Prepaid credit

Credit is value a customer holds with you. It is applied automatically to their invoices and usage, before any payment is collected. Customers get credit by buying it, by receiving it with a plan, or because you give it. Use credit to:

• Sell prepaid usage (e.g. “$500 of API usage”), with optional automatic top-up
• Include an allowance in a plan (e.g. “5,000 credits a month”), with rollover
• Offer welcome credit, promotion codes or goodwill credit after an incident
• Stop or cap usage once the credit runs out

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Wallets and grants

• A wallet holds one customer’s credit, either in a currency (e.g. “USD credit”) or in a credit unit you define (e.g. “API credits”). A wallet opens automatically the first time credit is added to it.
• A grant is one amount of credit in a wallet, with its own type, expiry and scope: $500 bought on March 1st, 5,000 credits included with a plan this month, $25 of goodwill credit.
• The ledger records every movement: credit added, applied to an invoice, expired, removed or returned.

See Wallets and grants.

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Promotional and paid credit

In a money wallet, promotional credit is always used before paid credit. Example. $100 of usage, 10% tax, $30 of promotional credit and $50 of paid credit:

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Money credit or credit units

Credit is never converted between currencies, or between a unit and money. See Credit units.

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How credit is applied

• Credit is applied when an invoice is finalized. Draft invoices show the credit expected.
• Credit never pays for credit purchases (credit packs or top-ups).
• When several grants can pay, the most specific one is used first, then the one that expires soonest. See Order of consumption.

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Balance and unbilled usage

Usage is priced continuously between invoices, so the wallet shows what is really left: The balance is never shown below zero: usage the credit cannot cover is shown as “beyond credit” and billed on the next invoice. To stop serving usage at zero, see When credit runs out.

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Next steps