> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.brieftech.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.brieftech.ai/concepts/how-credits-work.md).
# How credits work
Credits are easy to misunderstand, because the obvious guess is usually wrong. It's natural to assume that every upload, every automatic OCR pass, or every run of an AI agent costs credits. In BriefTech, they don't. This page explains what credits actually measure, so the costs you see make sense and you can plan a matter without surprises.
***
## What credits measure
Credits are consumed at one specific moment: the first time you commit a document — when you first include it in an export or a court bundle, or when you run Force OCR on it. Uploading files, letting them process automatically, reviewing their metadata, and running agents over them do not, on their own, draw down your balance. The charge happens once per document, when you commit it to the indexed set that becomes your Document Index and court bundle.
Thinking of credits this way changes how you work. You can upload freely, experiment with AI analysis, and correct metadata as much as you like; the meter only moves when you decide a document belongs in your finished work product. One metadata action is the exception — downloading the spreadsheet from **Bulk Edit Dates & Descriptions** commits every row you can see, and neither its label nor its tooltip says so. See [Credit costs and pricing](/reference/credit-costs-and-pricing.md).
Committing also changes what you can do, not just what you are charged. Once a document is committed, BriefTech's converted PDF of it becomes available to download from the [full-screen pop-up viewer](/reference/preview-pane.md#the-full-screen-pop-up-viewer). A court bundle counts as paid only when **every** document in it has been committed, so committing the whole set is what removes the watermark from the bundle. A single uncommitted document is enough to keep a bundle watermarked.
A few details follow from that when you generate a court bundle:
* Documents you have moved to the Bin are not charged.
* Documents with processing issues are charged on the same terms as any other document, even though they enter the bundle only as placeholder pages.
* If you generate a bundle without selecting a collection, the charge and the bundle cover every live document in the matter — binned documents are still excluded.
***
## How indexing cost is calculated
The cost of indexing a document is based on its length: a longer document takes more processing to prepare for the index and bundle than a short one, so the price stays proportional to the work involved.
For the exact rate and worked examples, see [Credit costs and pricing](/reference/credit-costs-and-pricing.md).
***
## Why you are charged once per document
Once a document has been counted toward your index, it isn't charged again. Re-exporting, regenerating a court bundle, or rearranging your Document Index does not re-bill documents you've already included. Splitting a PDF or extracting embedded attachments does create new documents, though, and each of those is charged the first time you commit it — even though the document it came from was already paid for.
This is deliberate. Building a good index is iterative — you'll reorder, re-split into volumes, and regenerate the bundle many times before it's right. Charging only on first inclusion means that refining your work is free; you pay for the documents you commit, not for the number of times you produce the output.
Regenerating a court bundle is therefore free, unless new, uncharged documents have been added to that collection since.
***
## How your balance is calculated
Your balance isn't a single number that BriefTech edits up and down. It's derived from a ledger: a running history of every credit added and every credit used. Purchases, grants and credit adjustments add to the total; committing documents and debit adjustments subtract from it. Your balance is simply everything added minus everything used.
Keeping a ledger rather than a bare number means your credits are auditable — you can see where they came from and where they went, rather than having to trust a figure with no history behind it.
***
## Credit packs, the welcome grant, and expiry
You top up by buying credits, either as a pack or as a custom amount. Creating your first matter also triggers a one-time allocation of 50 welcome credits, so you can index and export it before deciding to buy. Conditions apply to whether the grant is issued. If your account has an email-and-password sign-in, verify your email if you haven't, then create your first matter before buying any credits — the grant is decided at that moment, and cannot be claimed later.
Purchased credits don't last indefinitely — they expire after a fixed period. It's worth keeping that window in mind for matters that run over a long period, or when you buy a large balance in advance.
> For exact costs, pricing, the welcome-grant conditions, and the transaction types on your ledger, see [Credit costs and pricing](/reference/credit-costs-and-pricing.md).
***
## What happens if you run low on credits
If you try to commit documents you can't yet afford, BriefTech stops and tells you before anything is charged — it never silently spends a balance you don't have. What it offers next depends on what you were doing.
When you **export an index, download files, or run Force OCR** and your balance is short, BriefTech shows an **Insufficient Credits** message and offers **Buy Credits**, which takes you to your usage page to top up. The action doesn't go ahead until you have enough credits; nothing is charged and nothing is produced in the meantime.
When you **create a court bundle** and your balance is short, you get an extra choice. Alongside the shortfall message, BriefTech asks whether you'd like to **Export with watermark instead**. Choosing this produces the bundle straight away, without charging your account — but a tiled BriefTech watermark is applied across every page, so it's suited to a draft or internal review copy rather than a version for filing. A watermarked bundle also contains the PDF volumes only — the editable Word versions of the cover pages, tab dividers and table of contents are included only in a fully paid bundle.
The watermark isn't permanent. It's decided each time a bundle is generated, based on whether every document in it has been paid for. Once you've topped up and the documents are charged, **regenerating the bundle produces a clean, unwatermarked copy** — you don't lose your work by taking the watermarked draft first.
To add credits, see [Top up the credit balance](/how-to-guides/manage/top-up-credit-balance.md).
***
## Related
Credit costs and pricing
How credits are consumed, what they cost, and when they expire.
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