Credits and Plans
ARKIA runs on credits. Every image, edit and video costs a number of credits, and every plan gives you credits to spend. All prices are in US dollars.
Jump to: Plans · What a generation costs · Upscale · Pay-as-you-go · Changing or canceling your plan · Credits in an organization · Saving credits · Questions
Plans
| Plan | Price | Credits | Cost per image | Pay-as-you-go ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 200 at signup, then 75 every Monday | Entry rate | Not available |
| Explorer | $15/mo | 2,000 a month | Entry rate | Up to $34 a month |
| Creator | $49/mo | 5,000 a month | About 20% less than Explorer | Up to $100 a month |
| Studio | $149/mo | 14,000 a month | About 36% less than Explorer | No ceiling |
Free
Every new account gets 200 credits at signup, then 75 free credits every Monday (00:00 UTC) for as long as the account is open. No card needed. The weekly credits reset each Monday; they don't pile up.
The free plan uses Nano Banana (Pro and Flash), the Draft video level and both upscale levels, Free and Quick. GPT Image 2.5 and the Standard and Final video levels need a paid plan.
Explorer, Creator and Studio
Each paid plan is a monthly subscription. Part of the price is a platform access fee ($3 on Explorer, $12 on Creator, $32 on Studio); the rest is your generation budget, converted into the plan's credits. The bigger the plan, the less each image costs.
What every paid plan includes:
- 1K, 2K and 4K output;
- the full template library;
- GPT Image 2.5, every video level and every upscale level;
- pay-as-you-go once your credits run out (see below);
- a commercial license (an extended commercial license on Studio);
- credits that never expire.
Studio also lets you share a project with as many collaborators as you need.
How many images a month, with the plan's own credits:
| Plan | Nano Banana Flash, 1K | Nano Banana Pro, 2K |
|---|---|---|
| Explorer | Up to 165 | About 80 |
| Creator | Up to 555 | About 250 |
| Studio | Up to 1,750 | About 875 |
Unused credits
Credits never expire. What you don't spend rolls over to the next month. If you cancel, your balance is frozen, not lost.
What a generation costs
A generation costs its base cost, set by the model, the resolution and the options, multiplied by your plan's rate, then rounded up:
| Plan | Rate |
|---|---|
| Free and Explorer | × 1.87 |
| Creator | × 1.49 |
| Studio | × 1.19 |
The cost shown in the app is the one that counts. It appears before you generate and accounts for your plan, the model, the resolution, the number of images and the references. The tables below are examples.
Nano Banana
Credits per image:
| Model and resolution | Free / Explorer | Creator | Studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flash, 1K | 12 | 9 | 8 |
| Flash, 2K | 15 | 12 | 10 |
| Flash, 4K | 21 | 17 | 14 |
| Pro, 1K or 2K | 26 | 20 | 16 |
| Pro, 4K | 51 | 40 | 32 |
Turning on Google Search grounding adds a small surcharge per image.
GPT Image 2.5
GPT Image 2.5 is available on paid plans. Its cost depends on the quality you choose (Low, Medium, High, XHigh, Max), the output size, the length of your prompt and the reference images, so the app computes it live. Some examples for one 3:2 image with one reference:
| Quality and resolution | Explorer | Creator | Studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low, 1K | about 5 | about 4 | about 3 |
| Medium, 1K | about 6 | about 5 | about 4 |
| High, 1K (default quality) | about 14 | about 11 | about 9 |
| High, 2K | about 28 | about 22 | about 18 |
| Max, 2K | about 99 | about 79 | about 63 |
Video
Animating an image is billed per second of video, at the same plan rate as images. There are three levels:
| Level | Model | Resolution | Base cost per second | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draft | MiniMax H3 Max Turbo | 768p | 4 | 1 to 15 s |
| Standard | MiniMax H3 Max | 768p or 1080p | 8 at 768p, 16 at 1080p | 1 to 15 s |
| Final | Wan 3.0 Prime | 1080p | 28 | 2 to 30 s |
A 5-second clip, in credits:
| Level | Free / Explorer | Creator | Studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draft | 38 | 30 | 24 |
| Standard, 768p | 75 | 60 | 48 |
| Standard, 1080p | 150 | 120 | 96 |
| Final | 262 | 209 | 167 |
The free plan has the Draft level only.
Upscaling
There are two upscale levels. Quick is billed at the same plan rate as images; see Upscale below for what each one does and costs.
| Level | What it does | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Enlarges ×2 in your browser, on your own graphics card | A few seconds | Free |
| Quick | Faithful upscale in the cloud, up to 4K | About 20 seconds | From 2 credits |
Free tools
- The Free upscale enlarges an image ×2 on your own GPU (×2 or ×4 in the Upscale node), at no credit cost.
- Enhance prompt costs no credits; it has a usage limit per plan (see Best Practices).
A generation that fails is refunded.
Upscale
Upscale enlarges an image you already have. Open it in the viewer and click Upscale, use an Upscale node in Nodes, run the Upscale to 4K template, or click Upscale on any template's result. The result is saved as a new edit of the image, next to its original, and named after the run, for example Upscale 4× · Quick.
Two levels
- Free: ×2 in your browser, on your own graphics card (WebGPU). Free, a few seconds. The output stops at 8,192 px on a side, and it needs a browser with WebGPU, such as a recent Chrome or Edge.
- Quick: a faithful upscale in the cloud. It stays close to the image and takes about 20 seconds. From 2 credits, on every plan, the free plan included.
Up to 4K, factor set for you
Quick always aims for 4K: the output is capped at about 17 megapixels (5,504 × 3,072 px in 16:9, 4,096 × 4,096 px square, 4,800 × 3,584 px in 4:3). The factor is set automatically, the largest that stays within that cap, up to ×4:
| Source | Factor |
|---|---|
| 1K (for example 1,376 × 768 px) | ×4 |
| 2K (for example 2,752 × 1,536 px) | about ×2 |
| 3,840 px wide | about ×1.44 |
You only choose the level. The menu shows the output size and the cost before you start.
An image that's already 4K
An image that is already 4K has nothing left to enlarge: Free and Quick show Already 4K. An image larger than 4K can't be upscaled.
What an upscale costs
The cost depends on the output size and on your plan's rate. Credits per upscale:
| Upscale | Free / Explorer | Creator | Studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quick, to 2K | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Quick, to 4K | 4 | 3 | 3 |
Most sources reach 4K; a 2K output comes from a small source, such as a 512 px image.
In an organization, upscales are billed to the team wallet and count against your limits, like any other run. The team's resolution limit doesn't apply to upscales.
If the connection drops
A cloud upscale keeps running on our side even if your connection drops or you close the tab: it lands in your gallery. If the connection drops while you wait, the app shows Still processing. It will land in your gallery. and checks on it until it lands. If the upscale fails, your credits are refunded automatically. You can run up to two cloud upscales at a time, and one at a time per image.
Pay-as-you-go
On a paid plan, you don't have to stop when your monthly credits run out. Turn on Pay-as-you-go in your wallet (click your credit balance) and keep generating: the extra credits are billed at the end of your billing period, through Polar, at your plan's rate (1 credit = $0.01).
You set your own monthly ceiling with the slider in the wallet, up to your plan's limit:
| Plan | Highest ceiling you can set |
|---|---|
| Explorer | $34 a month |
| Creator | $100 a month |
| Studio | No ceiling (you can still set one) |
When you reach your ceiling, generation pauses until your next renewal, unless you raise the ceiling or move to a bigger plan. Pay-as-you-go is not available on the free plan: there, See plans in the wallet shows the paid plans.
ARKIA doesn't sell credit packs. You get credits from your plan, and pay-as-you-go covers the rest.
Changing or canceling your plan
- Moving to a bigger plan takes effect immediately.
- Moving to a smaller plan takes effect at your next renewal. You keep your current plan until then.
- Canceling: you keep access until the end of the paid period; there is no renewal after it. Your credit balance is frozen, not lost.
Your accumulated credits stay with you when you change plans.
Credits in an organization
Companies can run ARKIA as an organization. Members join by invitation from an admin, and each member belongs to a team.
- Team wallet: members generate on their team's wallet, not on personal credits. The organization is billed for what its teams use.
- Per-member cap: an admin can set a monthly limit for each member, and a monthly limit for each team.
- Your balance: for a team member, the credit balance in the header shows the team's usage against your limit. Clicking it opens the organization page (/org), with your team and its budget.
- When a limit is reached: the app tells you which limit it is (yours, the team's or the organization's). Only an admin can raise it.
- Seats: an organization can have as many members as it needs.
Admins manage teams, members, limits and billing from the organization page.
Saving credits
- Test at 1K, finish at 2K or 4K. Settle the prompt and the settings on cheap drafts first.
- Try Flash first. Nano Banana Flash costs about half of Pro, and often keeps the framing of your source better.
- Generate small, upscale the keeper. Generate at 1K or 2K, then upscale only the image you keep: Quick to 4K costs 4 credits on Explorer, against 51 for a 4K Pro image.
- Edit, don't regenerate. Open the image and change only the area that's wrong.
- Pick the plan that fits your volume. Creator makes each image about 20% cheaper than Explorer; Studio about 36%.
Questions
Do credits expire? No. Unused credits roll over from month to month.
How do I know what a generation will cost? The app shows the cost before you generate. It depends on your plan, the model, the resolution, the number of images and, for GPT Image, the quality and the references.
Why does the same image cost less on Studio? Each plan has its own rate: Creator about 20% less than Explorer, Studio about 36% less.
What happens when my credits run out? On a paid plan, pay-as-you-go lets you keep going up to the ceiling you set. On the free plan, you get 75 new credits next Monday, or you can pick a plan.
Which payment methods do you accept? Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Apple Pay, processed by Polar. Prices are shown excluding VAT; VAT is added at checkout based on your billing country.
Can I get a refund? Payments are non-refundable, but you can cancel at any time and keep access until the end of the paid period.
Is upscaling free? The Free level is: it runs ×2 on your own graphics card. Quick costs from 2 credits, 4 credits to 4K on Explorer. See Upscale.
Who do I contact about billing? Write to help@arkia.app. For a quote or a larger team, write to hello@arkia.app.
See also
- Best Practices: which model to choose
- FAQ: more questions and answers
- Troubleshooting: credit and payment issues
Last updated: October 18, 2026