How users and credits work

Learn all about users, usage levels, and credits.

Rebekah avatar
Written by Rebekah
Updated this week

Users are teammates who you can invite to join and access your workspace. Users are always free to invite, but they become chargeable when they start using Ahrefs tools and consuming credits.

Chargeable users

When a user views data in any Ahrefs tool except Site Audit and Rank Tracker, they consume credits. 1 credit is consumed whenever they open a report, apply filters, or request additional data. Learn more about what actions consume credits.

Invited users remain free as long as they do not consume more than 5 credits each month. If they consume more than 5 credits, the user becomes chargeable that month. The amount you’re charged for a user depends on their usage level.

Usage levels and charges

Usage level

Credits consumption

Charge per user

If prepaid annually

Inactive

0–5

$0

$0

Casual

6–100

$20 /mo

$200 /year

Power

Lite: 101–500

Standard: 101-600

Advanced & Enterprise: 101-750

$50 /mo

$500 /year

Note that each plan comes with 1 Power user included. So if you’re the only active user in your workspace, you're already covered for 500 (Lite plans), 600 (Standard plans), or 750 (Advanced & Enterprise plans) credits each month with your plan subscription fee.

Shared pool of additional credits

Each user spends individual credits up until the point where they’re upgraded to a Power user, then consumes all their available credits. These credits cannot be used by other users.

If additional credits are enabled, as soon as a Power user consumes more than 500 (Lite plan), 600 (Standard plan), or 750 (Advanced & Enterprise plans) credits, they start consuming additional credits from a pool shared by all workspace users.

These additional credits are not included in your subscription plan. They’re added on a pay-as-you-go basis in blocks of 500, or can be prepaid for on a yearly basis.

Usage level

Credits consumption

Charge per 500 credits in the shared pool

If prepaid annually

Power+

Lite: 501+

Standard: 601+

Advanced & Enterprise: 701+

$35 /mo

$350 /year

You can choose to enable additional pay-as-you-go credits from Account settings > Limits & usage. Unless manually enabled, additional credits are turned off by default.

Charges for usage

Users and credits are charged according to this usage cycle:

  • At the beginning of a billing month, each user starts as Inactive with their credit usage reset to 0.

  • If a user consumes more than 5 credits, they become a Casual user and a $20 charge is added.

  • If a user consumes more than 100 credits, they become a Power user and another $30 charge is added.

  • If a Power user consumes more than 500 (Lite plan), 600 (Standard plan) or 750 (Advanced & Enterprise plans) credits and you enable additional pay-as-you-go credits, they start consuming additional credits from a pool shared by all workspace users. If there are credits available in the pool, the user will be able to consume them. Otherwise, 500 credits at $35 will be added on a pay-as-you-go basis.

These charges are automatically added to your account balance.

Your payment method will be charged either on the next subscription renewal date, or when enough charges are accumulated.

Pre-paid vs pay-as-you-go charges

  • When you purchase pre-paid add-ons, they are pro-rated according to your subscription plan.

  • When your pay-as-you-go charges accumulate, an invoice is generated and sent to you. Pay-as-you-go charges can also be added to upcoming invoices – for example, when your subscription is renewed or upgraded.

Note: Consumable usages such as credits are reset every month on the date of subscription for all plans. User seat pay-as-you-go charges last until the next usage reset. Other pay-as-you-go charges last for 2 months since the date they were accrued, but remember that pre-paid limits are always used first.

How to monitor credits usage

Check your current usage level in the credits usage counter on the right side of the main header. For more details, go to Account settings > Limits & usage. From there, you'll also be able to check the credit usage of all other users in your workspace.

How to control credits usage

You can:

  • Limit credit usage by individual users

  • Disable additional pay-as-you-go credits (default setting)

  • Limit additional pay-as-you-go credits

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