AI credits explained
AI credits are the unit of compute in Z2X Founder. Every agent run costs a certain number of credits. Credits reset monthly.
Credit costs by agent
| Agent | Credits per run |
|---|---|
| Step Runner | 2 |
| Competitor Agent | 3 |
| Pain Signal Agent | 3 |
| First 100 Source Map | 4 |
| Growth Hacker Agent | 4 |
| Builder Agent | 5 |
| Decision Gate | 5 |
These costs are fixed by the platform — you can't change them. The cost reflects the computational complexity of the task.
Monthly credit allowances
| Plan | Credits per month |
|---|---|
| Free | 25 |
| Builder | 300 |
| Pro | 1,000 |
Credits reset on your billing anniversary date each month (or the 1st of the month if you're on the Free plan).
Checking your credit balance
- Home screen: The Credits stat card shows your remaining balance for this month
- Billing page: Full usage history is visible in your billing dashboard — go to
app.z2xfounder.com/billing - Nav rail: Click your avatar at the bottom of the nav rail to go directly to billing
What happens when you run out
If you run out of credits mid-month:
- Attempting to run an agent shows a "Insufficient credits" error
- Autopilot pauses automatically until credits are available
- Existing agent runs in progress are not affected — they complete normally
You have two options:
- Wait for the monthly reset — credits restore at your billing anniversary
- Upgrade your plan — Builder gets 300/month, Pro gets 1,000/month. Upgrading restores the higher-tier allocation immediately.
Rate limits
To protect against runaway automation, Z2X enforces a rate limit of 10 agent runs per minute per workspace. In practice, you'd have to be running Autopilot with many concurrent steps to hit this. If you do hit it, the excess runs are queued and execute after the window clears.
Credit safety
Credits are deducted server-side by a secure atomic transaction — your balance can't go negative due to concurrent runs, and it can't be manipulated by client-side tricks. The platform uses row-level locking to ensure every credit deduction is accurate.
This means: if two agents start at exactly the same time and you only have enough credits for one, exactly one will succeed and one will fail. The failed run can be retried once your balance is confirmed.
Tips for managing credits
- Run plan step agents rather than ad-hoc commands — plan steps are targeted and produce structured output, so you're less likely to get output you can't use
- Write a specific brief — agents with clear context produce better output in one pass. Vague briefs lead to revision loops that burn credits
- Use the Step Runner for simple tasks — only 2 credits. Save the specialist agents (5 credits) for steps where their expertise matters
- Review before re-running — before requesting a revision, read the output carefully. Sometimes the problem is the brief, not the agent