What happens when you reach a monthly limit
When you use up a monthly allowance, PDFBetter stops before the task and offers to wait for the reset, buy a Day Pass or upgrade. For AI credits and fax pages you can also buy a pack that never expires.
Updated 2 min read
When allowances reset
- Free, Day Pass and AppSumo lifetime plans: on the 1st of each month (UTC).
- Monthly subscriptions: at the start of each billing period, on the date you subscribed.
- Yearly subscriptions: every month on the same day of the month your subscription started.
Settings → Plan & usage shows Usage this period with the date the current period started, and the AI credits section shows when monthly credits reset.
When you run out
PDFBetter checks your allowance before it starts the work. If there isn't enough left, a Limit reached dialog says which allowance you've used up, for example “You've reached this month's edited-document downloads”. Your work is saved. You can:
- Wait for the next period.
- Buy a Day Pass ($6) for 24 hours of Pro.
- Upgrade to Pro or Business. The dialog shows each plan's allowance for the limit you hit.
- For AI credits or fax pages, buy a pack (below).
Some limits aren't monthly: live forms, active share links, saved templates, workflows and workspaces are counts of what you have at once. When you hit one, the message tells you to pause, delete or turn off an existing one, or upgrade.
AI credit and fax page packs
| Pack | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| AI credit pack | $5 | 500 AI credits |
| Fax pages pack | $6 | 50 fax pages to US and Canada numbers |
Step 1: Open Plan & usage
Go to Settings → Plan & usage and scroll to Credits.
Step 2: Pick a pack
Click AI credit pack · $5 or Fax pages pack · $6, then pay in checkout. The AI credits section also has a Top up button when you can buy more.
Step 3: Check your balance
The Credits section shows your purchased AI credits and fax pages.
Does downloading the same file twice use two downloads?
No. Re-downloading an unchanged version doesn't count again. Only a new version, after you edit, uses another download. Browser tools never count.
Can I buy extra downloads or signature requests?
No. Packs exist only for AI credits and fax pages. For more downloads, use a Day Pass or upgrade; Pro and Business have unlimited downloads and signature requests.
What happens to purchased credits if I delete my account?
They're lost. Unused purchased credits can't be refunded after the account is deleted.
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Related articles
- Compare the Free, Pro and Business plansFree costs nothing and has no end date. Pro is $15 a month for one person, with unlimited downloads and signature requests. Business is $24 per seat a month and adds teams, branding, bulk send, the API and the largest spreadsheet-fill allowance.
- Buy a Day Pass for a one-off jobA Day Pass costs $6 and gives you Pro for 24 hours. It doesn't renew. Upgrade to Pro within 7 days of buying it and the Day Pass price comes off your first Pro payment.
- Upgrade, downgrade or switch to yearly billingOpen Settings → Plan & usage and click Change plan. Pick Pro or Business, monthly or yearly, and PDFBetter shows exactly what changes and what you pay before you confirm.
- How AI credits workEvery AI action costs a fixed number of credits, shown on its button before you run it. Your plan includes credits every month; an AI credit pack adds 500 credits for $5 that never expire and are used after the monthly ones.