Understanding Credits¶
Credits are the unit of consumption in Mention. Most AI-powered actions use credits when they run. This page explains what consumes credits, how to monitor usage, and what happens when credits run out.
What consumes credits¶
The following actions consume credits:
| Action | When it happens |
|---|---|
| Writing an article | An entry is added to an Audience's table of contents, its prompt is changed, the daily refresh finds its source material has shifted, or an owner asks Mention to write it again (see Curating Contents) |
| Composing a lesson | An article is written or rewritten, and Mention composes the exercises from it (see Curating Lessons) |
| Grading a written answer | A learner submits prose for an exercise, and Mention judges it against the rubric. Exercises where the learner picks an option are graded against an answer key and cost nothing |
| Retry variants | A learner fails an exercise, and Mention generates the variant — the same material in a new situation |
| Review | A review session is drawn, and written review answers are graded |
| Roleplay exam | Each counterpart turn in the final exam, and grading the transcript at the end |
| Grounded Q&A | Anyone asks a question on an Audience's Ask tab (web), in Slack or Teams, or through the mobile Q&A footer |
| Slack and Teams captures | A thread is captured into the knowledge base and analyzed |
| Answering an unanswered question | An admin closes a knowledge gap, and Mention turns the answer into a fact (see Answering Unanswered Questions) |
| Creating an audience | An audience is created and Mention does its initial AI setup work |
| Content analysis | Activated assets are analyzed into facts — including new and changed content picked up by the daily integration sync |
| Glossary building | Terms are nominated and defined from your sources |
| Codebase analysis | A connected codebase is analyzed or re-analyzed, or a feature brief is written |
| Contradiction detection | Mention checks the facts behind a piece of content for conflicts as it is written |
An article that comes back not ready still consumed credits — Mention did the retrieval work before concluding it could not cover the prompt.
Grading is worth understanding separately from everything else in that table. Writing and composition are paid once per entry; grading is paid every time somebody attempts a written exercise, including retries and review. For a large audience that is where the meter actually moves.
Credits are consumed automatically as your team uses the platform. You do not need to allocate or assign credits manually.
How credits are displayed¶
Open the organization switcher in the sidebar and go to the Usage page in your organization's settings:
- Usage in dollars — how much of the billing period's allowance has been consumed, shown as dollar amounts (for example "$12.50 of $150"); the app never shows raw credit counts
- Progress bar — A visual indicator of how much of the allocation has been consumed
Credit reset¶
Credits reset when your billing cycle advances:
- Your usage counter resets to zero and you receive your full allocation again
- Unused credits do not roll over — each cycle starts fresh
- On the post-trial Free plan there is no billing cycle to advance, so usage does not reset automatically — upgrading is what restores headroom
What happens when credits run out¶
When your organization has used all available credits for the current billing cycle:
- Actions that require credits (writing articles, composing lessons, Q&A) are temporarily unavailable
- A banner appears across the top of the app for everyone in the organization until credits are available again — for admins it includes an Upgrade plan shortcut
- Admins also receive a notification explaining that credits have been exhausted
- Members and admins are prompted to either upgrade the plan for a larger allocation or wait for the next billing cycle when credits reset
Learners are not stopped mid-lesson. A written answer submitted while you are out of credits is accepted and marked ungraded rather than rejected — the learner keeps their place and can attempt it again once credits are back. They are not shown the correction for it, since nothing was graded. Exercises graded against an answer key are unaffected, since they cost nothing.
Reading existing articles, attempting option-based exercises, and viewing progress continue to work normally. But the pause is wider than content generation: while credits are exhausted you also cannot create audiences, upload files, or connect or refresh integrations, and the daily integration sync skips your organization until credits return.
Tips for managing credits¶
- Activate assets selectively — Only activate the documents that are most relevant. Content analysis on activation consumes credits.
- Prioritize high-value content — Add entries for the topics that matter most to your team first.
- Write prompts your sources can answer — an entry that keeps coming back not ready costs credits on every attempt.
- Watch grading, not just writing — grading scales with the number of learners and attempts rather than with the size of your table of contents, so a big audience working through written exercises is the usage to plan for.
- Monitor the meter — Keep an eye on the Usage page in your organization's settings to avoid unexpected exhaustion.
- Upgrade when needed — If your team consistently runs out of credits, move to a higher plan for a larger monthly allowance.