Understanding Usage & Credits

How Koji's Credit System Works

Koji uses a credit-based usage model. Every meaningful interaction on the platform consumes credits from your allocation. This system ensures you only pay for quality research — thanks to the quality gate, low-quality conversations are always free.

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Credit Costs by Action

These costs apply only when the conversation passes the quality gate (scores 3 or above on a 1-5 scale). Conversations that score below 3 are completely free.

Structured questions (scale, choice, ranking, yes/no) are included in every interview at no extra credit cost. Whether your interview uses open-ended questions, structured questions, or a mix of both, the credit cost remains the same — 1 credit for text, 3 for voice.

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Ways to Buy Credits

A credit buys the same thing everywhere. Only the price per credit changes with commitment, which puts interviews as low as €1 per text conversation and €3 per voice at the annual rate. You are never tied to a subscription. There is no overage. You pay as you go, and you only ever pay for the conversations that bring insights.

For a detailed feature breakdown, see the Plan Comparison Guide.

What this means in practice

With a €100 credit pack (55 credits), you could run:

• 50 text interviews plus 1 report refresh, or
• 15 voice interviews + 10 text interviews, or
• Any mix that adds up to 55 credits

With the Starter plan (165 credits/month), you could run:

• 50 voice interviews and 2 report refreshes every month, or
• 100 text interviews + 20 voice interviews + 1 report refresh, or
• Any mix that adds up to 165 credits

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Study Limits

Credits, not study count, are the limit. Credits govern your interview volume. The free account runs one active study at a time, any subscription plan lifts that, and publishing a study is never blocked by your balance.

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When New Credits Arrive

• Monthly plans (Starter, Pro, Scale): Your plan's credits arrive on your billing date each month. For example, if you subscribed on March 10, new credits arrive on the 10th of each month.
• Annual plans: All credits arrive on day one, at exactly €1.00 per credit.
• Free account: Your 10 signup credits are a one-time grant. They do not renew monthly.
• Pack, pay-as-you-go, and bonus credits: These stay in your balance and are drawn down as you use them.

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Tracking Your Usage

You can monitor your credit usage from the Dashboard:

1. Navigate to your Dashboard
2. Your current credit balance and usage are displayed prominently
3. View a breakdown of credits consumed by study
4. Track how many billable conversations you've had this period

Usage Tracking Details

Koji tracks these metrics per billing period:

• Studies created — count of new studies
• Interviews completed — total conversations
• Billable conversations — conversations that passed the quality gate and consumed credits
• Report refreshes — report generation events

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Managing Your Budget

No Overage, No Surprise Charges

There is no overage. You pay as you go, and you only ever pay for the conversations that bring insights. When your credits run out, your study pauses until you top up. Nothing is ever charged automatically. You choose how to continue:

• Top up with pay as you go at €2.00 per credit
• Buy a credit pack (from €100 for 55 credits; bigger packs cost less per credit)
• Subscribe to a monthly plan from €199/month for the lowest ongoing rate

Tips for Efficient Credit Use

1. Use text interviews when voice isn't necessary — text costs 1 credit vs. 3 for voice
2. Let the quality gate work for you — low-quality conversations are automatically free
3. Batch your report refreshes — collect more responses before refreshing to get more value per refresh
4. Add structured questions to interviews — get quantitative data alongside qualitative depth at no extra credit cost
5. Consider an annual plan: you pay ten months' price for the year, and all credits arrive on day one at exactly €1.00 per credit, which makes text interviews €1 and voice interviews €3, the lowest rate on Koji

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What Happens When You Hit Your Limit

You'll receive notifications as you approach your credit limit so you can plan accordingly.

Further reading on the blog

• User Research: The Complete Guide to Understanding Your Users (2025) — Learn what user research is, why it matters, and how to conduct it effectively. Discover how AI tools like Koji are transforming the researc

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