How should I set up credits and usage in the plans I sell to my clients?

First decide whether you want a usage-based model, where clients pay for what they use, or a plan where some usage is included.

A common approach is to start every new account with a one time credit (for example $25, or even a dollar or two), so that when the client logs in they do not see a no funds warning at the top. After that credit is used, the client moves to usage-based billing.

Your SaaS plan has two ways to include usage:

1. A service-specific included amount, for example 200 AI assistant credits a month. This applies only to that one service and is not the same as dollars.
2. Recurring credits in dollars, which can be used on any service (AI videos, phone numbers, assistant credits and so on). Turn on rollover if you want unused credit to carry over.

Which to choose: if you do the work for the client, include it in the plan price so you do not have to worry about credits. If the client does it themselves, either bundle credit or let them pay for usage. At lower price points (for example $397 a month) usage-based billing is fine, and clients still pay the cost of generating images or videos. At much higher price points clients may question small usage charges, so include more.