AI credits & usage
AI in Formstep runs on credits that you buy in packs. Packs work on any plan, need no subscription and never expire.
How credits work
Every AI action uses credits: a chat message, translating a submission, a summary of answers, or an AI Validation check. The more text and files AI reads, the more it uses. 100 credits are worth $1 of AI use, and a typical chat uses about 5. No plan includes credits, and every plan pays the same.
Credit packs
| Pack | Credits | About |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | 490 | 98 chats |
| Pro | 1,990 | 398 chats |
| Max | 4,990 | 998 chats |
The Pro pack is a credit pack, separate from the Pro plan. Prices are in your currency, before tax.
Buying credits
Click Add credits in the sidebar, pick a pack and pay. Your balance goes up as soon as the payment completes.
To protect against stolen cards, how much you can buy in 24 hours depends on your plan: one Max pack’s worth on Free, three on Pro, ten on Business. On Free and Pro, you wait an hour between packs. In its first 30 days, an account without a paid plan can buy up to $50 in all. For more, email support.
What an action costs
A quick question costs about 1 credit, a typical chat 5, and a long task with many steps 25. Translating a submission costs about 1, and an AI summary of answers about 2. An AI Validation check costs under 1 credit for a text answer, and about 1 for a photo or a one-page PDF, plus 0.4 for each further page.
Formstep runs Anthropic’s Claude models inside the EU. Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs three times as much as Claude Haiku 4.5, the default (see choosing a model). Costs follow what the model providers charge, so they can change.
Your balance
The sidebar and the AI chat show about how many chats you have left, and Running low at 100 credits or fewer. Without credits, AI stops and everything else keeps working.
An action needs a few more credits free than it usually costs, because Formstep sets aside the most it could cost and then charges what it used. If your balance is too low, the chat says so.
Who pays
Credits belong to each person, not to the workspace, and each member buys their own. A form’s AI Validations always use the workspace owner’s credits.
On Business, the owner can turn on Share my AI credits with members in Workspace Settings. Members’ AI use in that workspace then spends the owner’s credits, and stops when they run out until the owner adds more. Sharing ends if the owner leaves Business.
Your own AI tool
When you use Formstep from your own AI tool, such as Claude or ChatGPT, it spends no Formstep credits. Your AI tool bills you. See Connect an AI agent.