Public data charges and File processing charges for the rates and worked examples.
Add credits when you need them
Select Buy credits in Billing or the sidebar, enter the amount and continue to Stripe Checkout. Free accounts first choose a paid plan. For example, $50 buys 50 credits and $250 buys 250 credits; buying more does not change the rate.
Auto-reload is not currently available. A saved payment method alone does not trigger automatic purchases. See Payments for checkout, payment methods, invoices and subscription changes.