# Credits and overage > What happens when the month's AI allowance runs out, how prepaid credit packs work, and how turning on overage lets runs draw them down instead of stopping. Jump to a section on the website - [Wait](https://www.inkwell.software/help/account/credits-and-overage#section-wait) - [Add a credit pack](https://www.inkwell.software/help/account/credits-and-overage#section-add-a-credit-pack) - [Turn on overage](https://www.inkwell.software/help/account/credits-and-overage#section-turn-on-overage) - [Or use your own key](https://www.inkwell.software/help/account/credits-and-overage#section-or-use-your-own-key) Each plan includes a monthly AI allowance. When you reach it — a coverage read on a full script, a week of Agent Mode — there are three ways forward. ## Wait The allowance resets on the first of the month. Skills that would exceed it stop at the Run button and say when the reset is. ## Add a credit pack Credits are a one-off, prepaid amount of AI use that sits on top of the allowance. They do not expire at the month end, and they are spent once you have turned on overage below. To buy them, open Settings → Plan & usage and go to **Additional AI usage**. Under **Buy credits**, choose a pack or **Custom amount**, then press the Buy button, which names the amount you chose. Checkout opens, and the balance at the top of the section updates once you have paid. _Prepaid packs sit on top of this month's allowance. Credits stay until you spend them._ ## Turn on overage Credits and overage are two halves of one prepaid flow. **Use credits when my plan's allowance runs out** sits on the credit balance in Additional AI usage, and lets runs keep going past the allowance by drawing that balance down. It is off by default, and the line beneath it says whether the balance is being used right now. There is no month-end bill and no separate cap to set: the credits you have bought are the ceiling. When the balance runs low, new runs pause until you add more — the same stop at the Run button as the allowance. _Overage spends the pack instead of stopping the run. Off until you turn it on._ ## Or use your own key With an Anthropic or OpenAI key of your own, AI use is billed by the provider to you and never touches the allowance. See [Bring your own key](https://www.inkwell.software/help/ai/bring-your-own-key). > **Note: Seeing where you are** > > Settings → Plan & usage shows this period's use against the allowance, the credit balance, whether overage is on, recent credit activity, and the billing portal for invoices and payment method. ## What next - [Plans and quotas](https://www.inkwell.software/help/account/plans-and-quotas): Every plan's limits — projects, draft lines, save points, skill runs, completions, collaborators, share links, storage, and export formats. - [Bring your own API key](https://www.inkwell.software/help/ai/bring-your-own-key): Use your own Anthropic or OpenAI key instead of Inkwell's hosted AI, pick the model, and see how a key changes what counts against your plan. - [Team credit pools](https://www.inkwell.software/help/account/team-credit-pools): How a Team workspace's shared pool of prepaid credits covers a member's runs once their own allowance is used, how the owner funds it and sets per-member limits, and what a member sees when it runs low. --- Canonical page: