📌 Overview
Some customers are surprised to see AI agent credits being used in Atlas Brain, especially when they believe a feature was included in their plan or was not charged before. This article explains what agent credits are, which activities use them, how they differ from your AI generation quota, and what to do if your usage does not look right.
💳 Agent Credits vs. AI Generation Quota
Atlas Agent usage is billed separately from content generation only on standard billing. Atlas Agent Credits cover agent work, and content tools use their own quotas. On Universal Credits billing, both draw from the same Universal Credits balance, so usage in one reduces what is left for the other.
- Atlas Agent Credits are used when the Atlas Agent runs. Each AI call it makes is metered from its cost, whether it is answering a question or carrying out a longer task.
- Direct content generation does not use Atlas Agent Credits. On standard billing, actions such as drafting titles, descriptions, outlines, snippets, or rewrites use your AI Generation quota, and generating a Content Genius article uses AI Premium credits. On Universal Credits billing, these actions spend Universal Credits instead.
The exact amounts for each allowance depend on your plan. You can see your current balances on your account's usage and billing pages.
🤖 What Uses Agent Credits?
Atlas Agent Credits are used whenever the Atlas Agent runs, including a single answer. Usage is based on the cost of the AI calls the task makes, not on whether the task has multiple steps.
- Asking Atlas Brain to research, analyze, and recommend actions across your project data
- Running multi-step tasks, such as reviewing a site, prioritizing issues, and preparing next steps
- Atlas Agent Credits are used both when the agent answers a question and when it carries out a task for you. The amount depends on the cost of the AI calls, not on whether the agent takes action.
- Longer or more complex requests, which may use more credits than short, simple ones
Credit usage can vary with the complexity and length of the task. Two requests that look similar may not use the same number of credits.
✍️ What Does Not Use Agent Credits?
Simple content actions do not use Atlas Agent Credits. On standard billing, drafting or rewriting text uses your AI Generation quota, and generating a Content Genius article uses AI Premium credits. On Universal Credits billing, these actions spend Universal Credits. Check the quota named in the tool, or your Universal Credits balance, rather than assuming every counter is an AI Generation quota.
Allowances can change as products are updated. Where a tool shows a usage indicator, check it, and otherwise check Billing → Plans & Top-ups. The Atlas Agent shows a credit warning only when your balance is low, and on Universal Credits billing the content tools do not show a separate generation counter.
🎯 How to Use Your AI Generation Quota Instead
If you want to save agent credits, you can structure your work to rely on the generation quota where possible:
- Use the dedicated content or generation tools for drafting, rewriting, and editing rather than asking the agent to do it.
- Keep requests focused. Ask for a specific output, such as a meta description or an outline, instead of a broad, open-ended task.
- Break large jobs into smaller steps and run the simple writing steps in the generation tools.
- Reserve Atlas Brain agent tasks for work that needs analysis or multiple steps.
- The Atlas Agent does not show a before-and-after indicator for each task. It warns you when your AI Agent credits are low, in bonus credits, or used up. For content tools, check the quota line shown in the tool on standard billing, or your Universal Credits balance.
📊 How to Check Your Usage
- Open your account's usage or billing area in the platform.
- Find the section for AI agent credits and the section for AI generation.
- Compare your remaining balance with the tasks you recently ran.
- Note the date, the project, and the task you ran when the balance changed.
Keeping a note of these details makes it much faster to investigate if something looks off.
⚠️ If You Think You Were Charged for Something Included
If you signed up expecting a feature to be included and now see it using credits, or you are being asked to pay more, take these steps:
- Check your plan details: Review what your plan includes and which allowance each feature uses.
- Gather the details: Note the feature, the date, roughly how many credits were used, and what you expected to happen.
- Avoid repeating the task: Pause similar tasks until the usage is confirmed, so you do not use more credits.
- Contact our team: Share your notes so we can review the usage on your account.
Our team can confirm how the usage was recorded, explain which allowance applies, and review any cases where metering does not match what your plan includes.
💡 Tips to Avoid Surprises
- Check your remaining credits before starting a large agent task.
- Write clear, specific requests so the agent does not take extra steps.
- Use generation tools for simple writing work.
- Review your usage regularly, especially after new features are released.
- Ask support about any feature whose usage you are unsure of before relying on it.
🙋 Need More Help?
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be instantly connected with a member of our team.