Billing & Credits

Brandmachine bills usage in one of two ways, depending on your account.

If your shop is on a paid Shopify subscription plan (Free, Test Drive / Starter, Launch Promotion / Growth, Enterprise, or an internal plan), that plan covers your usage. Your generations and releases are tracked for audit purposes only, they are never debited from a credit balance or blocked for lack of one. The credit system described on this page doesn't apply to you.

If you're a standalone team that signed up directly, or a Shopify shop without a paid subscription plan, Brandmachine runs on pay as you go credits. You top up a credit balance and each generation or release deducts from it. The rest of this page covers that system.

Where to Find It

Open Settings → Billing. You can also tap the credit balance pill near the bottom of the sidebar to jump there directly.

What the Billing Page Shows

Usage this month. A stacked bar chart breaking down spend into Generation and Release. Expand "By feature" to see how much went to Campaign, Product Studio, and so on.

Credit balance. Your current balance in euros.

Top up. Preset amounts (€50, €100, €150, €200) plus a custom amount field. Allowed range is €5 to €500.

Transaction history. A paginated ledger of every charge and top-up, newest first. Columns: date, description, cost, amount (signed delta to balance), balance after.

Topping Up

There are two top-up paths depending on how you signed up.

Shopify App Users

If you installed Brandmachine through the Shopify App Store, top-ups go through Shopify's one-time charge flow:

  1. Pick a preset or enter a custom amount.
  2. Click Continue with [amount].
  3. You're redirected to Shopify Admin to approve the charge.
  4. After approval, you land back in Brandmachine and your balance updates.

Direct (Stripe) Users

If you signed up directly outside of Shopify, top-ups use Stripe Checkout:

  1. Pick a preset or enter a custom amount.
  2. Click Continue with [amount].
  3. Stripe Checkout opens, with Stripe Tax and optional VAT-ID collection.
  4. After payment, Brandmachine processes the webhook. You'll see "Processing your payment" briefly while the balance settles, then a Top-up successful banner.

If a payment doesn't complete, the page shows a warning banner with a Try again button. The system re-checks your balance before re-enabling the retry, since the webhook sometimes lands a few seconds late.

Low Credit Banner

When your balance drops below €2.00, a banner appears at the top of every page (except the Billing page itself) telling you credits are running low, with a Top up now button. You can dismiss it for the session. The banner never appears for teams on an active paid Shopify plan, or for invoiced teams, since neither is billed through the credit balance.

Price List

Click Price list in the top-right of the Billing page to see what each operation costs. Charges are split into two tiers:

  • Generation. Charged when you generate an image, video, design revision, etc. The rate is multiplied by the number of images actually delivered, so an operation that returns several output images costs more than one that returns a single image.
  • Release. One-off fees applied when you release a final image to high-res or publish it.

The Price list page stamps the current pricing version (for example v20260611) at the top. Historical ledger entries show the price stamped at the time of the charge, so old transactions stay accurate even when prices change.

Invoices and Payment Methods (Stripe)

Stripe-billed teams see a Manage billing & invoices button in the top-right of the transaction history. Clicking it opens the Stripe Customer Portal where you can:

  • Download invoices
  • Update payment methods
  • Update your VAT ID and billing address
  • Review your full payment history

Shopify-billed teams manage payments through Shopify Admin instead.

FAQs

Do credits expire? No. Your balance carries forward indefinitely.

What happens if I run out mid-generation? Each operation gates against your balance independently. If a single charge would put you below zero, that operation is blocked until you top up. Already-running tasks finish.

Can I get an invoice? Yes. Stripe issues an invoice for every top-up and emails it to your billing contact. You can also download invoices any time from the Stripe Customer Portal via Manage billing & invoices.

What about VAT? Stripe handles VAT automatically at checkout. EU customers can add a VAT ID either at checkout or later via the Stripe portal to switch to reverse charge.

I need volume pricing or a dedicated plan. Reach out to support@brandmachine.shop and we'll work out a custom arrangement.

I think I was charged in error. Contact support@brandmachine.shop with the date and description from the ledger. We'll look into it.