What Is AI Credit?

When you use any AI-powered feature—such as AI-generated descriptions, translations, smart mass updates, or semantic search—the system sends your data to a Large Language Model (LLM) and receives generated text back. The units of data processed by an LLM are called tokens. Generating tokens costs money, and that cost is passed on to you as AI credit.

AI credit is a way to track and understand your costs. Every credit translates directly to a monetary charge.

Where Does the Cost Come From?

AI credit is based on the token fees charged by the AI provider (such as Mistral or Google). The tokens your operations consume are:

  • Input tokens – the data you send to the model (product fields, prompts, context).
  • Output tokens – the text the model generates in response.

The more data you process and the longer the generated output, the more tokens are used.

When Is AI Credit Consumed?

AI credit is consumed whenever you trigger an AI-powered operation, for example:

  • Running an AI Edit on a batch of products.
  • Generating or rewriting descriptions and translations.
  • Using Semantic Search (embeddings are generated via the AI provider).
  • Any automation that calls an AI step in its pipeline.

Tips for Managing AI Credit

  • Narrow your selection before running AI edits. Processing 20 targeted products uses far fewer tokens than running the same prompt across your entire catalog.
  • Re-use good prompts. A well-crafted prompt tends to produce better output in fewer tokens.
  • Use changesets to keep your live data safe while experimenting—but be aware that credits are consumed when the AI operation runs, not when you apply the changeset. Rejecting a changeset discards the data changes; it does not refund the credit already spent.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is AI credit the same as automation credit? No. AI credit covers the token fees charged by the underlying AI provider. Automation credit covers automated operations within ProductSync itself. The two are tracked and charged separately. See What Is Automation Credit? for details.

What happens when my AI credit runs out? AI-powered features will be paused until you top up your balance. Scheduled automations that include AI steps will also pause.