Credits are the unit of work
Everything that calls the image model spends credits: generating a thumbnail, applying an edit in the editor, generating an AI avatar. Everything else — saving avatars, organising projects, downloading, previewing, changing settings — is free and unlimited.
New accounts start with 100 credits, granted once at signup. No card is required to use them.
What one request costs
Thumblore bills per request, not per image. That distinction is the thing worth understanding:
- A thumbnail generation renders two variations and is charged as one request. The second variation is free.
- An edit in the editor — a mood, a face swap, a text rewrite, a custom instruction — renders one image and is charged as one request.
- An AI avatar is generated free as a preview. You are only charged when you save it. Regenerate the preview as many times as you like; you pay for the one you keep.
The exact charge is metered from the actual work the request took, so it is not a flat number: a text-only brief costs less than one carrying three reference images, because the references are part of what the model reads. Your balance and the cost of each run are always visible in the app — the sidebar shows the balance, and Billing & Credits shows the history.
Why the second variation is free
Because the price is fixed per request, the number of images a request returns is decided server-side, not by your browser. That is what lets a two-image generation and a one-image edit sit at the same price without anyone being able to game it.
What happens when you run out
Any non-zero balance buys one more generation — you are never blocked mid-thought by being three credits short. Once the balance actually hits zero, the Generate button turns into Out of credits and points at Billing.
Two ways to refill: a monthly plan, which grants credits every cycle, or a one-off top-up. Plan credits and top-up credits sit in the same balance.
Spending fewer credits
Most wasted credits go on regenerating a brief that was too thin to work the first time. In rough order of impact:
- Write the scene description. One sentence naming the subject, setting and light source removes most of the randomness. It is the single highest-leverage field on the dashboard.
- Edit instead of regenerating. If the composition is right and only the mood or the headline is wrong, fix it in the editor. An edit and a generation cost the same per request, but an edit keeps everything you already liked.
- Use a saved avatar. Generating a face from scratch every time is how you end up with a channel of strangers, and every retry to get the face right is another request.
- Pick a reference template. A style reference constrains the layout, so you spend fewer runs discovering that you wanted the subject on the right.
- Iterate avatar previews, not thumbnails. Avatar previews are free until saved. Get the character right there, cheaply, before you put it in a thumbnail.
Do credits expire?
Credits granted with a plan arrive each billing cycle. Your balance is a single number — it does not reset to zero when a cycle rolls over, and top-up credits are not separate. If you cancel a plan, the credits already in your balance stay there; you simply stop receiving new ones.