I ran out of credits

Summary#

Credits meter premium reports, not the whole platform. When your monthly allowance runs out, the heavy reports stop and almost everything else keeps working. The allowance resets on the first day of each calendar month at 00:00 UTC, it does not roll over, and it is not tied to your billing anniversary. This article tells you exactly what still works, what does not, and your options if you cannot wait for the reset.

Symptoms#

• A tool stops with a message ending Upgrade to continue using premium reports now.
• The tool area shows Monthly limit reached — upgrade to continue.
• The credit pill in the top bar reads something like 500 / 500 reports, or a number higher than your quota such as 620 / 500 reports.
• Some tools still run normally while others refuse.
• The Analyst chat replies with the quota message instead of an answer.
• Growth Actions shows an empty state headed Monthly limit reached.

Diagnosis#

The exact message tells you which situation you are in#

If your plan includes premium reports and you have spent them all:

If your plan includes no premium reports at all:

If you are on Free and tried anything that costs a credit:

That third message is a plan gate rather than a spent allowance. See "This feature requires the ... plan".

What still works#

What stops#

Anything priced at three credits or more. That is the premium tier: Domain Overview, Backlink Profile, the ultra-heavy competitive reports, and the medium-weight reports such as Keyword Overview, Gap Finder and Competitor Battle. Credit cost table has the full per-tool price list.

Why the pill can read more than your quota#

Light tools do not get blocked by the allowance, but their credits are still added to the same running total. Over a heavy month of light-tool use, that total can pass your quota while light tools carry on working normally. A pill reading 620 / 500 reports is not a bug: it means you have consumed the equivalent of 620 credits, premium reports are closed, and everything priced at one credit is still open.

The other two limits people mistake for credits#

The hourly fair-use limit. More than 100 light-tool calls in a single clock hour returns:

This is not your monthly allowance. It clears at the top of the next hour.

The recommendation allowance. Get Recommendations has its own separate monthly allowance and its own minimum plan. Running out of it shows You've used your recommendations in the recommendations panel while your ordinary credits may be untouched. See Get Recommendations.

When the allowance resets#

On the first day of the calendar month at 00:00 UTC. The message tells you the exact date and how many days away it is. Three consequences worth knowing:

• It is not your billing anniversary. If you subscribed on the 20th, you still get a full fresh allowance on the 1st.
• Unused credits do not carry over.
• Because the boundary is UTC, the reset can land on the evening of the last day of the month in the Americas, or partway through the 1st in Asia and Oceania.

Where to see what you have spent#

• The credit pill in the top bar shows <used> / <quota> reports with your plan beside it, or Unlimited reports on an internal account. It refreshes on page load and after every successful premium run.
• Account → Account Settings shows the same figure on the Usage tile with the sub-line credits this month, alongside your plan and price.
• A per-tool breakdown of the month is available from your usage view, ordered by the tools that consumed the most. See Tracking your usage.

Resolution#

Pick whichever fits your situation.

1. Reload before you conclude anything. The pill reads your usage when the page loads. A tab open since this morning can show yesterday's number.
2. Keep working with what is open. On a paid plan, every light tool still runs. Most keyword, content and technical work is unaffected.
3. Reopen instead of re-running. If you ran the report earlier this month, open the saved copy from the Library rather than paying for it again. See Saved Work.
4. Wait for the reset if the date in the message is close. The message states it exactly.
5. Upgrade. A higher plan takes effect immediately and raises the allowance for the current month, not the next one. Use Upgrade to <Tier> on Account → Account Settings, or the pricing page. See Upgrading and downgrading.
6. Ask us to look at it if the number does not match what you ran, or if failed runs consumed credits. We can reset the current month's usage or credit an amount back. Include your account email, the tools involved and roughly when. See Contacting support.

Prevention#

• Know what the heavy reports cost before you run a batch. The credit badge on each tool shows its price, and FREE marks the zero-cost tools.
• Use the saved-result prompt. When you re-run something you have already run, the app offers to open the saved copy for free.
• Do your exploration with light tools. Narrow the target with keyword and SERP tools, then spend a premium report on the one domain that matters.
• Watch the pill as it approaches the quota. There is no email warning before you run out.
• Match the plan to the month. If you consistently finish the month at zero, the next tier is cheaper than the disruption. Plans and pricing compares the allowances.
• Remember the month boundary is UTC when planning end-of-month work.