Credits and usage

Lovable uses one credit balance for building your app, hosting and running it with Lovable Cloud, and AI features your deployed app uses. Use Settings → Plans & credit usage to understand your credit balance, track credit usage, add credits, and manage top-ups. For available plans, plan feature differences, subscription tiers, billing cycles, invoices, and cancellation, see Subscription plans.

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What is a credit?

A credit is the unit Lovable uses to measure and pay for usage across your workspace. Credits let you build apps, run deployed apps, and power AI features from one balance. Your credits cover three types of usage:

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Where credits come from

Your workspace receives credits from two kinds of sources:

1. Usage-specific grants, which apply only to one type of usage.
2. General credits, which can be used to build your app, host and run your app with Lovable Cloud, and power AI features in deployed apps.

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Usage-specific grants

Usage-specific grants are included credits that apply to one type of usage. Lovable always uses them before general credits. For example, daily build credits apply only to build usage, the monthly Cloud grant applies only to Cloud usage, and the monthly AI grant applies only to AI gateway usage. Usage-specific grants refresh automatically, but their refresh schedule depends on the grant and plan type. Unused usage-specific grants do not roll over. Included usage-specific grants by plan: For the full plan comparison and paid subscription tiers, see Subscription plans.

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General credits

General credits can be used after usage-specific grants run out to build your app, host and run your app with Lovable Cloud, and power AI features in deployed apps. You can see a breakdown of your general credit types and their expiry dates in the Credit balance dialog. All unused monthly plan credits automatically roll over at the end of each billing cycle, as long as your subscription remains active.

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Usage costs

Credits are used across three main areas: building your app, hosting and running it with Lovable Cloud, and powering AI features in deployed apps. Each area uses credits differently, based on the type of work performed or resources consumed. To see where your credits are going over time, use Usage details.

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Build costs

Credits are used when you work with Lovable to plan, generate, edit, or update your app. Lovable has two main modes: Use Plan mode to think through an idea, investigate a problem, compare approaches, or create a plan before changing code. Plan mode never modifies your code, and every message deducts 1 credit. Use Build mode when you want Lovable to implement changes directly in your project. Build mode pricing is usage-based. Small, focused edits usually cost less than larger generations, multi-step changes, or requests that require more codebase exploration, verification, browser checks, web search, or image generation. Here are some illustrative Build mode examples: Click the three-dot menu below any Lovable response in the chat to see its exact cost. Stopped Build mode requests are charged based on the work completed so far. To review Build usage over time, go to Settings → Plans & credit usage → Usage details and select Build credits. You can filter by time range and view usage by project or person.

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Cloud costs

Cloud usage is measured based on the Lovable Cloud infrastructure resources your deployed app consumes. It draws from your available credits, starting with any monthly Cloud grant included in your plan. Cloud usage usually increases when more people visit your app, your app stores more data or files, users upload or download larger files, your app sends more API responses or media, Edge Functions run more often, or Realtime features send more messages. For more information, see Lovable Cloud. To review Cloud usage, go to Settings → Plans & credit usage → Usage details, then select Run credits. You can filter by time range and view usage by project. The Run credits view includes both Cloud and AI gateway usage. The usage chart breaks Cloud usage into categories such as Database, Network, Storage, Edge Functions, and Realtime. Database usage includes both database server and database storage.

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AI gateway costs

AI gateway usage is measured when AI features inside your deployed app make model calls. These requests are separate from the Lovable agent that helps you plan, build, and edit your project. The built-in AI connector runs on a usage-based pricing model, so credit usage scales with how much your app uses AI features. Each model call deducts credits based on the model used and the number of tokens processed. On Free plans, AI gateway usage draws from the monthly AI grant first. After that, it draws from general credits if available. AI gateway usage rates are based on the underlying provider model costs. To estimate relative model costs, refer to the official provider pricing sources linked from the supported model list. For more information, see AI features for your app. To review AI gateway usage, go to Settings → Plans & credit usage → Usage details and select Run credits. You can filter by time range and view usage by project. The Run credits view includes both Cloud and AI gateway usage. The usage chart shows the top models used (see image in Cloud costs).

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View your credit balance

You can check your credit balance from the dashboard, the project editor, or Settings → Plans & credit usage. The credit bar shows your remaining daily build credits, monthly credits, personal credits, team credits, or commitment credits, depending on your plan. Workspace admins and owners on paid plans can also open the Credit balance dialog for a detailed view of workspace credits, including credit types, expiry dates, and recent credit activity. Select Details to open the Credit balance dialog. The dialog has two tabs: Breakdown and History.

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Breakdown tab

Available on Pro and Business plans. Not shown for Enterprise. The Breakdown tab lists your general credit grants, including each grant’s type, expiry date, and remaining amount. Grants expiring soonest appear first. A note at the top of the tab confirms that Lovable uses the general credits closest to expiry first. *Not all credit types appear for every workspace.

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History tab

Available on Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans. The History tab shows credit activity for up to the past 12 months, sorted newest first. Each row shows the event type, date, and credit change. Positive values mean credits were added, and negative values mean credits were removed or expired.

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Tracking credit usage

Go to Settings → Plans & credit usage → Usage details to see a detailed breakdown of where your credits go across build usage, Cloud usage, and AI gateway usage. The Usage card on the Plans & credit usage page shows recent usage at a glance. Select More usage details to open the full Usage details page.

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Usage visibility by role

Usage visibility depends on your workspace plan, workspace role, the usage type, and whether you have access to the project.

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Filters

Narrow the view with these filters:

• Credit type: switch between All credits, Build credits for building and editing, or Run credits for Cloud and AI gateway usage.
• Project: admins and owners can see usage per project across All credits, Build credits, or Run credits. Selecting a project updates the chart to show that project’s usage for the selected credit type. Clear the selected project to return to the full view.
• People: see your own build usage, or, if you are an admin or owner, see build usage per workspace member. This filter is only available when viewing Build credits. Selecting a person updates the chart to show that person’s build credit usage. Select View details to open User insights for that member. Clear the selected person to return to the full view.
• Group: admins and owners can see build credit usage per group. This filter is only available when viewing Build credits, and is available to Business and Enterprise workspaces. Selecting a group updates the chart to show that group’s build credit usage. Clear the selected group to return to the full view.
• Time range: view the last 30 days, last 90 days, or a custom range of up to 90 days.

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Reading the chart

The heading above the chart shows your total credits for the current filter and time range, such as 5,352 credits in last 30 days. The chart shows daily credit consumption. Hover over a bar to see the details for that day. Usage data may be up to a minute behind your most recent activity. New Run credit usage can take up to 24 hours to appear. Each bar breaks down by usage type:

• Cloud usage breaks down into Database (server and storage), Network, Storage, Functions, and Realtime.
• AI gateway usage shows a breakdown by the top three models used.

This helps you answer questions like Which project is driving my hosting costs? or Which member used the most credits this month? directly from Usage details.

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Projects and People tabs

Below the chart, usage is broken down in two tabs:

• Projects: credits used per project across the selected credit type. Search and sort projects by usage, then select a project to apply the filter and update the chart.
• People: build credits used per workspace member. This tab is available when viewing Build credits. Search and sort members by build credit usage, then select a person to apply the filter and update the chart.

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Credit top-ups

Credit top-ups are available on Pro and Business plans. Use them to add credits to your workspace balance so you can continue building your app, hosting and running it with Lovable Cloud, and using AI features in deployed apps. Workspace owners and admins on paid plans can add credits in two ways:

• Auto top-up: add credits automatically when your balance runs low
• One-time top-up: buy credits manually when you need them

You can buy credit top-ups from:

• Settings → Plans & credit usage
• The low-credits alert in chat when you’re running out of credits

Pricing depends on your plan. Top-up credits are purchased outside your monthly subscription, so they have their own price per credit. Credit top-ups are billed as one-time payments through Stripe. An invoice or receipt is generated for every purchase. Top-up credits are valid for 12 months from your most recent purchase.

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Auto top-up

Auto top-up automatically purchases credits when your balance reaches or falls below a threshold you set. Use it to keep building your app, hosting and running it with Lovable Cloud, and using AI features in deployed apps when your balance gets low. Top-ups run as often as needed, as long as the next top-up would not exceed your monthly spend limit. Your default payment method is charged only when a top-up is triggered. Auto top-up runs only if both conditions are met:

1. Your balance reaches or falls below your selected threshold.
2. The top-up would not exceed your monthly spend limit.

The monthly spend limit resets on the 1st of each calendar month at 00:00 UTC, displayed in your timezone. It is not tied to your subscription billing cycle.

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One-time top-up

Use a one-time top-up to add credits manually without changing your subscription. This is useful if you run out of credits mid-cycle or have occasional spikes in usage. Credits are added to your workspace instantly. Multiple purchases are allowed.

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Alerts and notifications

Lovable shows alerts when your workspace is close to a limit, runs out of credits, or needs billing attention. Alerts can appear as chat nudges, in-app banners, blocking dialogs, inline messages, or emails to workspace owners and admins. You may be notified when:

• Your workspace is running low on credits. A nudge appears above the chat input with your remaining credits and an option to add more.
• Your workspace runs out of credits. When you try to continue building your app, Lovable shows a blocking dialog and building stops until credits are available.
• A deployed app is paused because your workspace has no available credits. Lovable shows an in-product message when a deployed app that relies on Lovable Cloud or AI features pauses.
• Cloud or AI gateway usage approaches a limit. Lovable shows an in-app alert on the Plans & credit usage page.
• Credits are expiring soon. A chat nudge may appear when top-up or rollover credits are nearing expiry.
• Auto top-up fails. Lovable emails workspace owners and admins and shows an in-app banner with options to retry the charge or update the payment method.
• Auto top-up reaches its monthly spend limit. Lovable emails workspace owners and admins when auto top-up reaches the monthly spend limit you set.
• A non-admin runs out of credits. They can send a credits ping to workspace owners and admins asking them to add credits.

If your workspace runs out of credits, building stops, and deployed apps that rely on Lovable Cloud or AI features can pause until credits are available again. To keep your workspace and apps running:

• Free plan: upgrade to a paid plan to get more credits and unlock top-ups.
• Paid plans: enable auto top-up, or add credits with a one-time top-up.

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FAQ

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Troubleshooting