How Credits Work
Understand the exact credit cost for every generation type in FlowPic.ai — text-to-image, image-to-image, text-to-video, and image-to-video across the Fast and Premium tiers — plus video duration tiers and plan details.
How Credits Work
Credits are FlowPic.ai's generation currency. Every time you generate an image or video, a fixed number of credits is deducted from your balance. The exact cost is always shown on the Generate button before you click — nothing is charged until you confirm.
What a credit is actually worth
Numbers like "9 credits" mean little until you translate them into real output. Here's the practical version:
| You spend | You get | What that replaces |
|---|---|---|
| 4 credits | One Fast product or social image | A stock photo license |
| 9 credits | One Premium, high-fidelity hero image | A ~$200 product photography shoot |
| 15 credits | One Premium image-to-image transformation | A background swap from a retoucher |
| 48 credits | One 4-second Fast video clip | A short motion asset from a freelancer |
A single Premium hero image costs 9 credits — cents on the dollar against commissioning a shoot, and it's ready in with a faster first draft than a scheduled shoot. That's the real math behind the numbers below.
Image generation costs
Image cost depends on the quality tier you choose. Fast uses a quick, lower-cost model; Premium uses a higher-fidelity model.
| Mode | Fast tier | Premium tier |
|---|---|---|
| Text to Image (1 output) | 4 credits | 9 credits |
| Image to Image (1 output) | 4 credits | 15 credits |
Text to Image — generate from a prompt alone. The fastest and lowest-cost mode.
Image to Image — upload a reference image and generate variations or transformations. On the Premium tier this costs more because the higher-fidelity model processes your input image.
Pro Grid (4 images at once)
When you generate 4 images in a single run (Pro Grid), a flat +2 credit surcharge is added on top of the per-image cost to cover the extra batch compute. For example, four Fast text-to-image outputs cost 4 × 4 + 2 = 18 credits.
Video generation costs
Video is billed by clip duration, not by scene type. The available durations are 4, 6, and 8 seconds, and the cost depends on the quality tier.
| Duration | Fast tier | Premium tier |
|---|---|---|
| 4 seconds | 48 credits | 71 credits |
| 6 seconds | 72 credits | 107 credits |
| 8 seconds | 96 credits | 142 credits |
These costs apply to both Text to Video and Image to Video modes. The Premium tier uses a higher-fidelity model with synced audio.
Why does video cost more than images? Video generation runs significantly longer inference cycles and uses higher-tier GPU capacity. A 4-second clip at 24fps requires the model to generate roughly 96 coherent frames rather than a single image.
How the cost is shown
The generate button displays the credit cost in real time. It updates automatically when you:
- Change the number of outputs (1 vs 4 images)
- Switch between image and video mode
- Select a different video duration
- Switch between Standard and Premium quality
If your balance is too low, the button shows the exact shortfall and links to the pricing page. The current quote is checked before generation; keep the live quote as the source of truth.
Checking your balance
Your current credit balance is shown in the top-right user menu after signing in. You can also view your full credit history at flowpic.ai/settings/credits.
Getting credits
You can get credits three ways — a free starter grant, one-time credit packs, or a monthly/annual subscription. Here's how the main options compare:
| Plan | Price | Credits | Refresh |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 30 credits (one-time on sign-up) | Not renewed |
| Starter (monthly) | $9.99/mo | 150 credits/month | Refreshes each cycle |
| Creator (monthly) | $19.99/mo | 500 credits/month | Refreshes each cycle |
| Pro (monthly) | $39.99/mo | 1,200 credits/month | Refreshes each cycle |
| Creator (annual) | $14.99/mo billed yearly | 500 credits/month · 6,000/year | Best value — save 25% |
Which plan fits you?
- Just testing? The free 30 credits cover about 7 Fast images — enough to see if FlowPic fits your workflow before paying anything.
- Creating weekly? Creator (500 credits/month) is the safe default — roughly 125 Fast images or a healthy mix of Premium images and short videos every month.
- Producing at scale? Pro (1,200 credits/month) is built for teams running ads, ecommerce scenes, and video concepts on a recurring calendar.
On the annual Creator plan, credits refresh monthly and unused credits roll over for up to one month — so a busy week never wastes what a quiet week left behind. Monthly-plan and one-time-pack details, plus current currency pricing, are always live on the pricing page.
Frequently asked credit questions
What happens if I run out mid-generation? The cost is checked before generation starts. If your balance is insufficient, the generation will not begin and no credits are deducted.
Can I buy extra credits without upgrading my plan? Top-up credit packs are available on the pricing page for users who need additional capacity without changing plans.
Are credits refunded for failed generations? Yes. If a generation fails due to a server error on our side, credits are automatically returned to your balance. If the generation completes but the output does not meet your expectations, credits are not refunded — see the Refund Policy for details.
Do credits carry over if I upgrade mid-cycle? Your remaining credits are preserved when you upgrade. The new plan's credit allocation is added to your existing balance.
Advanced Workflows
Go beyond single images. Learn how to keep a visual series consistent, run a full campaign from one formula set, and reuse prompt templates that reliably produce commercial output.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to common questions about FlowPic.ai — commercial licensing, NSFW policy, subscription cancellation, refunds, data privacy, and how the AI models work.