Explaining our credit model, how we price subscriptions, and why non-rollover lets us offer deeper discounts than competitors.
Every plan includes a monthly credit allowance, and unused credit expires at the end of the billing period. That is a deliberate choice, and it is why the discounts on those plans are deeper than what you can get elsewhere.
Where the discount comes from
We commit capacity to upstream vendors ahead of time. Committed capacity is much cheaper than on-demand, but the commitment is per month and does not roll forward. If customer credit rolled over, our commitment would have to cover a liability that could be drawn down at any moment, and we would have to price for the worst month rather than the average one.
Non-rollover is what funds the 20-28% subscription discount. A rollover plan at the same margin would price roughly 11% higher.
What to do if you underuse
- Downgrade a tier — the dashboard shows a suggested plan based on your trailing three months
- Move batch jobs to the end of the cycle so leftover credit absorbs them
- Turn off caching on low-value routes late in the month; cached calls do not consume credit
Overage is billed at your tier's discounted rate, not list. There is no penalty for exceeding the allowance, so the cheapest plan is usually the one slightly below your typical month rather than above it.