> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.parley.so/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# How credits work
> What draws from your credit balance, what doesn't, and how rollover, overages, and spending controls behave.
Credits are how we charge for the work Parley's Agent does for you: chat, drafting, tables, routines, the Word and Outlook add-ins, and automated emails.
Your organization has one monthly credit balance, shared by everyone on your team. Manage it on the [Usage](https://app.parley.so/settings/usage) page in your dashboard.
Customers on legacy plans keep their existing plans and pricing. The details below apply to all self-serve and credit-based plans.
## Your shared balance
Your balance comes from two places:
* **Your plan.** Every plan contributes monthly credits, granted at the start of each billing period. A firm on Pro starts each month with 1,000 credits.
* **Rollover.** Unused credits carry into the next month and join the same balance, up to 2x your plan.
Every team member spends from that shared balance. The [Billing](https://app.parley.so/settings/billing) page shows the organization-wide total.
## What an action costs
What an action costs scales with how much work it takes. A quick question in chat draws a little. Drafting a full petition from a client's evidence draws considerably more. As a rough anchor, a complete immigration submission runs around 240 credits.
### What uses credits
| Action | Driver | What drives cost |
| -------------- | ----------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| Agent chat | Per message | Longer conversations and larger context cost more. |
| Project chat | Per message | Longer conversations and larger context cost more. |
| Word Add-In | Per request | Drafting and redlining more text costs more. |
| Outlook Add-In | Per request | Longer threads and drafts cost more. |
| Tables | Per run | More rows and more complex columns cost more. |
| Routines | Per run | Simple runs cost less, complex ones more. |
| Parley emails | Per send | Drafting and sending on your behalf. |
### What doesn't use credits
Parley charges for the work its agents do, not for the work you do yourself. Everything you do on your own in Parley is free, including:
* **Uploading and processing documents.** Bringing evidence, filings, and correspondence into Parley costs nothing, no matter the volume.
* **Self-driving case management.** Parley keeping your fields current in the background as work gets done.
* **Creating and organizing records.** Projects, Accounts, Contacts, tasks, and folders.
* **Building your data model.** New fields and the relationships that fit how your firm runs.
* **Building Skills.** Writing, editing, and organizing your firm's playbooks, letterhead, and templates.
* **Searching, viewing, and reading.** Everything already in your workspace.
* **Entering data manually.** Anything you type in yourself.
* **Adding users.**
## Rollover credits
Unused credits roll forward into the next billing period within your subscription period.
Your rollover balance is capped at 2x your monthly allotment. Anything above that expires. When you use credits, rollover is drawn down first, then the current period's included credits, then overage begins.
Rollover credits expire at the end of your subscription period. At renewal, your balance carries into the new term only if your new monthly allotment is equal to or greater than the one expiring. Downgrading at renewal clears the balance.
## Going over your allowance
Parley doesn't charge an overage penalty. Work past your allowance is billed at the list price of \$1 per credit. A subscription is what gets you a discounted rate on credits; outside of one, everyone pays list.
**On Enterprise**, additional credits are invoiced in arrears for the preceding month. An Owner can turn overages off entirely, set credit limits for the workspace or for groups of users, and add email notifications. Every Enterprise workspace gets a notification at 75% of its limit by default.
**On Pro and Growth**, you buy a credit pack when you need more, or turn on auto-recharge so the work never stops.
## Spending controls
### Overages
Overages let an organization keep running after it exhausts its monthly credits, at \$1.00 per additional credit. Enable them in the **Spending controls** section of the [Billing](https://app.parley.so/settings/billing) page.
You configure overages per organization. An organization with overages off loses its credit-powered features until the balance resets.
Use overages to absorb an occasional busy month. If your organization exceeds its balance consistently, move to a larger plan instead.
### Usage alerts
Set usage alerts in the **Spending controls** section of the [Usage](https://app.parley.so/settings/usage) page to receive an email when your organization reaches a given percentage of its balance.
## Tracking usage
Your billing settings show included credits, rollover balance, and what you've consumed this period. Owners and Admins can also see usage broken down by user on the Usage page.
### Export usage activity
Export your usage activity log to CSV for deeper analysis, reporting, or record-keeping.
Navigate to [Usage](https://app.parley.so/settings/usage) in your dashboard.
Adjust the date range in the toolbar to change the period the export covers.
Click **Export**. Parley provides your usage activity as a CSV, including the date, product, and number of messages for each event in the range.
## Getting more out of your credits
### Build Skills instead of re-explaining
Getting to a finished deliverable through conversation means re-supplying the same context every time: your standards, your format, your tone. Then you correct the draft over several versions until it's something you're comfortable with. Each of those versions costs credits.
A Skill encodes those instructions and your samples once, so the Agent starts from your requirements and produces consistent, repeatable results. Firms that invest in Skills early spend fewer credits reaching the same quality.