Credits, Pro, and usage
How Pro and AI credits differ, what each plan costs, and the three ways to pay for model usage.
Two separate things, and most confusion here comes from mixing them up:
- Pro unlocks the app's paid features.
- Credits pay for AI usage, and only when you use 9xchat's own models.
If you bring your own API key or run a model locally, you pay your provider or nothing at all, and 9xchat credits never enter into it.
What it costs
| Price | Includes | |
|---|---|---|
| Pro — monthly | $5 / month | Paid features |
| Pro — yearly | $25 / year | Paid features |
| Pro — lifetime | $50 once | Paid features, no renewal |
| Pro + AI — monthly | $15 / month | Pro, plus $12 of AI credits |
| Pro + AI — yearly | $45 / year | Pro, plus $30 of AI credits |
| Credits | Top up in the available amounts | AI usage only |
New accounts start with $1 in welcome credits, so you can try the workspace before deciding how you want to pay for usage.
Credits do not expire. Whatever you have stays until you spend it.
Pro time is purchased as a top-up and does not renew automatically.
Pricing carries the current terms and is the authority if anything here disagrees with it.
What Pro unlocks
Credits pay for model usage. Pro is separate, and unlocks features in the app itself.
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Devices per UID | 1 | 3 |
| Cloud models, and local models via Ollama | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own API key | Yes | Yes |
| Notes, global search, token stats | Yes | Yes |
| Prompts library, slash commands | Yes | Yes |
| YouTube transcript, screen capture, read out loud | Yes | Yes |
| Export as text, PDF, Markdown, HTML, JSON, image | Yes | Yes |
| Appearance and language | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple tabs | — | Yes |
| Floating window, mini chat, quick assistant | — | Yes |
| Agentic tools | — | Yes |
| Live web search | — | Yes |
| Image playground | — | Yes |
| Microphone input | — | Yes |
| Memory system, and importing memory | — | Yes |
| Top up without subscribing | — | Yes |
| Priority support | — | Yes |
A free account is a complete chat client: every model, your own keys, local models, notes, search, and export. Pro adds the workspace around it — memory, tools, web search, images, voice, and the always-on windows.
The three ways to reach a model
| Who bills you | What leaves your machine | |
|---|---|---|
| 9xchat credits | 123sudo, from your credit balance | Your request goes to the model provider through 9xchat |
| Your own API key | Your provider, directly | Your request goes to that provider |
| A local model | Nobody | Nothing — the model runs on your machine |
Set these up under Library → Models. You can mix them: a local model for anything sensitive, a cloud model when you want the strongest answer.
What uses credits
Credits are spent per request, against the price of the model you chose, so a small model costs a fraction of a large one. Anything that calls a cloud model through 9xchat draws on them — chat replies, image generation, and voice features among them.
Nothing you do with your own API key or a local model touches your credit balance.
Checking your balance
The app shows your remaining balance in the chat composer beside the model picker. Your account and licence live under the person icon, and the same UID carries your subscription to every device you connect. See UID on three devices.
Buying and topping up
Buy or extend from Pricing, or from your licence page. Payment attaches to the UID rather than to the machine, so any device that verifies with that UID picks it up.