Processing Credits

Usage in Invoke is measured by the “processing credits” in your account. The credit model is a flexible system that enables us to support a wider range of models.

What are processing credits?

Credits are the unit we use to measure compute usage across all models in the platform.

• 1 credit = 1 second of compute time on the models we host ourselves.
• For API-based models, a fixed credit amount will be charged per request (exact amount varies by model / use case).

If your plan previously included 5 hours of processing time per month, that now becomes:

5 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds = 18,000 credits

When are Processing Credits used?

Processing credits are calculated based on the actual compute required to generate images and run models using our resources.  

This includes any task where our system is actively creating / processing data or requesting an external API, such as:  

• Generating images based on your input.
• Running Workflows that generate images.
• Running model training jobs.

Processing credits are not being charged for tasks that do not require substantial computational resources. These include:

• Designing, editing, or setting up workflows.
• Uploading or managing files and assets.
• Planning or configuring settings.
• Browsing through the application or idle time within the studio space.

Our goal is to ensure that you are only billed for the resources you actually use for generating outputs, ensuring efficient and cost-effective usage of compute.

Quick-Reference: Typical Credit Usage

*Actual usage can vary slightly based on image size, inference steps, and advanced settings. The figures above reflect the most common settings our users choose.

Which models will use API-based credits?

We’re actively working on support for new models, including:

• Imagen 3 – a high-fidelity image generation model
• ChatGPT 4o – OpenAI’s advanced multimodal model for creative or text+image workflows

As these become available, we’ll share more details about how they work and how many credits they require per use. They’ll be fully integrated into the Invoke interface—no need to manage separate tools or accounts.

Why did we switch from hours to credits?

We are expanding the platform to include new models that offer enhanced capabilities, and some of those models are accessed differently under the hood.

Some models in Invoke run on our own infrastructure. That means we can track how long each generation takes and deduct usage accordingly—1 second = 1 credit.

However, some models are accessed via API, which simply means we’re securely sending your request to another service and receiving the result back. These external providers don’t charge by the second—they charge per request. Because of this, time-based metering isn’t possible for those models.

A credit system lets us support both:

Has anything changed in how I use the Invoke application?

No—everything works the same as it did prior to this change. You’ll continue to create and edit images using the same workflows. You’ll just see credits listed instead of processing hours, and in the future, you may see new models added to the model selector with clearly labeled credit costs per use.

How do hours convert to credits?

The credit amounts assigned to each plan are directly equivalent to the compute time previously included.

Still have questions?

Feel free to contact support or check the release notes for updates as we roll out new models.