Billing Model

1. Overview

The ACT 3 AI platform uses a flexible, usage-based billing system powered by an internal unit called a Credit. It is designed for creators of all sizes — from individuals to large studios — and balances predictability, scalability, and fairness.

The system supports:

• Subscription-based access
• Credit-based metering
• Role-based access control
• Rollover banking for unused credits
• Organizational billing and shared pools

2. Core Model: Credits

Credits represent computational cost and resource usage on the platform.

Key Concepts:

• 1 credit ≈ $0.001 USD in infrastructure cost
• Credits are consumed based on:

 - GPU/CPU usage  
 - Storage usage  
 - AI model licensing  
 - Optional services (e.g. TTS, upscale, MoCap)  

Typical Usage Examples:

• Generating a full 2-hour film script and breakdown: ~8,000 credits
• Higher tiers get bulk discounts and extended rollover caps

3. Subscription Plans

| Plan | Price (Monthly) | Credits | Storage | Notes | |-------------|------------------|---------------|---------|----------------------------------| | Starter | $0 / $8† | 800 | 10 GB | Limited trial for ≤ 6 months | | Creator | $35 | 33,000 | 100 GB | Rollover cap: 66,000 credits | | Studio | $99 | 120,000 | 500 GB | Priority queue access | | Enterprise | Custom | Pooled credits| Custom | SSO, invoicing, SLAs available |

† Trial access deactivates after 6 months unless upgraded. † Enterprise can include private 3D sets, 4K rendering, and collaboration scaling.

4. Credit Rollover Bank

• Unused monthly credits roll over to a personal credit bank
• Each plan has a maximum cap (e.g. Creator → 66,000)
• Credits expire after six billing cycles
• Monthly credits are consumed first; banked credits are used next

5. Billing Workflow

5.1 Plan & Usage View

• Real-time credit meters (Monthly + Bank)
• Upgrade/Downgrade options
• Payment method management (card/VAT)
• PDF invoices download

5.2 Pre-Spend Confirmation

• “Calculate” button shows cost before running AI tasks
• Example quality tiers:

 - Q1 = 80 credits  
 - Q2 = 200 credits  
 - Q3 = 400 credits  

5.3 Out-of-Credit Actions

If credit balance is insufficient, the user sees upgrade options:

• Upgrade to next plan
• Buy one-time credit pack (+15% surcharge)
• Cancel and return

6. Organization Billing Structure

Key Concepts:

• Every user account belongs to at least one Organization
• Each Org has:

 - Credit pool  
 - Payment method  
 - Storage bucket  
 - Member access controls  

Roles & Permissions:

• Owner – Full access to billing, members, transfers
• Billing – Can update payment methods only
• Creator – Can run jobs using credits
• Viewer – Read-only access

Invitation Methods:

• Email-based invites
• LinkedIn SSO required for free-tier accounts
• Shared credit toggle available per member role

7. Storage Management

• Each plan includes fixed S3 video storage
• Overages trigger upgrade prompts
• Tools include:

 - Bulk media delete (project/org level)  
 - Auto-purge on downgrade to archive  

• Storage is billed per organization, not per project

8. Archive Plan

Users can downgrade to a free Archive tier:

• Keeps scripts and textual assets
• Deletes media assets after 30 days
• Generation disabled unless re-upgraded
• Re-download of text assets allowed during archive state

9. Technical Summary

Architecture Components:

• Credit Ledger – Atomic debit/credit ops (PostgreSQL + Redis)
• Plan Catalog – Pricing sync (Stripe API)
• Usage Meter – Job metrics → Billing ledger
• Notification System – Credit threshold alerts
• Billing Gateway – Stripe webhook, invoicing, receipts

10. Planned Enhancements

• Consolidated billing across sub-organizations
• Marketplace credit splits (for 3rd-party models)
• Regional VAT & tax calculation
• Education grants with credit bundles
• Self-hosting architecture (future)

11. Glossary

• Credit: Internal currency based on compute/storage cost
• Rollover Bank: Temporary savings pool for unused credits
• Archive Plan: Free tier preserving non-video content post-cancellation
• Organization: Shared team space for billing, projects, and roles

See Also

• Product_Overview
• Target_Customers
• AI_Task_Assembly
• Rendering_System