What you start with
Verifying your email on signup grants 200 free credits. That’s enough to take a short scene from script to storyboard — typically six to ten beats with a couple of Actors and a Set, with room left over for reshots. Your balance is visible in the user menu in the top right of the app. It updates live as generations settle.What happens when credits run out
When a generation would take you below zero, Ozu blocks it and surfaces an upgrade modal. You’ll see your current balance, an estimate of what the pending generation would cost, and the available paid tiers. You can dismiss the modal and come back later — nothing is forced. Work already saved stays saved. Assets already generated stay approved. You’re free to review your storyboard, plan the next batch, and come back when you’re ready to upgrade or wait for a top-up.Free credits are a one-time grant on email verification — they don’t refill monthly. If you’ve used them up and want to keep generating, upgrading to a paid tier is the path forward.
Paid tiers
Paid tiers refill a credit allowance each month and unlock higher-tier features. Upgrade from the user menu in the top right of the app.Studio
Starter paid tier. Monthly credit allowance plus access to more generation options than the free tier.
Studio Pro
Larger monthly allowance and additional advanced features — higher resolutions, longer clip durations, more variant options.
Studio+
The top tier. The largest monthly allowance and access to every advanced feature Ozu offers.
Credit packs
Subscribers on any paid tier can add one-time credit packs on top of their monthly allowance. Useful when you’re mid-project, burning through credits faster than expected, and don’t want to wait for the monthly refresh. Packs don’t expire — the credits sit in your balance until used.What consumes more credits
Consumption varies by what you’re generating. A few patterns to know:- Model choice. Higher-tier image and video models produce better output and cost more per generation than faster, lightweight models. Most node options let you pick.
- Resolution. Higher-resolution frames cost more. 2K or 4K output consumes more than standard.
- Variant count. Generating multiple variants of an asset or frame multiplies the cost by the variant count. Three variants of one frame costs roughly three times one variant.
- Clip duration. Video clips scale roughly with length. A ten-second clip costs more than a three-second clip.
- Reshots. Each reshot is a fresh generation at full cost. Get the prompt right before you spend credits.
Credits and generation failures
Credits are held when a generation starts, settled when it succeeds, and released back to your balance if it fails or is blocked. You are never charged for a generation that didn’t produce a usable output. If you see held credits on an idle node or a charge that doesn’t match a completed generation, see Generation Failed for the credit state machine, or contact support.Reading your balance
Your balance shows in the user menu:- Available — credits you can spend now
- Held — credits reserved against in-flight generations (will settle or release shortly)
- Monthly remaining — your remaining monthly allowance (paid tiers)
- Pack balance — one-time credit pack balance, if you have any
Related
Generation Failed
How held credits are released on failures and errors.
Safety Blocks
Content-filter blocks don’t cost credits.
Credits
The credit concept in more depth — how it fits into the pipeline.
Getting Started
What a first project typically consumes, end to end.