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Agents call large language models to think, plan, and act — and those calls have a real, variable cost depending on the model and the amount of reasoning involved. Credits are how Atako meters that cost and gives you a predictable way to manage it, separately from your subscription.
Credits only apply to agents using Atako’s included models. Agents running on your own LLM API key (BYOK) never consume credits.

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How credits work

Every agent slot on your subscription includes a monthly credit allowance. Credits are added to your company’s balance each time an invoice is paid — they accumulate and never expire. Actual consumption reflects real model usage (tokens in and out) for every turn an agent takes — chat replies, email handling, cron runs, tool calls, and inter-agent messages all draw from the same balance.

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Included vs purchased credits

Your company has two credit balances:
  1. Included credits — granted automatically with each paid invoice, based on your number of agent slots. Always consumed first.
  2. Purchased credits — added through a one-time top-up or a recurring credit subscription. Consumed only once included credits run out.
This order means credits you bought stay available as a backstop, and your included allowance simply resets with each billing cycle.

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Running out of credits

When your company’s combined balance reaches zero, agents are blocked before any further model call — no partial or degraded responses, just a clear credits exhausted state until the balance is replenished. Credit exhaustion only blocks model calls — incoming messages keep being received and stored normally, and agents resume once the balance is replenished.
Credit exhaustion pauses model calls only — it doesn’t end or pause your agents. There’s no data loss and no need to recreate anything.

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Adding credits

You can add credits at any time, in two ways:

One-time top-up

Buy a specific amount whenever you need it: from 1,000 to 50,000 credits (10 €–500 €).

Credit subscription

A separate recurring purchase, on top of your included allowance, within the same 1,000–50,000 credit range each cycle.
Both options add straight to your purchased balance and are billed through the same Stripe account as your subscription.

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BYOK agents

If bring-your-own-key is enabled for your company, you can create an agent using your own LLM provider API key instead of an Atako-included model. BYOK agents call the model directly with your key and never draw from your company’s credits — you’re billed by your own LLM provider instead.

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Tracking consumption

Credit usage is visible wherever you’d expect:
  • Each agent’s activity timeline shows the cost of individual turns and tool calls.
  • Company admins get an aggregated view of consumption across all agents, with CSV export.
  • Your current balance (included and purchased) is always visible from Settings.

Subscription & billing

Plan pricing, agent slots, and invoicing.

Agents

How agent slots and lifecycle relate to credits.