How Do Credits on Pickaxe Work?

Pickaxe Credits ‍

If you're wondering how credits work on Pickaxe, you're reading the right article. Credits are part of a simple system to keep track of your usage of AI models. In this article we will go over how the Pickaxe credit system works and answer all the most frequently asked questions about them.

Let's dive in.

What is a credit?‍

1 credit = 1 prompt run.

Any time an AI model generates an output, it costs one credit. Here's another way to think about it: every time you push the “submit” or “test” button to run your pickaxe, you use one credit. When you run out of credits, you can't generate more outputs.

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How many credits do I get?‍

Every user gets 50 credits when they sign up for a free account. These credits replenish monthly, on the 30-day anniversary of their sign-up date.

Customers who sign up for a Gold subscription get 1000 credits and users who sign up for Pro get 4500 credits. Additionally, Gold and Pro users have the ability to use their own API key, which allows for near unlimited usage directly from OpenAI, Claude, Mistral, or whichever model provider is associated with the API key. This means every time you run a pickaxe, it does not use a credit. Instead it bills your API key directly. Here is a video breaking down the difference between using platform credits or an API key from a model Provider.

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When other people use my Pickaxe, do they use my credits?

Whenever an end-user uses your Pickaxe, they do so at your expense. Which means they use your credit (or bill your API key).

This is true whether they use your Pickaxe as an unlisted tool, as a listed tool in a Studio, or as an embedded Pickaxe on another website.

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Embedded pickaxes (on a third-party website)

Embedded pickaxes always debit the pickaxe owner's account. If you embed a pickaxe on your website, every time someone presses “submit” on the embedded tool, it uses one of your credits.

This system allows people to use pickaxes embedded on your website without signing up for a Pickaxe account. It’s a way to sponsor free usage of your tool. You can set a usage limit on your Pickaxe so that you can restrict the total amount of times the same person can use it. You can set use usage limit within the Embed Customization screen.

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Pickaxes in a Studio

When you put a tool inside a Studio, usage works similarly to an embedded Pickaxe. Studio Pickaxes always debit the pickaxe owner's account. Importantly, in a studio you are controlling usage of your tools through your own credit system. And most likely, you are selling usage of your tools.

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Can I limit use of my embedded pickaxe?

You can always control the amount of times an individual user can run an embedded pickaxe. To set a limit on each use, click "add a new embed" and then in the embed customization screen look for a slider labeled “prompt runs per user”.

You can set usage restrictions on embedded Pickaxes on the embed customization screen.

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Can I limit use of my studio pickaxe?

Yes. You can always control the amount of times an individual user can run a pickaxe in a studio. The studio has a robust system for setting usage tiers and prices. To set a limit on users, click on the Access tab of your Studio. Here you'll see dedicated sections for limiting Guest Users and Paid Users. For more information on creating Products within your Studio, check out this blog post.

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How do I see how many credits I have?

To see your credits balance, simply go to your account page. You credits will be listed there. You'll see the total credits remaining and the total monthly credits you get. Importantly the first number is the total amount of un-used credits you have remaining.

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Can I buy more credits?‍

You can buy additional credits on Pickaxe with ease. You can purchase credits at an amount of 250, 500, or 2500. These are monthly plans that will rewnew each month. You can also upgrade to a subscription (Gold or Pro) and 1000 or 4500 monthly credits in addition to a variety of features.

If you need more than 1000 credits, you can always purchase additional credits. However, we highly recommend that customers use their own OpenAI API key.

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Can I use my own API Key?

Yes, you can use your own OpenAI API key or Claude API key on Pickaxe. When your Pickaxe has an API key in it, you do not use your credits. Instead you are billed by the model provider directly, usually at a lower cost. Using your own API key is cheaper than buying credits from us and provides near unlimited usage. This means instead of using credits, you will be billed per use by OpenAI directly. Pickaxe sells credits at a slight upcharge to cover our costs. By using your own API key, you can ensure uninterrupted, cheaper usage of AI models. If you're curious to learn more, you can watch this more detailed explanation about the advantages of using your own API key over credits.

Getting an API key from a model provider is very simple. If you want help getting an OpenAI API key, you can read about how to get your own OpenAI API key here. If you want help getting a Claude API key, you can read about how to get your own Claude API key here.

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How do credits replenish?

‍Credits replenish every 30 days. Credits replenish in aggregate, meaning all at once. Credits do not stack. That means if you're on a Gold plan (1000 credits a month) and you don't use Pickaxe for 3 months, you will log in to find you have 1000 credits, not 3000.

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Do Actions or Knowledge Base cost credits?‍

The only thing that costs a credit is when your Pickaxe generates an output for the end-user. It does not cost credits to use Actions or reference the Knowledge Base.

Why use a credit system?

‍Every time you use an AI model, there is an associated cost from the model provider. Oftentimes this provider is OpenAI. When you use these models through a platform like Pickaxe, we are paying for these interactions.

Credits are a way for us to keep track of the uses. Giving credits is easier than billing customers per each use, which often differs depending on the size of the prompt. Credits are a simple, uniform system. 1 credit = 1 prompt run. That way you never have to worry about how much a specific generation costs. You always know it's 1 credit.

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How Do Credits on Pickaxe Work?

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