Usage and credits
How Binary's usage works - free usage credits with every plan, extra usage on top, credits are real dollars, what each email, AI review and lookup costs, how much a dollar covers, and what happens when you run out.
Credits are dollars
Every plan comes with free usage credits each month, measured in US dollars. There's no separate credit currency to convert: $1 of credit is $1 of usage - the same dollars that pay for the AI models, email delivery, and AI lookups behind each action. When an action costs $0.005, your balance goes down by exactly $0.005.
Your balance belongs to the whole workspace - everyone draws from it, and there's no per-person split.
Free usage credits by plan
| Plan | Free usage credits each month |
|---|---|
| Free | $1 |
| Starter | $10 |
| Business | $25 |
| Pro | $100 |
On a paid plan you can buy extra usage on top - see Buy extra usage. Unused credits don't roll over.
What each action costs
| Action | What $1 covers |
|---|---|
| Email to one candidate | ~500 emails |
| AI review of one candidate | ~200 candidates |
| AI profile lookup | 50 lookups |
| Message to the AI assistant (in Binary or Slack) | 200 messages |
| Video answer transcript | 200 videos |
- Emails are charged per recipient, so a bulk message to 100 candidates costs $0.20. Sending an assignment is an email and costs the same.
- AI review is charged per candidate, per criterion. The ~200 candidates figure is a typical review - five criteria on a candidate who uploaded a résumé. Fewer criteria, or no uploaded file, costs less.
- AI lookups happen in a Deep review and when Binary enriches a candidate's profile. Each candidate is charged once, however many times their profile is read.
- Actions that fail aren't charged.
What your free usage credits cover
Rough examples of what one month's free usage credits pay for if spent on a single action:
- Free ($1) - about 500 emails, or AI review of about 200 candidates.
- Starter ($10) - about 5,000 emails, or AI review of about 2,000 candidates.
- Business ($25) - about 12,500 emails, or AI review of about 5,000 candidates.
- Pro ($100) - about 50,000 emails, or AI review of about 20,000 candidates.
In practice your credits are shared across everything above, so a month usually mixes emails, reviews, and assistant messages.
Check your usage
Open Settings → Billing & Usage. One meter shows how much of this month's usage you've used, how much is left, and the date it resets. The meter counts your free usage credits and any extra usage together.
Below the meter, a bar splits this month's spend between Email and AI, each labelled with the dollars spent. Storage used shows separately, as its own row.
When it resets
Your usage resets every month. On a monthly plan it resets on your billing date; on a yearly plan it still resets monthly, on the same day of the month your subscription started. Free workspaces reset monthly too.
When you run out
Anything that costs usage stops until your usage resets or you buy extra usage:
- Sending emails, including bulk messages and assignments. A bulk send checks the whole batch first - if there isn't enough left for every recipient, nothing is sent.
- Running AI review. A running or automatic review pauses and picks up again once there's usage left.
- AI lookups and messages to the AI assistant.
Binary shows a nudge with an Upgrade button, where you can upgrade your plan or buy extra usage. Next to it, admins also see a "Show usage" link or button that opens Settings → Billing & Usage directly, to check the breakdown before deciding whether to upgrade or buy extra usage.
Buy extra usage
Paid plans can buy extra usage - a recurring monthly amount added on top of your free usage credits: $10, $20, $25, $50, $100, $200, or $300 a month.
- Choose it when you pick a paid plan, or any time from Settings → Billing & Usage.
- Increasing extra usage takes effect as soon as the prorated payment goes through.
- Lowering or removing it takes effect at the next monthly reset - until then you keep the higher amount, and you can undo the change.
- On a yearly plan extra usage is billed yearly too, at twelve times the monthly amount.
- Free workspaces can't buy extra usage - upgrade to a paid plan first.
Plans and billing
The Free, Starter, Business, and Pro plans, what each unlocks, free usage credits and extra usage, and how to upgrade or manage billing.
Your forms list
The home screen listing every form you can access in your workspace - where you filter, search, open, publish, duplicate, or delete forms.