User Guide
Everything you need to build, deploy, and manage your AI assistants — step by step.
Usage & Billing
A plain-English guide to what your plan includes, how AI replies are counted, and what happens if you go past your monthly allowance.
What you pay for
Your monthly plan fee covers the ChatNexus platform (agents, knowledge base, widget, scheduling, and so on) plus a set amount of AI chatting each month.
Think of it like a mobile phone plan: the plan has a monthly fee, and it includes a certain amount of usage. If you stay inside that amount, you only pay the plan fee. If you use more, you can allow a small extra charge — or stop the bot so you never get a surprise bill.
Messages and credits (the two counters)
ChatNexus tracks two simple monthly limits:
- Messages — how many AI replies your bot can send this month. Each time the bot answers a visitor, that counts as one message.
- Credits — the “fuel” used by each AI reply. Simpler AI models use fewer credits per reply. More powerful (“premium”) models use more.
Monthly allowances by plan:
| Plan | Plan fee | Messages / month | Credits / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 300 | 300 |
| Starter | $29 | 1,000 | 3,000 |
| Pro | $79 | 5,000 | 15,000 |
| Enterprise | $199 | 25,000 | 100,000 |
Counters reset each calendar month. Free accounts also have a time-limited access window from signup — see Billing for details.
What happens when you use up your monthly allowance?
On the Free plan, when messages or credits run out, the bot stops answering until next month (or until you upgrade).
On Starter, Pro, and Enterprise, you choose what happens next:
- Stop at the included amount (safest) — turn off “extra AI usage” in Settings. The bot stops when credits run out. You only pay your plan fee.
- Allow a little extra usage — keep extra AI usage on, and set a monthly spending limit (for example $25 on Starter, $100 on Pro, $500 on Enterprise by default). Extra replies after your included credits are added to your next bill, but never above that limit. When the limit is reached, the bot stops.
How much does extra usage cost?
Extra usage is charged per credit after your included monthly credits are gone. Standard models cost a little less than premium models on some plans:
| Plan | Standard model (extra) | Premium model (extra) | Default spending limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $0.02 per credit | $0.03 per credit | $25 / month |
| Pro | $0.02 per credit | $0.02 per credit | $100 / month |
| Enterprise | $0.01 per credit | $0.02 per credit | $500 / month |
Example: On Pro, after included credits are used up, a reply that costs 3 credits at $0.02 each adds about $0.06 toward your spending limit. A premium reply that costs 25 credits adds about $0.50.
Extra AI charges appear on your normal ChatNexus invoice (processed by Stripe). You can review invoices from Billing → Manage Subscription.
Choosing an AI model (keep costs predictable)
For most FAQ, booking, and “answer from my website” bots, a standard model is enough and uses fewer credits. Premium models help with harder reasoning tasks; for many knowledge-base answers they do not improve quality enough to justify the higher credit cost.
You pick the model when creating or editing an agent. Each option shows roughly how many credits it uses per reply.
Where to check and control usage
- Settings — see messages and credits used this month, turn extra AI usage on/off, and set your monthly spending limit.
- Billing — change plan, open the Stripe customer portal for invoices and payment methods.
- Dashboard (paid plans) — quick view of this month’s message and credit use.
If a payment for extra usage fails, ChatNexus pauses further extra usage until billing is fixed. Included monthly credits (if any remain) can still be used.