Credits

Credits control compute usage inside a workspace. This page explains where credits live, when they are charged, how costs are calculated, and how refunds and expiration work.

Basic concepts

Workspace balance

Credits belong to a workspace, not to an individual user account. Everyone working in the same workspace spends from the same balance, subject to their role permissions.

Switching workspaces changes the balance used for new jobs.

Credit grants

Credits enter a workspace through plan allowances, promotional grants, or refunds. New free workspaces receive 100 promotional credits when the account is created.

Paid plans grant credits for the active billing period. Annual plans grant the annual amount up front for the yearly term.

Credit charges

Paid jobs require enough credits before they start. ProteinIQ deducts credits when the job is created, not when it completes.

If a tool shows 0 credits, that run is free.

Included credits

The public pricing page currently uses these plan allowances:

Some older workspaces may use earlier plan names or per-seat plans. The Billing page is the source of truth for the active workspace's current plan and credit schedule.

Cost calculation

Each tool defines its credit model. The submitted input and selected settings determine the final cost.

Common cost models include:

• Flat cost: One fixed cost for the run
• Per input item: Cost scales by sequence, molecule, structure, or record count
• Per structure or external ID: Cost scales by fetched or uploaded structures
• Tool-specific calculator: Cost depends on tool settings or input characteristics
• Metered runtime: Credits are reserved for runtime and unused reserved credits can be returned

The credit badge on a tool shows the estimated cost before submission. For paid jobs, the backend validates the workspace balance again before creating the job.

Job limits and credits

Credits and job limits are separate controls.

• Credits: Limit how much paid compute the workspace can spend
• Daily job limit: Free workspaces can submit up to 3 jobs per day.
• Concurrent job limit: Plans control how many jobs can run or wait at the same time

Paid plans remove the free daily submission cap, but paid jobs still require enough credits.

Expiration and renewal

Credits expire based on how they were granted.

• Monthly plan credits: Expire at the end of the monthly billing period
• Annual plan credits: Expire at the end of the annual billing period
• Free workspace credits: The initial 100 promotional credits expire one year after issuance
• Refunded credits: Restore workspace balance after eligible failed or timed-out jobs

Subscription credits do not roll over automatically into the next billing cycle.

Refunds

If a job ends in Failed or Timeout, ProteinIQ records a credit refund automatically. Cancelled jobs can also be refunded when cancellation happens before launch.

ProteinIQ records refunds in the usage ledger, so you can trace both the original charge and the refund entry.

Workflow runs can manage credits at the workflow level, so individual workflow jobs may not follow the same per-job refund path.

Credit refunds and subscription-fee refunds are different systems. Failed-job refunds return credits to the workspace balance. They do not refund a card charge or subscription fee.

Subscription-fee refunds

Subscription fees are non-refundable once paid credits from that subscription have been consumed.

First-time subscribers can request a full subscription-fee refund only when all of these are true:

• First subscription: The request is for the first paid ProteinIQ subscription or credit purchase
• No paid usage: 0 paid credits from that purchase have been consumed
• Written request: The request is sent to support@proteiniq.io within 7 days of the initial purchase

Renewals, later subscriptions, completed jobs, user error, dissatisfaction with scientific or algorithmic results, platform outages, or a change of mind after using the service are not covered by this first-time refund exception, except where required by law or expressly approved by ProteinIQ.

Checking usage

Use Settings > Usage to review the current balance and job-level usage history. You can select a date range, inspect the jobs that used credits, and download the visible usage history as CSV.

Use Settings > Billing to review plan credits, subscription state, payment method, and invoice history when your role has billing access.