Usage

Prism keeps the rules deliberately simple: on Pro the everyday work you do with AI is unlimited, and only the generative work draws from a prepaid AI balance, priced in dollars. This page explains exactly what counts, how the Free plan's allowance behaves, and why a paid call is never blocked by billing.

What counts as an AI action

An AI action is one tool call your AI client makes through the MCP panel, a single request that reads or changes your composition. Asking Prism to retime a layer, add keyframes, read the active comp, or apply an effect each counts as one AI action. Every tool across animation, layers, timeline, effects, and the rest falls under this single bucket.

Because you bring your own AI and pay your model provider directly, Prism has no model bill to pass on. That is why AI actions are unlimited on Pro.

What is metered

Two things are measured. AI actions are governed by your plan's cap: unlimited on Pro, and capped on Free. The generative AI is paid for in dollars from your prepaid AI balance.

Everything else (every native tool call, every read of your live comp) is an AI action, and on Pro it is unlimited.

Your AI balance

The generative AI tools are paid for in dollars, not points. There is no Prism credit, no invented unit, no conversion to work out: your balance is an amount of money, and each generation subtracts what it actually cost, plus Prism's margin. A $5 top-up is $5 of generation.

Every account starts with $1.00 of AI balance, free and one-time: the same on Free and Pro, because the balance is one meter, not a plan perk. That is enough to transcribe most of an hour of audio or generate a stack of images, so you can try the generative tools before deciding they are worth paying for. It is a signup starter, not a monthly allowance: it does not reset. After that the balance is strictly load-to-use: you top up in the License Portal, paying what you want from $5. Purchased balance never expires.

Your everyday AI actions never touch the balance; only these five tools do:

Prices are cost-plus: Prism charges the provider's real cost times a fixed margin, rounded up to the cent, with a $0.01 minimum. Cheap models stay cheap, an image from a small model is a penny.

When your balance reaches $0, a paid generative tool stops and tells you the exact figures and where to top up. Everyday AI actions are unaffected: they are governed by your plan cap, not by your balance.

How Free works

Free gives you 200 AI actions per month on the same tools as Pro: it is a real plan, not a feature-limited trial, so you can evaluate the full read → reason → write loop on real projects. The AI-action counter resets at the start of each billing month; your AI balance is separate and carries over.

At a cap, the next request is blocked with an upgrade notice. On Pro the AI-action cap disappears; only a generative tool pauses, and only at a balance of $0, until you top up.

Fail-open billing

If a usage check is ever slow or unreachable, Prism lets the call through. A paid request is never blocked by billing.

The cap enforced strictly is Free's 200 AI actions, since that is the boundary between Free and Pro, along with an AI balance reaching $0. On Pro, AI actions are unlimited. They never gate your work mid-session. You will not lose an edit because a counter could not be reached.

Related

• Plans and pricing: the Free-vs-Pro comparison and headline prices
• Bring your own AI: why AI actions never run out
• How Prism works: how a single request flows through Prism