What are AI credits?

AI credits measure AI-powered work in a Protodesk workspace. Teammates share a balance, and workflows can consume credits across several actions. Check the action estimate and recorded usage rather than assuming one ticket equals one credit.

Updated October 21, 2026 3 min read
What are AI credits?

Key takeaways

  • AI credits measure metered actions, not the number of tickets or people in a workspace.
  • One workflow can run several AI actions, so its total can exceed the cost of a single draft.
  • Forecast usage by workflow, then compare the estimate with the Usage screen and transaction history.

Quick answer

AI credits are usage units for AI-powered work. They are not a universal currency: each provider defines what an action costs. In Protodesk, credits belong to the workspace and cover metered work such as triage, ticket context, and reply generation. Reading conversations and writing manual replies do not consume AI credits.

AI action costs vs workflow costs

A workflow may generate context, triage a request, prepare a draft, and verify that draft as separate steps. Check each metered action rather than assuming an entire conversation or auto-resolve workflow has a fixed price. Use the estimate shown in the product for the workflow you run.

  • Triage: classifying the request is an AI action.
  • Ticket context: generating or refreshing context can add metered work.
  • Reply drafting: count additional drafts separately when forecasting.
  • Draft verification and grounding review: separate metered actions when used.

What costs zero credits

  • Manual replies.
  • Reading tickets.
  • Searching and filtering the inbox.
  • Using canned responses.
  • Editing AI drafts before sending.

How to forecast usage

Estimate credits as the sum of each action's expected runs multiplied by its credit cost. For an illustrative month, assume each triage, draft, and context action costs 1 credit. Then 500 triage actions plus 200 draft actions require 700 credits. Adding 500 context updates makes the estimate 1,200 credits. Verification, additional drafts, and other metered work must be counted separately. These are planning examples, not customer results.

How to avoid wasting credits

  • Fix weak knowledge base articles before retrying auto-resolve.
  • Use labels to limit automation to the topics that are safe.
  • Review draft acceptance so credits go toward useful preparation.
  • Pause automation on topics with high reopen or escalation rates.

AI credits vs tokens and resolutions

Tokens measure pieces of text processed by a language model. Credits are a product usage unit; one action may make several model requests. A resolution is an outcome for a customer. These measures are not interchangeable: one credit does not necessarily equal one token or one solved ticket. When comparing costs, check included actions, additional charges, and how unsuccessful attempts are counted.

Where to check Protodesk credit usage

Open Evelin AI → Usage to review the workspace balance, usage, and credit transactions. Use Settings → Billing for the plan and available purchase options. Monthly, bonus, and purchased balances have their own rules; do not add them to Available credits again because that total already includes them.

Frequently asked questions

AI actions pause, but the inbox keeps working. You can top up or wait for the monthly reset.
No. Reading, replying, searching, assigning, and using canned responses are normal inbox actions and do not consume AI credits.
An auto-resolve workflow may run several metered steps, including context preparation, drafting, and verification. Triage is one action. Check the workflow estimate and actual usage rather than assuming every auto-resolve attempt has one fixed price.
No. Tokens measure pieces of text processed by a language model. Credits are the product's billing or usage unit and may cover a complete action with several model requests. There is no universal conversion from one credit to a fixed number of tokens.

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Connect your first inbox, invite your team, and see AI triage, sidekick drafts, and auto-resolve with 300 trial credits. No credit card required.