FeedPrep's AI features — value mapping suggestions and column mapping suggestions — are powered by credits. This article explains the two types of credits, what costs credits, and how to buy more.
Two Types of Credits
1. Monthly Bonus Credits
Every plan includes a monthly allowance of AI credits that resets on your billing date:
- Starter: 5 credits/month
- Pro: 15 credits/month
- Business: 30 credits/month
Monthly bonus credits are use-it-or-lose-it. Unused bonus credits do not roll over to the next month.
2. Purchased Credits
You can buy credit packs at any time from the Billing page. Purchased credits never expire and carry over forever until used.
Which Credits Are Used First?
The system always uses monthly bonus credits first. Purchased credits are only consumed after your bonus credits for the current month are exhausted. This ensures you get the most value from your included credits before dipping into purchased ones.
What Costs Credits
| Operation | Credit Cost | Details |
|---|---|---|
| AI value mapping suggestion | 1 credit | Per batch of up to 25 values |
| AI column mapping suggestion | 2 credits | Per operation (all unmapped columns) |
Credits are deducted immediately when the operation runs.
Batching for Value Mapping
Value mapping suggestions are processed in batches of up to 25 values. If you have 60 unmapped values, the AI processes them in 3 batches (25 + 25 + 10), costing 3 credits total.
Caching Saves Credits
AI suggestions are cached for 1 hour. During that time, refreshing the page, navigating away and coming back, or clicking "AI Suggest" again will return the cached suggestions instantly — at no additional credit cost.
This means you can safely leave a value mapping page, check something else, and return without paying again.
Credit Packs
| Pack | Price | Per Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 50 credits | $10 | $0.20 |
| 200 credits | $35 | $0.175 |
| 500 credits | $75 | $0.15 |
Larger packs offer a better per-credit price. All purchased credits are added to your account immediately and never expire.
AI Is Entirely Optional
It's important to know that AI features are completely optional. The core FeedPrep product works perfectly with deterministic rules and manual mapping. You can:
- Map columns manually by selecting from your attribute list.
- Map values manually by typing or selecting approved values.
- Set up transform rules, unit conversions, HTML stripping, and all other normalization steps without using any credits.
AI is there to speed things up — especially for initial setup and handling new values — but it's never required.