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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.patchline.ai/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

This page goes deeper than Pricing & plans — it covers exactly what an AI credit is, how each AI action consumes credits, and how to budget your monthly allocation across artists and releases. If you just want the price list, see Pricing & plans.

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What an AI credit is

An AI credit is Patchline’s unit of metered AI consumption. Every AI action — Aria chat, sonic analysis, image generation, MCP tool call — debits credits from your monthly pool. Credits reset on the first of each calendar month (monthly plans) or the first of each month after annual renewal (annual plans). They do not roll over.

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Credit cost per action

ActionCostNotes
Aria chat conversation1 creditPer conversation, not per message — a multi-message chat = 1 credit total
Sonic analysis5 credits / trackRuns once per track on import / upload; re-analysis also = 5
Image generation5 credits / imageCover art, banners, social cards
Video generation20 credits / videoShort-form / canvas videos
AI campaign planner10 credits / planEach new release plan generation
Similar artist discovery2 credits / searchA&R Scout queries
MCP tool call (read)0–1 creditMost read tools are 0 — they hit cache. get_song_intelligence and similar enrichment tools are 1.
MCP tool call (write / enrichment)1–5 creditsadd_artist (artist-intelligence refresh) = 2; create_smart_link = 1; generate_pitch = 2
Royalty PDF parse5 credits / statementOne per uploaded PDF, regardless of size
Background data refresh0 creditsRuns server-side, not metered
A few notes:
  • Aria chat is one conversation = 1 credit. If you have a 20-message back-and-forth with Aria, that’s still 1 credit — until you start a new conversation.
  • Cached reads are free. Asking Aria “what’s the BPM of my track” when sonic analysis has already run = 0 credits (cached lookup) + 1 credit (the chat conversation). Net: 1 credit.
  • Stem separation (when surfaced in UI) is metered as a multi-step audio operation — typically 10–15 credits per track.

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Monthly allocation by tier

TierAI credits / month
100
1,000
5,000
20,000
Unlimited

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How much will I use?

Realistic monthly profiles by user type:

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Curious user (Free tier)

ActionTimes/monthCost
Aria chats2020
Sonic analysis2 tracks10
Total30 credits of 100

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Solo artist (Starter)

ActionTimes/monthCost
Aria chats6060
Sonic analysis5 tracks25
Image generation8 covers40
Campaign planner2 plans20
Similar artist searches510
Royalty parses2 statements10
Total165 credits of 1,000

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Manager / DIY label (Pro)

ActionTimes/monthCost
Aria chats200200
Sonic analysis30 tracks150
Image generation20100
Video generation5100
Campaign planner10 plans100
Similar artist searches3060
MCP tool calls (Cursor / Claude)200200
Royalty parses5 statements25
Total935 credits of 5,000

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Label (Scale)

ActionTimes/monthCost
Aria chats600600
Sonic analysis80 tracks400
Image generation50250
Video generation15300
Campaign planner30 plans300
Similar artist searches100200
MCP tool calls800800
Royalty parses20 statements100
Total2,950 credits of 20,000
If you’re consistently above 80% of your tier’s allocation, upgrading is almost always cheaper than running out — see When to upgrade.

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What happens when you run out

If you exhaust your monthly pool:
  • Aria chat returns a friendly “you’ve used all your AI credits this month — upgrade or wait until [next reset date].”
  • Sonic analysis queues the track but doesn’t run — it’ll process automatically when credits reset.
  • MCP tool calls return 429 Too Many Requests with an upgrade-path message.
  • Image / video generation is rejected at the form.
  • Existing data is unaffected. Your catalog, projects, storefront all keep working — you just can’t trigger new AI actions.
Credits reset at midnight UTC on the first of the month.

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When to upgrade

Specific thresholds:
If you’re using…Consider upgrading from / to
> 80% of Free’s 100 creditsFree → Starter ($9.99)
> 80% of Starter’s 1,000Starter → Pro ($29)
> 80% of Pro’s 5,000Pro → Scale ($99)
> 80% of Scale’s 20,000Scale → Enterprise (custom)
The 0% storefront fee (Starter+) and playlist matching (Pro+) are often standalone reasons to upgrade earlier than the credit math alone suggests. See Pricing & plans.

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Checking your usage

Settings → Billing → AI credit usage panel shows:
  • Credits used this period
  • Credits remaining
  • Reset date
  • Breakdown by action type (Aria / sonic / image / video / MCP / other)
You can also ask Aria directly: 
"How many AI credits have I used this month?"
"How many do I have left?"
"Show me my credit consumption breakdown."

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How credits map to dollars

Roughly, per tier:
Tier$/monthCredits/month$/1,000 credits
Free$0100$0 (but capped)
Starter$9.991,000$9.99
Pro$295,000$5.80
Scale$9920,000$4.95
Enterprise$249+Unlimitedn/a (volume)
Higher tiers get more credits per dollar — the volume discount.

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Frequently asked

No. They reset on the 1st of each calendar month (monthly plans) or on the first of each month after annual renewal (annual plans).
Not in v1 — credit top-ups aren’t surfaced as a self-serve option. Enterprise customers can negotiate volume credit packs. For everyone else, upgrade to the next tier (almost always cheaper than add-on packs would be).
Almost. Most read tools are 0 credits (cached). Tools that fetch fresh provider-backed data or run analysis are 1–5 credits. The Aria chat that wraps a tool call adds 1 credit on top, but only for the chat itself — not per tool call within it.
Yes — re-analysis is 5 credits each time. The features may have changed as analysis models improve, so re-running is metered as a full analysis, not a cache hit.
No. Server-side background work is included in the tier — not metered against your credit pool. Only AI actions you trigger are metered.
Yes. Free is 100 credits / month, no exceptions. There’s no way to buy more on Free without adding a payment method and upgrading to a paid tier.
No — trial credits don’t refund. They were free. If you cancel during the trial, no charge is made and your subscription ends at the trial cutoff.