Beaver Credits
Most things you do in Beaver cost 1 credit. You send a message, Beaver searches your library, reads documents, searches millions of scholarly works outside your library, reasons through your question and that's 1 credit.
A few advanced actions cost a little more.
Plans and Pricing
Beaver offers two plans:
| Plan | Price | Credits | Plus Tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 25 one-time credits | — |
| Plus | $10/month | 100 credits/month | Included |
Plus Tools (included in Plus): External search, batch extraction, and AI-ranking of search results.
All plans include unlimited use with your own API key. See the pricing page for the full feature comparison.
Credit Overview
Over 80% of questions will cost 1 credit. The additional credits are for long context, external search, batch extraction and long running tasks.
| Action | Cost |
|---|---|
| Ask Beaver a question | 1 credit |
| Long context (100k+ tokens) | +1 credit |
| Advanced external search | +1 credit per search |
| Batch extraction (first 3 files included) | +1 credit per additional 5 files |
| Long running tasks (disabled by default) | +1 credit |
Note: Standard external search does not incur extra credit. Extra credits only apply when Beaver performs multi-step research like tracing citations or exploring an author's full body of work.
Most questions cost 1 credit. A complex research session such as repeatedly searching external databases and extracting data from 10 papers might cost 3-4 credits total. The maximum per question depends on how many advanced features Beaver uses, and for most surcharges you're asked before extra credits are charged.
What's Included in 1 Credit
When you send a message, Beaver may perform multiple actions to answer it: searching your Zotero library, reading PDFs, extracting information, searching millions of scholarly works outside your library, reasoning across sources. All of this is included. One question, one credit. On average, about 80% of questions will cost 1 credit.
When Extra Credits Apply
Long Context (+1 credit)
As a conversation grows very long (beyond roughly 100,000 tokens of context), each message costs 2 credits instead of 1. The first time this happens, the extra credit is charged automatically. After that, Beaver displays a notice that the thread has long context and will incur extra cost, and suggests starting a fresh thread to keep costs down.
Advanced External Search (+1 credit per search)
Most external search is included in the 1 credit per question.
However, for complex research tasks, Beaver may perform a deep external search using a dedicated research agent, which will cost 1 credit per search. Beaver will ask for your confirmation before performing a deep external search, so you're always in control. You can enable always approve in your settings if you prefer not to be asked each time.
Batch Extraction (+1 credit per 5 files after the first 3)
When Beaver extracts structured data from multiple documents at once (for example, pulling methods and results from a set of papers), the first 3 files are included in your base credit. After that, each additional block of 5 files costs 1 extra credit. Beaver will show you the expected cost and ask for confirmation before proceeding. The final cost is recalculated after the extraction is complete and only based on successfully extracted files.
Examples:
- Extract from 3 papers → 0 extra credits
- Extract from 8 papers → 1 extra credit for 5 additional files
- Extract from 20 papers → 4 extra credits for 17 additional files
- Requests extractions for 8 papers, 5 fail → 0 extra credit for 3 successful extractions
Long Running Tasks (+1 credit, only when enabled)
For complex tasks that require many reasoning steps, Beaver normally pauses after about 10 steps to summarize progress and ask if you'd like to continue. This allows you to review the progress and make decisions about the next steps. This behavior can be disabled in your settings by turning off Pause Long-Running Tasks. When disabled, Beaver will not pause and we charge 1 extra credit for each 5 additional steps after the first 10. Most tasks complete within 10 steps, and this only impacts about 2.5% of tasks.
Credit Rollover
Unused subscription credits roll over to the next billing period, up to one month's worth. For example, if you have a Plus plan (100 credits/month) and only use 60 credits, the remaining 40 roll over. At the start of the next period you'll have 100 fresh credits + 40 rolled-over credits = 140 total.
Credits don't accumulate beyond one month. Instead, rolled-over credits that aren't used in the following period expire.
Purchased Credit Packs
You can buy additional credit packs (50 credits for $8) at any time from the Account page. Purchased credits expire one year from purchase as long as your account is active.
Deduction Order
Credits are consumed in this order:
- Subscription credits (current month's allocation plus rolled-over credits)
- Purchased credits (from credit packs)
Using Your Own API Key
You can use your own key to bypass Beaver's credits system and bill usage directly to your provider. You get unlimited access to Beaver. No credits required.
Optionally, you can enable "Plus Tools" with your own API key for a low credit cost, which gives you access to additional features like Discover New Research, Batch Processing, and AI-Ranking of Search Results.
Batch extraction alone can save you API costs and might be worth the credits we charge. Instead of passing entire documents to the main model, it uses a smaller and optimized model to extract only the relevant information, which can be a significant savings.
When you use your own API key with "Plus Tools", the base cost per question drops to 0.25 credits because you pay the LLM token costs directly to your provider. Additional surcharges for external search and batch extraction still apply.
| Action | Beaver Model | Your API Key |
|---|---|---|
| Base question | 1 credit | 0.25 credits |
| Long context (100k+) | +1 credit | — |
| External search (per search) | +1 credit | +1 credit |
| Batch extraction (after 3 included) | +1 per 5 files | +1 per 5 files |
| Extended agent sessions (per 12 steps) | +1 credit | — |
Long context and extended agent sessions don't carry a surcharge with your own key because those costs are already reflected in your API provider's bill. External search and extraction use Beaver's infrastructure regardless of which model runs your conversation, so those credits still apply.
Plans and Credit Balances
You can check your current balance on the Account page or in Beaver's settings at any time. When your credits run out, Beaver will prompt you to upgrade your plan or purchase additional credits.
Page Credits for File Processing (Legacy Beta Plan)
Page credits are only relevant for users on the legacy beta plan with cloud-based file processing. They are a separate system from Beaver credits that is consumed when Beaver processes your PDF files for full-document search. This is a one-time cost per file. Once processed, your documents remain searchable.
How Page Credits Work
- One-time processing: Each page is charged once, when first processed
- Deduplication: Identical files are only processed once per user, even when they exist in multiple libraries
- Failed processing refunded: If processing fails, credits are returned
- No restoration on deletion: Deleting processed files does not restore credits
When Page Credits Run Out
Already-processed files remain fully searchable. New files will not be processed until you have more Page Credits available.