How the credit system works: buckets, consumption order, and what never expires

Valid Email Checker uses a simple credit system: 1 credit = 1 email verification.

Behind that simple rule is a small piece of structure that protects the credits you bought outright. This page walks through the buckets, the consumption order, the free starter credits, and how refunds land back in your balance.

The two credit buckets

Every account has credits in one or both of these buckets:

Monthly credits

Allocated from your monthly subscription. Refreshed on every renewal — whatever you do not use by the renewal date is replaced by a fresh allocation. Only users with an active subscription have Monthly credits.

PAYG credits

Pay-As-You-Go. The bucket that never expires. PAYG credits land in your account from any of the following:

• Free signup bonus — 200 credits the moment you create an account.
• One-time credit purchases on the Buy Credits page.
• Auto-refill purchases (which are PAYG purchases under the hood).
• Refunds for unprocessed or Unknown emails.

Everyone has PAYG credits. Even if you have an active subscription, any one-time top-up lands here.

Consumption order

When you verify an email, credits are deducted in this order:

1. Monthly credits (used first — they expire on renewal).
2. PAYG credits (preserved for last — they never expire).

The reason is simple: PAYG credits are yours forever, so the system spends the expiring credits first.

Worked example

Suppose your balance looks like this:

• Monthly: 5,000 credits (renews in 12 days)
• PAYG: 2,000 credits (never expires)
• Total: 7,000 credits

You verify a list of 6,000 emails:

1. 5,000 deducted from Monthly → Monthly bucket is now 0
2. 1,000 deducted from PAYG → PAYG bucket is now 1,000

Monthly is empty, PAYG dropped by 1,000. Your renewal next week refills the Monthly bucket; PAYG stays where it is.

Viewing your balance

Your total credit count sits in the top-right corner of the dashboard. Hover or click it to see the per-bucket breakdown:

Total: 7,000 Credits
├── Monthly: 5,000 (renews in 12 days)
└── Pay-as-you-go: 2,000

The breakdown tells you when your subscription renews and how many credits are tied to that renewal versus permanent.

How credits get deducted in each flow

Single verification

Verify one email → 1 credit deducted on the spot. The result modal opens and your balance updates in real time.

Bulk verification

Upload a list → duplicates removed → unique addresses counted → credits deducted before verification starts. If you upload 10,000 emails and the system finds 500 duplicates, you are charged 9,500 credits.

You are never charged for duplicates. They are stripped before any credits move.

API verification

API calls draw from the same unified pool. No separate "API credits" — the same Monthly + PAYG balance covers dashboard and API usage.

Free signup credits

Every new account gets 200 free credits the moment it is created — no credit card required.

• They land in your PAYG bucket, so they never expire.
• They work for single, bulk, and API verification.
• They are enough to test the service, verify a small list, or wire up an integration before you commit a dollar.

When credits come back

Credits are returned to your account automatically in three situations:

See refunds and credit returns for the full set of refund situations.

Credits for teams

If you are part of a team account:

• All team members draw from the same shared pool.
• The credit-history log records which team member spent each credit.
• Only account owners can purchase credits.
• Team members see the shared balance but cannot top up.

Quick reference

Next steps