Credits & Billing
VocaLoop is usage-based: you buy credits up front, and every billable action draws down your balance. There are no seats and no mandatory subscription — you only pay for what you use, plus any optional add-ons you enable.
What is a credit?
A credit is VocaLoop's internal billing unit.
| Basics | Details |
|---|---|
| Exchange rate | $1 = 500 credits |
| Value of 1 credit | $0.002 |
| Expiry | Credits do not expire |
| Payment | One-time purchase — no subscription required |
Credits are added to your account instantly after purchase and are shared across all projects in your account.
Buying credits
Open Buy Credits at the bottom of the left sidebar (or Settings → Billing), pick a pack — $10, $50, $100, $500 or a custom amount at $1 = 500 credits — and pay on Stripe's checkout page. The credits are added the moment the payment is confirmed. The step-by-step walkthrough, purchase statuses and troubleshooting are in Buying Credits.
Low-balance threshold & alerts
You can set a balance threshold (in credits) for your account; until you do, the threshold is 200 credits from your first top-up (during the free trial only an empty balance alerts). When your credit balance drops below it, VocaLoop notifies you by email so sends are never interrupted by an empty balance.
Auto top-up
Instead of watching the balance yourself, you can enable auto top-up: when your balance falls below your threshold, VocaLoop charges a top-up of your chosen size to the card saved with Stripe, emails you, and adds the credits once the payment is confirmed. Without a saved card the top-up is queued in your billing history awaiting payment, and the credits are added once you pay it (a purchase left unpaid for 24 hours expires). You stay in control — you can remove the card or disable auto top-up at any time. The Card on file line in the same card shows, checked live with Stripe, the saved card and whether a mandate exists; Save a card adds one without buying, and paying for credits saves the card you pay with.
How usage is charged
Consumption is metered per event by VocaLoop — your balance, grants and usage are kept in one ledger, and every number in Settings → Billing is read from it live — with flat, predictable pricing:
| Metered event | Price | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Invocation — each time a project is invoked (an API call, a Vapi tool call, or a playground run that triggers a send) | $0.008 | 4 credits |
| Capture — each response captured (a form submission, live-call capture, or webhook-delivered response) | $0.008 | 4 credits |
Both meters are flat rates — the price is the same regardless of channel (WhatsApp, email, or SMS), project size, or how the invocation was triggered.
Worked example
Suppose in a month you invoke a project 2,000 times and capture 1,500 responses:
Invocations: 2,000 × 4 credits = 8,000 credits ($16.00)
Captures: 1,500 × 4 credits = 6,000 credits ($12.00)
Total: 14,000 credits ($28.00) — covered by a $50 pack with room to spare.
You can track exactly where credits go on the Usage page — per project, per day, and per stage.
Add-ons
Add-ons are optional monthly subscriptions billed separately from credits:
| Add-on | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Branding | White-label your forms and connect your own WhatsApp business account — your name, your logo, your sender identity | $300 / month |
| Custom templates | Author your own SMS, email, and WhatsApp message templates instead of the stock ones | Coming soon |
FAQ
What happens if my balance hits zero? Sends and captures pause until you top up. Set a threshold alert or enable auto top-up to avoid interruptions.
Do unused credits roll over? Yes — purchased credits stay in your account for one year from the purchase date and carry over month to month.
Are failed sends charged? An invocation is metered when the project is invoked; a capture is only metered when a response actually comes back.
Can I get a refund on credits? Credit purchases are one-time and non-refundable; the credits stay usable for one year from the purchase date.