How it works
Credits
Credits measure the AI work Obside does for you: a quick question uses little, building an agent uses more, and anything without AI is free.
Paid plans include a monthly allowance (see Allocation per plan), and you can buy more whenever you need to.
When are credits consumed?
Credits are consumed only when AI works on your behalf. These don't use credits:
- placing, changing or closing orders, in live or paper trading
- notifications, emails and webhooks sent by your agents
- prices, charts, indicators and portfolio data
- running a backtest (with one exception, see Backtests)
The figures below were observed in September 2026. They are indicative: the actual cost depends on each request.
In the chat
Each message uses credits for all the AI work needed to answer it: understanding your request, fetching data, analyzing it, and writing or editing an agent's code.
| What you do | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Ask a question or request an analysis | About 3 credits, usually between 0.5 and 9 |
| Create or edit an agent | About 20 credits, usually between 2 and 70 |
| Dictate a message by voice | About 1.6 credits per minute of audio |
| Start a live voice conversation | 5 credits per session, plus the messages exchanged |
| Import a demo portfolio from a screenshot or file | About 0.5 credit |
The exact cost of each message appears in its message details (info icon).
From Claude or ChatGPT, through AI connections, reading your data is free. Tools that put Obside's AI to work, such as building an agent, use credits the same way as in the chat.
Running agents
An agent uses credits only when its own logic calls AI. Trading itself doesn't use credits: no credits per order, trade or notification.
- Rule-based agents act on precise conditions: price levels, indicators, schedules, portfolio rules. They use no credits while they run, whatever they trade or send, unless they follow an X account (see below). Most agents work this way.
- AI-powered agents ask Obside's AI to read, research or decide while they run: for example to summarize the news, judge a post, research a company on the web or pick assets. Each of these AI steps uses credits when it runs.
| Event in a running agent | Credits used |
|---|---|
| An AI analysis or decision | Usually under 1 credit (about 0.5), more with a more capable model or web research |
| A web search within an AI analysis | About 1 credit per search |
| A news search | About 0.01 credit |
| A news or alternative-data event checked against the agent's condition | About 0.01 to 0.02 credit per event checked, whether or not it matches (most unrelated events are filtered out first, for free) |
| A post from an X account the agent follows | 0.5 credit per post, charged once even if several of your agents follow the account |
| Orders, trades, notifications, webhooks, prices and data | Free |
Posts from Telegram channels are free. Obside interrupts a single AI analysis once it has gone past about 50 credits.
What makes an AI-powered agent use more:
- How often its AI step runs. An agent that analyzes the market on every 1-minute candle uses credits every minute; one that runs once a day uses them once a day.
- The AI model. More capable models cost more per step. When an agent lets you choose its model, its settings show the relative cost as $, $$ or $$$.
- Research. Web research costs more than a news search.
- What it listens to. A listener uses credits for each event it receives, so a busy X account or news topic costs more than a quiet one.
For reference, an AI-powered agent used about 3 credits on a typical day, and less than 50 credits on 9 days out of 10.
Each AI analysis appears with its cost in the agent's Activity tab.
Backtests
Running a backtest uses no credits (backtests require a Plus, Pro or Max plan). The exception is agents that analyze the posts of an X account with AI: in a backtest, each replayed analysis uses credits like a live one, so a long backtest of such an agent can use many credits.
Weekly brief: on paid plans, the weekly portfolio brief is included at no credit cost. On the Free plan, it uses credits you bought earlier, if any remain.
Your full credit history is in Settings → Billing: each charge with its type, and a chart of your daily usage over the last 30 days.
When you run out of credits
- Rule-based agents keep running: they don't need credits.
- AI-powered agents may be paused. When an agent can't run an AI step because your balance is empty, Obside may close its positions and cancel its pending orders, then pause it. The agent shows Paused · out of credits and you receive an email.
- Listeners skip events. News, alternative-data and X-post listeners skip new events until you have credits again.
- Paused agents resume automatically once credits are available again, after your renewal or a top-up, unless you stop them. You receive an email when they resume. Resuming does not restore closed positions or canceled orders.
To avoid interruptions, keep an eye on your balance in Settings → Billing and top up before it runs out.
Renewal
Credits reset every month at your subscription's renewal date. They don't roll over from one month to the next. Yearly plans are the exception: the full yearly allowance is granted up front (see Pricing).
The Free plan includes no monthly credits.
The exception is purchased credits (top-ups): they don't reset monthly and stay available for a full year after purchase. See Buying more credits below.
Allocation per plan
Credits are included in each paid plan:
- Free: no credits included
- Plus: 500 credits / month (6,000 credits per year on the yearly plan)
- Pro: 1,000 credits / month (12,000 credits per year on the yearly plan)
- Max: 2,000 credits / month (24,000 credits per year on the yearly plan)
For the full breakdown, see Pricing.
Buying more credits
Need more than your monthly allowance? On Plus, Pro or Max, you can top up your balance at any time with a one-off purchase. Go to Settings → Billing → Buy credits. An active paid plan is required to buy new credits, and credits you have already bought remain usable if your plan ends.
Top-ups use a bonus model: you pay the amount you choose, and the larger the top-up, the more extra credits you get on top. The base rate is $0.04 per credit (25 credits per $1) before the bonus. If you pay in another currency, the same amounts apply: €20 also gives 550 credits.
| You pay | Bonus | Credits you get |
|---|---|---|
| $20 | +10% | 550 |
| $50 | +20% | 1,500 |
| $100 | +30% | 3,250 |
You can also enter a custom amount between $5 and $1,000; the same bonus tiers apply (+10% from $20, +20% from $50, +30% from $100).
Purchased credits last a full year. Unlike your monthly allowance, top-up credits don't reset: they expire one year after purchase. They're also spent after your monthly allowance, so a top-up acts as a reserve that kicks in only once your plan's credits run out.