Every image Comics AI generates costs credits, and the whole system fits on a napkin: a panel costs 10 credits, each reference you attach adds 5, and the exact total is printed right on the Create button before you tap it. That is genuinely the entire pricing model. This guide walks through what Comics AI credits are, what everything costs, how the PRO plans and top-up packs work, and exactly what happens when a generation fails or a purchase gets refunded. Plain English, no asterisks.
How Comics AI Credits Work
Credits are the app's single currency. You spend them whenever the AI renders an image, and nothing else in the app touches them. Arranging panels, adding speech bubbles, lettering, exporting a PDF - all of that is just editing, and editing is free.
The math has two parts:
- Base cost: 10 credits per panel. Type a scene description, pick a style and aspect ratio, and a plain text-to-image panel costs 10.
- References: +5 credits each. A reference is any extra image the AI has to study while it draws. That covers a character you place in the scene (each hero counts separately, up to 4 per scene), a photo you attach, or the sketch or canvas drawing being transformed.
So a plain panel is 10. A panel starring one saved hero is 15. Two heroes chatting is 20. Turning a sketch into finished art is 15, because the sketch itself is a reference. The most expensive possible generation - a panel with all 4 character slots filled - is 30 credits.
You never have to do this math yourself, though. The Create button always shows the price for exactly what you have set up, and it updates the moment you add or remove a reference. If the button says 20, it costs 20. There are no hidden multipliers for styles, aspect ratios, or anything else.
What Everything Costs at a Glance
| Generation | Credits |
|---|---|
| Panel from a text prompt | 10 |
| Each character reference in the scene | +5 |
| Each attached photo reference | +5 |
| The sketch or drawing being transformed | +5 |
| Example: panel with 2 heroes | 20 |
| Example: sketch to comic panel | 15 |
Your 60 Welcome Credits
Comics AI is free to download, and every new user starts with 60 welcome credits. That is enough for 6 plain panels, or a mix like 4 plain panels plus 2 sketch transformations, before you spend a cent. It is deliberately enough to make a real first page, not a single teaser image.
The free tier also includes the first four comic styles (Custom, Webtoon, Anime, Manga) and the full editor, so your welcome credits go toward actual finished pages. If you are brand new, start with the walkthrough in how to make a comic with AI - it will help you spend those first 60 on panels you keep rather than experiments you delete.
PRO Plans: Weekly and Monthly Credit Bundles
When the welcome credits run out, PRO is how you keep creating. Both plans grant a fresh batch of credits on each renewal:
- PRO Weekly - $4.99 per week, 400 credits. Good for a burst project: 400 credits is 40 plain panels, or about 26 panels featuring a recurring hero.
- PRO Monthly - $12.99 per month, 1,200 credits. The better rate for steady creators: 120 plain panels a month, or 80 panels with a hero in every scene.
PRO is also what unlocks the full toolkit: all 16 comic styles, consistent characters, creating your own heroes from a description or a photo, and watermark-free exports. The credits are the fuel; the subscription is also the feature key.
Top-Up Packs When You Need More
Big weekend? Finishing a whole book before a birthday? Active subscribers can buy one-time top-up packs on top of their plan:
- 300 credits for $4.99
- 700 credits for $9.99
- 1,600 credits for $19.99
Packs are subscriber-only, and pack credits behave exactly like plan credits: same costs, same rules, same balance. All purchases, plans and packs alike, go through Apple's standard App Store payment system - the app never sees your payment details.
Do Comics AI Credits Expire? No. Ever.
This is the part most credit systems get wrong, so it deserves its own section. Comics AI credits never expire. Unused credits roll over from week to week and month to month, forever. There is no "use it or lose it" reset at renewal.
Credits also survive unsubscribing. If you cancel PRO with 500 credits left, those 500 credits stay in your balance and remain spendable. You would lose access to PRO-only features like the locked styles and character references while lapsed, but the credits themselves are yours - they wait for you.
Think of credits as coins in a jar, not minutes on a phone plan. Nothing you paid for evaporates because a calendar page turned.
Refunds, Explained Honestly
Two situations, two clear rules:
- Failed generations refund themselves. If the AI fails to deliver an image - a network drop, a provider error, whatever - the credits for that attempt are automatically returned to your balance. You only ever pay for images that actually arrive.
- Apple refunds reverse the credits from that purchase. Because payments run through Apple, refund requests go through Apple too. If Apple refunds a subscription period or a top-up pack, the credits that specific purchase granted are removed from your balance. Fair both ways: you get your money back, and the credits that money bought go back as well.
If a generation fails repeatedly or your balance ever looks off, check the FAQ for troubleshooting steps.
Start With the Free 60
That is the entire system: 10 per panel, 5 per reference, the price on the button, credits that never expire, and refunds that work in both directions. No decay timers, no surprise charges, no fine print doing the heavy lifting. Download Comics AI, spend your 60 welcome credits on a real first page, and you will know within minutes whether the math works for the comics you want to make.