> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.pipelime.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What consumes credits

> Analyzed contacts, found phone numbers, and the long list of things that cost nothing at all.

export const Screenshot = ({id, alt, caption, frame = 'browser', url, marks = [], lang = 'en', workspace = 'northwind-outbound'}) => {
  const src = `/images/screenshots/${lang}/${id}.png`;
  const chrome = url ? `app.pipelime.ai/${workspace}${url}` : 'app.pipelime.ai';
  return <figure className={`pl-shot pl-shot--${frame} not-prose`}>
      <div className="pl-shot__frame">
        {frame !== 'bare' && <div className="pl-shot__bar">
            <span className="pl-shot__dots">
              <span className="pl-shot__dot" />
              <span className="pl-shot__dot" />
              <span className="pl-shot__dot" />
            </span>
            <span className="pl-shot__url">{chrome}</span>
          </div>}
        <div className="pl-shot__media">
          <img src={src} alt={alt} loading="lazy" />
          {marks.map(mark => <span key={mark.n} className="pl-shot__mark" style={{
    left: `${mark.x}%`,
    top: `${mark.y}%`
  }} aria-hidden="true">
              {mark.n}
            </span>)}
        </div>
      </div>
      {caption && <figcaption className="pl-shot__caption">{caption}</figcaption>}
    </figure>;
};

Credits pay for two things: a lead that ends up with an email address we will send to, and a phone
number found for a lead. Adding a lead, importing one, taking one from a web form or the public API,
and checking an address all cost nothing by themselves, though a check that comes back verified is
one of the ways a lead reaches the first of those two.

<Screenshot id="billing/what-consumes-credits--meter" url="/dashboard" alt="The credits popover open from the header: a gold coin badge beside the number of credits remaining, a progress bar showing how much of the period's allowance is already spent, and the used and total figures underneath it" caption="The balance covers the workspace you are in, and only the two events on this page move it." marks={[{ n: 1, x: 20, y: 26 }, { n: 2, x: 50, y: 39 }]} />

The remaining balance (1) and the used-against-total bar (2) count leads and phone numbers for the
current workspace, over the current billing period.

## How it behaves

### A credit per lead, once it has an email address

Sourcing works company by company: for each one it takes a person and looks for their address. An
address our data provider already reports as verified is kept as it is; any other address is checked
before the lead is saved. The bar that check sets is lower than "verified": only a confirmed bad
answer, a dead mailbox or a disposable address, throws it away. An inconclusive answer keeps the
address, and that lead costs a credit exactly as a verified one does.

The credit is spent when the address is found, not when you contact the lead. A lead no address could
be found for ends in an error state and costs nothing. A company on its own is never charged either.
Only leads count.

### A verified address is what makes any lead chargeable

Leads you add by hand, import from a file, or receive through a web form or the public API arrive
free. They do not stay free unconditionally: whatever put the lead there, a check that comes back
verified marks it chargeable, and from then on it counts like a sourced lead.

Three things run that check: the **Verify** action on a lead's address, a workflow's verify-email
block, and outreach itself (which re-checks a recipient before sending when that address has no
verified result or its last one has gone stale), unless the lead has already sent a genuine reply,
which is proof enough that the address is live. So an imported lead can start costing a credit the
first time a campaign emails it. The send is not what you paid for; the check that ran before it is.

A campaign can also create the lead it charges you for. Reaching a tagged company with nobody left to
write to, it makes a lead out of the company's own address and that lead is chargeable like any other.

### Five credits per phone number found

A phone number costs five credits, and only when a number actually comes back. A lookup that finds
nothing costs nothing, and neither does a number already sitting on the lead from earlier enrichment.

The two ways a lookup starts are billed differently:

* A lead source with **Also find phone numbers** switched on runs one by itself, right after the
  email is found. That path bills a single number per lead: a mobile first, where there is one.
* **Get Phone** on a lead's page, and a workflow's find-phone block, bill every number that comes
  back. The button says so itself: 5 credits per phone number, only charged if found.

**Get Phone** appears only for a role that can update leads, and it stops with the subscription prompt
once your credits are used up.

### What never costs a credit

* A lead you add by hand, import, or receive through a web form or the public API, for as long as its
  address has no verified result.
* A lead whose address came back undeliverable or disposable, and a lead sourcing found no address for.
* A phone lookup that comes back empty.
* Running an email check. The check has no price; it is a verified answer that makes the lead
  chargeable.
* A company. Only leads are counted.
* Sending and replying. Campaign email counts against your **Recipients** allowance instead (one per
  lead per campaign), never against credits.

## Limits

|                                                                             |                                                         |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| A sourced lead whose address is not confirmed bad                           | 1 credit                                                |
| Any other lead, once a check verifies one of its addresses                  | 1 credit                                                |
| Each phone number a lookup finds                                            | 5 credits                                               |
| A phone lookup a lead source started                                        | One number billed per lead                              |
| A lookup from **Get Phone** or a workflow block                             | Every number found is billed                            |
| A lookup that finds nothing                                                 | Free                                                    |
| Running an email check                                                      | Free, but a verified answer makes that lead chargeable  |
| An address confirmed undeliverable or disposable, or a lead with no address | Free                                                    |
| Leads added by hand, imported, or arriving by web form or API               | Free until an address verifies                          |
| Sending and replying                                                        | Counted against Recipients, not credits                 |
| Deleting a lead                                                             | No refund: it still counts for the period it arrived in |

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="How many credits does a lead cost?" icon="search" href="/en/finding-leads/credits-per-lead">
    The same two events, from a lead source's side: what a whole search costs to run.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Get a phone number for a lead" icon="phone" href="/en/leads/get-a-phone-number">
    The Get Phone button on one lead: what it costs, when you're charged, and the three answers it
    can come back with.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Buy more credits" icon="coins" href="/en/billing/buy-more-credits">
    Add a credit package when your balance runs low.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>