Databox's AI features, including Genie, routines, skills, and the MCP server, rely on AI models to interpret your data, generate insights, and take action on your behalf, and the compute behind those requests varies with how complex each one is. Databox measures that usage with AI credits, so every account gets predictable access to its AI features without unexpectedly running out mid-month.
Credits represent the amount of AI processing required to complete a request — simpler tasks use fewer credits, while more complex requests use more. Actions like generating insights, building artifacts or Databoards, and asking questions about your data all draw from a single monthly credit pool.
- Credits are shared across the account — all users draw from the same pool, so usage by one person affects what's available to the rest of the team.
- Unused credits do not roll over — any credits remaining at the end of a billing cycle expire and are not carried into the next one.
- Credit usage is always visible — the number of credits used for each response or action is shown, so you can track consumption as you go.
- Responses always finish — if credits run out mid-response, Genie completes the current message before stopping.
The table below shows typical credit consumption by action. Avg and median reflect the most common usage per action. Typical span covers the middle 50% of requests (P25–P75), and wider span reflects nearly the full range (P10–P98), including unusually large or small requests.
| Operation | Avg (trimmed) | Median | Typical span | Wider span | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Help / Search | 1.3 cr | 1.2 cr | 0.8–2.0 cr | 0.6–3.3 cr | Very low |
| Metric visualization | 2.6 cr | 2.5 cr | 1.8–3.4 cr | 1.5–5.3 cr | Low |
| Data analysis · light | 4.1 cr | 3.1 cr | 1.9–4.9 cr | 1.3–8.5 cr | Medium |
| Create custom metric | 4.6 cr | 3.4 cr | 2.5–7.6 cr | 1.8–12.4 cr | Medium |
| Data analysis · deep | 12.6 cr | 11.4 cr | 7.3–14.6 cr | 4.7–18.4 cr | High |
| Create Databoard | 10.7 cr | 10.6 cr | 7.0–15.8 cr | 4.5–27.0 cr | High |
Every account receives a set number of credits based on its subscription plan. Agency accounts share one credit pool across the parent account and all managed clients, so usage from any client space draws from the same allowance.
This amount resets automatically on the account's billing anchor date each month. Admins can purchase additional credits as a monthly top-up when an account is nearing its limit. See Top up your AI credits for setup steps.
FAQ
Do AI Summary visualizations use AI credits?
No. AI Summary visualizations don't use AI credits, whether they update automatically or you refresh them manually.
What is a billing anchor date?
The billing anchor date is the recurring monthly date tied to your subscription's billing cycle. Both the included credit allowance and any active top-up renew on this date.
