Using AI chat
AI credits & usage
AI features run on a credit balance that you top up with credit packs, on any plan — no subscription required.
How credits work
Every AI action — generating a form, analyzing submissions, translating content — spends credits based on the amount of text processed. Longer conversations and more complex forms cost more. The sidebar shows roughly how many chats you have left, the AI chat panel shows your exact credit balance, and the AI Usage page shows it with the credit packs you can buy.
Translating an individual submission also spends AI credits. formbase translates only eligible prose answers and caches the result for that target language, so switching between original and translated views does not spend credits again.
Credits come only from the packs you buy, and they work the same on every plan. No plan includes credits: Free, Pro, and Business all top up the same way. See Credit packages below.
How pricing is calculated
formbase runs AI features on AWS Bedrock models. Credit costs are based on the model provider’s token pricing — see AWS Bedrock pricing — with a 2× markup over the provider rate to cover infrastructure, payment processing, and ongoing improvements. You pay for what you use — shorter conversations cost less.
formbase also caches the context the AI re-reads on every step — your form structure and the tools the AI can use. Cached context is billed at a tenth of the normal rate, so multi-step tasks and follow-up messages in the same chat cost far less than the raw amount of text suggests. This is automatic — you do not need to do anything.
Cost also depends on the model you pick for the conversation. Claude Haiku 4.5 (the default) is the most economical and the right choice for building forms. Claude Sonnet 4.5 is more capable but costs exactly three times as much per token, so reach for it on analytics and complex thinking.
Typical costs
Credits are shown as whole numbers. As a reference, 100 credits = $1 of AI usage.
| Action | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| Quick question | ~1 credit |
| Typical conversation | ~5 credits |
| Complex multi-step task | ~25 credits |
These are guides, not prices: what a conversation actually costs depends on its length and the number of tools AI uses. The “chats left” figure in the sidebar assumes a typical chat at ~5 credits.
Credit packages
Credits are one-time purchases — no recurring charge. Buy what you need, and the balance stays until you use it.
| Package | Credits | ~Conversations |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | 490 | ~98 |
| Pro | 1,990 | ~398 |
| Max | 4,990 | ~998 |
Conversation estimates are based on a typical chat costing ~5 credits. Simple prompts stretch further; complex multi-step tasks use more.
Each package grants a fixed number of credits. At checkout you pay a set price in your local currency — USD, EUR, NOK, or TRY — and the credit amount you receive is the same in every currency. Prices exclude tax.
Pricing may change
Credit costs are tied to underlying model provider pricing. If provider rates change, your per-conversation cost may shift. Purchased credits never expire and keep their value (100 credits = $1 of AI usage).
Credits and your plan
Your plan does not change how credits work. Every plan buys the same packs at the same prices, and no plan adds credits on renewal. Plans differ in AI features: AI Skills needs Pro or Business, and on Business the workspace owner can share their credits with members (see Shared workspace credits).
Adding funds
- 1
Open AI Usage
Click the credits row in the sidebar to open the AI Usage page.
- 2
Pick a package
Choose Starter, Pro, or Max.
- 3
Complete checkout
formbase takes you to a secure checkout page. Your balance updates immediately after payment.
On a shared workspace pool?
If your workspace uses shared Business credits, only the workspace owner can top up the pool. Purchases you make go to your personal balance, not the pool.
Reading your balance
The credits row in the sidebar summarizes the state of your balance:
~N chats left — a rough estimate at ~5 credits per chat
Running low — 100 credits or fewer
No credits — the balance is empty
The AI chat panel shows your exact balance on the bar above the message box — “N credits remaining”. The ring beside it turns red once you fall to 10 credits or fewer. At 0 credits, AI chat is unavailable until you add funds.
The AI Usage page shows the same balance in a ring, with an estimate of how many chats it covers.
Members of a Business workspace with shared credits turned on see “N of [owner]’s shared credits left” in the AI chat instead of their own balance. The AI Usage page still shows their personal balance.
Who pays for AI?
By default, AI credits are per-user, not per-workspace. Each person has their own balance, buys their own credits, and their usage is independent — even in a shared workspace.
Shared workspace credits (Business)
On a Business plan, the workspace owner can turn on Share my AI credits with members under AI credits in Workspace Settings. Sharing is off by default and set per workspace. With sharing on, members’ AI usage in that workspace bills the owner’s balance instead of their own — members see “N of [owner]’s shared credits left” in the AI chat, and their personal balances stay untouched.
If the pool runs out, members’ AI use in that workspace is blocked until the owner adds credits — members’ own credits are never used as a fallback. Only the owner can top up the pool. If the owner’s plan drops below Business, sharing stops automatically and everyone bills their own balance again.
MCP does not use credits
Actions performed through the MCP server are direct API operations. They do not spend your formbase AI credits. You pay for the AI assistant (Claude, Cursor, and so on) through that service’s own pricing.