AI Video Credits Explained

Separate the purchase price of a credit balance from the credits a generation consumes, then choose the billing schedule that fits your work.

Two prices appear in a credit workflow

SeaDance credits are a prepaid generation balance. Buying a plan or pack adds the stated credits; submitting a supported request spends the quoted amount. The cash cost of that request is therefore an allocation of an earlier purchase. It is useful for budgeting, but it is not a separate small checkout transaction. New accounts start with 0 credits, so sign-up alone does not supply a generation balance.

A subscription renews at a regular interval rather than being a one-time purchase. For SeaDance, the plan list, the terms and the refund policy govern the details. The table uses the actual listed purchase amounts and integer credit grants, rather than a rounded marketing estimate.

PurchaseBillingUSD chargeCredits grantedUSD per credit
Basicmonthly$29.90149$0.2007
Plusmonthly$59.90300$0.1997
Promonthly$129.90650$0.1998
Basicyearly$179.40898$0.1998
Plusyearly$359.401800$0.1997
Proyearly$779.403904$0.1996
Starter Packone-time$39.90199$0.2005
Creator Packone-time$69.90350$0.1997
Business Packone-time$139.90700$0.1999
Agency Packone-time$249.901252$0.1996

Monthly, yearly and packs mean different commitments

Monthly subscriptions are billed monthly; yearly subscriptions are billed annually. Each annual table row shows the full annual charge and the credits associated with that purchase. It is not a monthly credit allowance or a monthly payment quote. Compare the total you authorize at checkout, especially if your project only needs a limited amount of work. An annual label does not make its full credit grant repeat every month.

Credit packs are one-time purchases. They are suitable when a project needs a finite prepaid balance without choosing a recurring billing schedule. A larger pack gives a larger balance, but its usefulness depends on how much generation you reasonably expect to request. Buying substantially more credits than a project needs does not make that project cheaper merely because the unit rate is marginally different.

The grant calculation uses the integer floor of the purchase amount in cents divided by 19.96. The effective purchase rate is then the USD charge divided by the granted credits. Because the grant is an integer, that rate varies slightly between purchases. The table prints unit rates to six decimal places for comparison; request estimates are rounded to cents only after multiplying by the request’s credit charge.

Translate a request quote into a budget

The table below uses Basic monthly as a consistent example. It compares a short Seedance Mini request, a longer standard Seedance request and a Kling request. Video models have different fixed output tiers here, so equal duration does not imply identical settings or identical creative results. Confirm the actual selected model and duration before treating a past quote as a budget for a new request.

Example requestOutputQuoted credits and allocated USD
Seedance 2.0 Mini, 5 seconds480p; 16:94 credits / $0.80
Seedance 2.0, 10 seconds480p; 16:914 credits / $2.81
Kling 3.0, 10 seconds720p; 16:926 credits / $5.22

All generation dollar estimates allocate prepaid credits at Basic monthly: $29.90 divided by 149 credits, approximately $0.2007 per credit. They are rounded to cents after calculating the whole request. They are not separate checkout prices. Other plans have slightly different purchase rates; compare the pricing page before purchasing. New accounts start with 0 credits.

Why the quote changes with your settings

Video charges are calculated for the complete duration and rounded upward to whole credits. Reference images may add a charge for some model families before that rounding happens. Image generation has its own model, size, quality and reference-input calculation. A credit balance can therefore fund different numbers of outputs depending on your choices. There is no universal number of videos attached to a credit grant.

For planning, write down the exact requests a project requires, rather than dividing the balance by a generic average. Include room for deliberate creative alternatives if you need them. Use the video generator or the image generator to check the current quote after changing settings. The model’s name alone is insufficient: duration, reference count and image quality can all matter.

What happens when generation fails

When a generation reaches a failed state, the system returns the credits deducted for that job. The return is recorded once for the job, so repeated status checks do not create repeated refunds. A pending request is not automatically the same as a failed request. If delivery or the balance seems inconsistent, keep the job details and ask support to investigate instead of assuming that every wait has already triggered a return.

If a backup generation route succeeds, the original quoted credits remain the charge. A provider change does not automatically produce a partial credit return. This matters when comparing a quote with the delivered job details: successful recovery and technical failure have different outcomes. A restored generation balance is also different from a cash refund of the purchase used to acquire those credits.

Refunds, cancellation and credit validity

The published refund policy says unused credits may be eligible for refund within 30 days of purchase, subject to its conditions. Its one-time-purchase section also describes a 14-day window when a service was not delivered as promised. These are eligibility rules to read together, not unconditional refund promises. Successfully delivered and used services are generally excluded. Supply the purchase reference, account details and a clear reason when requesting a review.

The terms and refund policy say subscription cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing cycle. Cancellation and purchase refund eligibility are separate issues. Neither policy specifies a fixed lifespan for the credit balance. The current balance calculation has no age-based expiry cutoff, but that is not a promise of lifetime validity. This guide therefore does not invent an expiry date, a monthly reset or a permanent rollover guarantee.

Frequently asked questions

Does an annual grant arrive every month?

The annual figures here describe the full yearly purchase and its associated grant. They must not be read as a monthly payment or a monthly credit allocation.

Are packs recurring subscriptions?

No. The listed packs are one-time purchases. Monthly and yearly plan rows describe recurring billing schedules and should be evaluated as those commitments.

Will a failed request use my balance permanently?

A job recorded as failed receives its deducted credits back once. If the balance appears inconsistent, contact support with the job details so the recorded state can be checked.

Do credits have a documented expiry period?

No fixed lifespan is specified in the reviewed terms or refund policy. Do not infer lifetime validity or a particular expiry schedule from the absence of a published period.

Is a credit return the same as cash back?

No. A generation credit return restores balance for use on the site. A purchase refund is a separate request governed by the refund policy and its eligibility conditions.

Related articles

Budget Seedance choices · Reference charges · Image settings and credit costs