Satua bills monthly on a billing cycle anchored to the day your plan started. Each cycle you get an allowance of activity (emails, AI generations, Lead Discovery runs, Event Intelligence runs, contacts, file storage, discovery pipelines, seats) included in your plan price. If you exceed an allowance, that meter goes into overage and is drawn from your Satua Credits balance at the published per-unit rate. When credits run out, that meter pauses — no surprise auto-bill.
How allowances work
Your plan grants a monthly allowance per meter. The allowances reset at the start of each billing cycle — the same day of the month you started.
| Meter | What it counts |
|---|---|
| Emails | Outbound emails sent through Satua |
| AI generations | AI-drafted emails, ICP steering, reply suggestions |
| Lead Discovery runs | Each ICP-driven run that pulls leads from your Hunter.io account |
| Event Intelligence runs | Each AI-search-grounded event-attendee discovery |
| Discovery pipelines | Active (non-archived) Lead Discovery configurations — see below |
| Hunter.io connections | Number of Hunter.io accounts you can connect (varies by plan) |
| CRM contacts | Total leads in your account |
| File storage | Total file storage in MB |
| Seats | Active team members. Each plan includes a baseline number of seats; seats above the included count bill at your tier's per-seat rate. |
If your usage stays under the allowance, you pay only the plan price. If you exceed an allowance, the overage draws from your Satua Credits balance.
Discovery Pipelines (per-pipeline overage)
Your plan includes a baseline number of active Discovery Pipelines. Above the included count, every additional active pipeline carries a flat monthly add-on charge — you'll see the exact rate and confirmation in your My Plan page. Archiving a pipeline mid-cycle removes it from the next cycle's count. Soft-deleted pipelines don't count.
When you try to create a pipeline above your tier's included count, the UI shows a confirmation dialog spelling out the add-on charge before the create form opens.
Event Intelligence allowance
Event Intelligence runs are included on Growth and Scale tiers — see your My Plan page for the exact monthly allowance. Above the allowance, runs draw from your Satua Credits balance at the per-run PAYG rate published on My Plan. The Run-Now flow shows a confirmation modal before the run executes if you're past the included count.
Satua Credits (prepaid wallet)
You can top up your account with prepaid credit at any time. Credit is a single dollar balance — not separate buckets per meter. It gets drawn down against any overage at the standard per-unit rate. One balance covers all meters.
When you top up, the dollars are added to your account immediately. The balance shows on your My Plan page. Several pack sizes are available — open My Plan to see the current options. Credits never expire and are non-refundable.
How credit gets applied to your bill
- During the billing cycle, every overage accumulates as a line item on your monthly invoice (still draft).
- The My Plan page shows the running invoice total in real time, including a preview of what your credit balance would cover.
- At the end of the cycle, when the invoice is finalized, your credit balance is automatically applied to each overage line — fixed plan fees (platform fee, per-seat charges) bill to your card directly and never draw from credits.
- The invoice is split into Subtotal (gross overage), Credit applied, and Billed (what you owe beyond the plan fee).
- If your balance covers everything, Billed for overage is $0 — but the invoice still itemizes what you used.
- If your balance hits zero mid-cycle, the affected meter pauses (sends, AI gens, discovery runs, etc. won't proceed) until you top up. No surprise auto-bills past your plan fee.
When credit makes sense
- Predictable monthly bills. Top up once, watch overages draw down the balance.
- No surprise overage charges. If you usually run hot on emails, a credit top-up smooths the bill.
- Procurement-friendly. A single top-up is cleaner than reconciling per-meter overages each month.
- Annual budget cycles. Buy enough credit to cover the year; it expires after the validity period on the pack.
Important notes
- Credits are non-refundable — once purchased, they stay on the account until consumed.
- Credits never expire — there's no validity clock to manage.
- Multiple credit packs can be active at once. The oldest pack's balance is drawn down first.
- Credits cover overages only. Your plan's flat platform fee and per-seat charges are billed separately to your card and never draw from credits.
Email-only top-ups (admin-granted)
Your account manager can grant a account-only email-volume top-up if you have a known one-off campaign needing extra capacity (e.g. an event launch, a planned blast). These behave as additional email allowance for that month — distinct from the dollar credit wallet, which covers any meter. Ask your account manager if you anticipate a campaign-driven spike.
Where to see your numbers
-
My Plan page (
/settings/my-plan):- Current cycle dates and days remaining
- Per-meter usage vs allowance
- Account credit balance and earliest expiry
- Running invoice total with projected credit application
- Past invoices
-
Discovery detail page (per Lead Discovery): per-run history including how many leads were inserted, deduped, or filtered.
What changes if you upgrade or downgrade your plan
- Upgrades: take effect immediately. The remaining days in your current cycle are prorated; you pay a small additional charge for the new tier coverage from the upgrade date through the end of the cycle. Your allowances reset to the new tier's level for the rest of the cycle, and consumed usage carries over.
- Downgrades: scheduled for the end of your current cycle. You finish the cycle on your current tier, then start fresh on the new tier next cycle.
Questions
If your bill looks wrong, your invoice has a line item per meter showing exactly what was counted. If you have credit applied, each line shows what credit covered vs what was billed. If something still doesn't add up, contact your account manager — every overage and credit draw is logged for auditability.