Credits
We use a credit-based model. You pay for the data and enrichment you actually use—not for access to a massive database where 99% of the contacts are irrelevant.
Why Credits?
Traditional media databases charge $10K/year for access to millions of journalist profiles. The problem:
- You pay for the whole database, but only use a tiny fraction
- Stale data—profiles tagged years ago that no longer reflect what journalists cover
- No way to scale down when you run fewer campaigns
We flip this model. Credits are consumed per row, per action. Run more campaigns? Use more credits. Quiet month? Use fewer. No waste.
How Credits Work
When you add a column to your workflow table, each column type has a credit cost shown directly in the UI.
- Basic columns (Text, Number, Date, Formula) — free
- AI research columns — credit cost shown per run
- Third-party data (domain metrics, traffic) — typically fractional credits
Most paid columns charge per row when the column runs. Journalist Profile is outcome-billed — see below. A row skipped by a runWhen condition is never charged.
Costs are always visible
Credit costs are displayed next to each column type when you add a column. No surprises.
Journalist Profile
Journalist Profile bills on outcome: 1 credit per row that delivers a verified email. That delivered result includes the resolved profile and contact information, the verified email, recent articles, and campaign-fit analysis.
A miss is free. If Medialyst does not find a verified, deliverable email, the row costs 0 credits — even though the profile, coverage, and analysis work has run. There is no upfront charge and nothing to refund: the credit is charged only at the moment a verified email is delivered. A row skipped before the column starts, such as when a runWhen condition is false, also costs 0 credits.
The public enrichment API bills the same way
The asynchronous POST /api/v1/journalists/enrich
API charges 1 credit for each source that returns a journalist with a
verified, deliverable email and 0 credits for a source with no
verified-email result.
Example Workflow
| Step | Action | Rows | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Add 100 journalists through one or more paths | 100 | free |
| 2 | Run Journalist Profile — 72 rows deliver a verified email | 100 | 72 |
| 3 | Filter to the top 20 by match score | — | free |
| 4 | Run an optional Use AI column (default model, 0.3 credits per row) | 20 | 6 |
| 5 | Send through a connected mailbox | 20 | free |
Total: 78 credits in this example. The 28 rows with no verified email cost nothing. The actual cost of optional AI and third-party columns is shown in the column editor.
Checking Your Balance
To see how many credits you have left and how they've been used:
- Go to Settings → Usage in the app
- You'll see your current balance, usage history by workflow, and daily consumption
Credits don't expire between campaigns inside a billing cycle. What happens at renewal depends on the kind of credit.
Plan Credits, Lifetime Credits and Top-ups
Your balance can hold three kinds of credits. The credit meter and the Billing page show each one separately.
- Plan credits come with your subscription and refresh every billing cycle. When your plan renews, unused plan credits from the last cycle expire and your full allowance is added. Annual plans grant the whole year upfront and renew yearly, so unused annual plan credits expire at the yearly renewal. A plan change adds the new plan's credits right away; all plan credits then expire at your next renewal.
- Lifetime credits are kept while subscribed or paused. They don't expire at renewal, and they are removed when a cancellation takes effect. If you had a paid subscription on October 24, 2026, the unused plan credits you held then became lifetime credits.
- Top-up credits never expire and stay available after cancellation, whenever you bought them.
Medialyst spends plan credits first, then lifetime credits, then top-ups.
Pausing keeps all of your credits. Plan credits held during a pause expire at your first paid renewal after you resume.
Cancelling removes your plan credits and lifetime credits at the end of your paid period. Top-up credits stay.
Save Credits
Want to spend less? We have a dedicated guide on using formulas, filters, and runWhen conditions to run only on the journalists who qualify.