Billing
This page explains exactly how Scenema bills: what each plan includes, how your credits work, what you pay when you change plans, and when a change takes effect. Payments run through Stripe’s secure checkout, and every amount is in US dollars.
Plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | Credits every month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 200 once, at sign up |
| Starter | $9 a month | $90 a year (about $8 a month) | 1,000 |
| Creator | $58 a month | $580 a year (about $49 a month) | 3,000 |
| Pro | $250 a month | $2,500 a year (about $209 a month) | 15,000 |
Billed annually, every paid plan is two months free: a year costs ten months.
Creator and Pro include a team workspace: up to 15 people on Creator and no limit on Pro, sharing the workspace’s projects and credits. See Workspaces.
Features and limits per plan are on the pricing page.
Your credits
Every generation (video, images, narration, voice cloning) costs credits, and the Studio shows the cost before you approve it. Your balance is made of three kinds of credits.
| Kind | Where it comes from | When it runs out |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly credits | Your plan, on every billing date | Reset to your plan’s allowance on the next billing date |
| Promotional credits | Grants such as referral and community bonuses | Never expire |
| Purchased credits | Credit packs you buy | Never expire |
Scenema spends your monthly credits first, then promotional credits, then purchased credits, so the credits that reset are always used before the ones you keep.
Monthly credits do not roll over. On each billing date your monthly credits are set to your plan’s allowance, whatever was left of the month before.
Buying credits
You can buy credits at any time, on every plan, Free included, from Settings, Billing, Buy credits, or with the Top up credits slider under the plans. Buy any whole number of credits from 300 to 50,000: move the slider, or type the number into Or enter credits. The price for exactly that many shows before you check out. The more you buy at once, the more credits each dollar buys:
| Credits | Price |
|---|---|
| 1,000 | $28 |
| 2,500 | $64 |
| 5,000 | $121 |
| 10,000 | $228 |
| 25,000 | $529 |
| 50,000 | $1,000 |
Stripe charges the price shown for the credits you chose. Purchased credits are added to your balance as soon as the payment clears, and they stay with your workspace whatever plan you are on, Free included.
Annual plans
An annual plan is billed once a year, and its credits arrive every month: on the same day of each month as your billing date, your monthly credits are set to the plan’s allowance. If your billing date is the 31st, months with fewer days refill on their last day.
Upgrading
An upgrade is a move to a higher plan, or from monthly to annual billing on the same plan. Upgrades take effect immediately:
- A new billing period starts today. Your next billing date becomes one month (or one year, for annual billing) from today.
- You pay the new plan’s price, less the unused value of your current plan. That way you only pay the difference, and Scenema never charges you twice for the same month.
- Your monthly credits are set to the new plan’s full allowance. Your purchased and promotional credits stay exactly as they were.
The unused value of your current plan
The unused value is what you paid for and have not used yet:
- Unused monthly credits. The monthly credits left on your balance, valued at your current plan’s price per credit. For example, Starter costs $9 for 1,000 credits, so each unused Starter credit is worth $0.009.
- Unused months, on an annual plan. Every whole month still to come in your annual period, valued at one twelfth of your annual price.
The unused value always comes off the price of the new plan, and it is never more than that price. Promotional and purchased credits never count towards it: you keep them.
You pay today = new plan price - unused monthly credits x current price per credit - unused months x current monthly price (annual plans only)Examples
| You are on | You use | Then you upgrade to | You pay today | Monthly credits after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter monthly ($9, 1,000 credits) | All 1,000 credits | Creator monthly ($58) | $58.00 | 3,000 |
| Starter monthly | None of the credits | Creator monthly | $58.00 less $9.00 = $49.00 | 3,000 |
| Starter monthly | 500 credits | Creator monthly | $58.00 less $4.50 = $53.50 | 3,000 |
| Creator monthly ($58, 3,000 credits) | 1,500 credits | Pro monthly ($250) | $250.00 less $29.00 = $221.00 | 15,000 |
| Creator monthly | None of the credits | Creator annual ($580) | $580.00 less $58.00 = $522.00 | 3,000 |
| Creator annual ($580 a year), 6 months in | 1,500 of this month’s credits | Pro annual ($2,500) | $2,500.00 less $24.16 for the credits and $241.66 for 5 months = $2,234.18 | 15,000 |
In the last example, a month of Creator annual is worth a twelfth of $580, $48.33, or about $0.0161 per credit. 1,500 unused credits are worth $24.16, and the 5 whole months still to come are worth $241.66 (amounts are rounded down to the cent).
Downgrading
A downgrade is a move to a lower plan, or from annual to monthly billing. Downgrades take effect at the end of your current billing period, which is the end of the month on a monthly plan and the end of the year on an annual plan:
- Until then, nothing changes. You keep your plan, its features and your monthly credits for the time you already paid for.
- On your billing date, the new plan starts: you are charged its price, and your monthly credits are set to its allowance.
- Your purchased and promotional credits are never affected.
| You are on | You choose | Takes effect | Until then | From then on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pro monthly | Creator monthly | Next billing date | Pro and 15,000 credits a month | Creator: $58 a month, 3,000 credits a month |
| Creator annual | Starter annual | End of your annual period | Creator and 3,000 credits a month | Starter: $90 a year, 1,000 credits a month |
| Creator annual | Creator monthly | End of your annual period | Creator annual | Creator: $58 a month |
| Pro annual | Creator monthly | End of your annual period | Pro and 15,000 credits a month | Creator: $58 a month, 3,000 credits a month |
You can upgrade again at any time before a downgrade takes effect. The upgrade replaces the scheduled downgrade.
Switching between monthly and annual billing
| Switch | Counts as | Takes effect |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly to annual | An upgrade | Immediately, as described in Upgrading |
| Annual to monthly | A change at the end of your annual period | On your annual billing date |
Annual to monthly
An annual plan is paid for the whole year, so a move to monthly billing (on the same plan, a lower plan or a higher plan) starts on your next annual billing date:
- Until then, you keep your annual plan, and your monthly credits keep arriving on the same day each month.
- On your annual billing date, the monthly plan you chose starts: you are charged its first month, and your monthly credits are set to its allowance.
- From then on, you are billed every month.
You can see the date in Settings, Billing when you choose the new plan, before you confirm. To move to a higher plan right away instead, choose its annual price: that is an upgrade, and the unused months of your current plan come off the price.
Cancelling
To cancel, choose Cancel plan under your current plan in Settings, Billing, then confirm. Only the workspace’s owner and admins can cancel. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period:
- Until then, your plan and its monthly credits stay active.
- At the end of the period, your workspace moves to the Free plan and its monthly credits end.
- Your purchased and promotional credits stay, and you can keep spending them on the Free plan.
- Your projects, exports and assets stay in your workspace.
Until the period ends, Keep my plan in Settings, Billing undoes the cancellation, and your plan simply carries on. In a team workspace, cancelling pauses every member except the owner when the Free plan starts; the confirmation says how many (see Workspaces). Manage in Stripe is for your payment method, invoices and billing details.
Renewals and failed payments
Your plan renews automatically on each billing date, and your monthly credits are set to the plan’s allowance as soon as the renewal is paid.
If a renewal payment fails, Stripe retries it, and your subscription is marked past due in Settings, Billing. While a subscription is past due, plan changes are paused and new generations are blocked until the payment goes through. Update your card through Manage in Stripe to resolve it.
Credits back for failed generations
If a generation cannot be submitted, or fails on our side (a provider error, a timeout, a crash), the credits it was charged return to your balance automatically. You do not need to contact us, and the returned credits show in your activity like any other credit.
Regenerations you ask for because you prefer a different result are charged as normal, so review the cost estimate before you approve a generation.
Seeing what you are charged
Settings, Usage shows your available balance and every change to it: each generation and what it cost, monthly allowances and refills, plan changes, purchased credits and credits returned for failed generations. The Studio also shows the cost of every generation before you approve it.
Your card payments (subscriptions, upgrades and credit packs) and their invoices are in Settings, Billing, Manage in Stripe.
Billing questions
If a charge or a credit change looks wrong, contact us through scenema.ai and we will look into it.
Questions
Do my monthly credits carry over to the next month?
No. On each billing date your monthly credits are set to your plan’s allowance. Purchased and promotional credits carry over indefinitely.
I used all my credits. What happens if I upgrade now?
You pay the full price of the new plan, because no unused value is left to credit, and your monthly credits are set to the new plan’s full allowance straight away. A new billing period starts today.
I upgraded on the first day of my period. Do I pay twice for the month?
No. Whatever you had not used of your current plan comes off the new price. If you had used none of your credits, you pay only the difference between the two plans.
Why does my billing date change when I upgrade?
An upgrade starts a new billing period on the day you upgrade, so you get a full period of the new plan, and the unused value of the old plan is credited against it.
What happens to credits I bought if I downgrade or cancel?
Nothing. Purchased credits stay with your workspace on every plan, including Free.