Pay for what you read: how GistBrief credits work (and why there's no subscription)
GistBrief has no monthly plan. You buy credits once and spend them on saving links and generating briefs. Here's how credits work, what they cost, and when you get them back.
Farid Vatani
3 min read
Pay for what you read: how GistBrief credits work (and why there's no subscription)
Reading isn't steady. Some weeks you're deep in research and save fifty pages. Other weeks you save three. A flat monthly subscription charges you the same either way, and most of us have a few of those quietly renewing that we forgot about.
GistBrief takes a different approach: no subscription. You pay for what you use, with credits.
What is a credit?
Credits are how you pay for the work GistBrief does for you. These actions each use a few credits:
- Saving a link: fetching the page and cleaning it into readable text.
- Generating a brief: the AI summary and tags. The cost depends on the AI model you choose.
- Scanning a site: finding the pages on a blog or docs site.
- Searching the web: finding sources on a topic.
Reading your library, searching it, filtering by tag, opening briefs and exporting your data are all free. You only spend credits when GistBrief does new work.
You always see the price first
Every button that costs credits shows its exact cost before you click. The AI model picker shows the cost of each model next to its name, so you can pick a free or low-cost model for quick reads and a stronger one for dense material.
The credit packs on the pricing page also explain themselves in plain terms, like "≈ X links with summaries." You know what a pack buys before you buy it.
When things fail, you get your credits back
This is the part we care about most. You should never pay for something that didn't work.
- A link that can't be imported (behind a login or paywall, or the site is down)? Refunded.
- A site scan or web search that finds nothing? Refunded, or not charged at all.
- A brief that can't be generated? Refunded.
- An import that gets stuck? It's cleaned up automatically and refunded.
You don't have to file a ticket or ask. Refunds happen on their own, exactly once, and you can see every charge and refund in your credit history.
Buying credits
When you need more, open Credits in your dashboard and pick a pack. Some packs include bonus credits. When custom amounts are offered, you can also choose any amount at checkout.
- Checkout is handled by our payment partner, and GistBrief never sees your card details.
- Prices include VAT where it applies. In the US, Canada and India, sales tax is added at checkout.
- Your new balance is ready as soon as the payment goes through.
GistBrief will also let you know when your balance is getting low, so you're not caught out halfway through a research session.
Start free
New accounts get free welcome credits once you verify your email, with no card required. That's enough to save some links, read the briefs, and decide whether GistBrief earns a place in your day before you spend anything.
Why we chose credits
We could have built yet another monthly plan. We didn't, for three reasons:
- Fairness. Light readers shouldn't pay for heavy readers' usage.
- Honesty. You see every cost before you click, and every charge afterwards.
- No guilt. No "use it or lose it" pressure, and no forgotten renewal draining your account.
Read a lot this month and nothing next month? That's fine. Your credits wait for you.
