Billing & Credits#

InterviewRelay uses a credit-based pricing model. Credits are consumed when participants complete interviews. Your subscription plan determines your monthly credit allocation and access to features.

How Credits Work#

Credit Consumption#

Each completed interview consumes credits based on duration and features used:

| Feature | Credit Cost | |---------|------------| | Interview (per minute) | 1 credit | | Transcription | Included | | Sentiment analysis | Included | | AI insights generation | 2 credits per session | | PDF export | 0.5 credits | | Custom voice | +0.5 credits per minute | | Multi-language | +0.5 credits per minute |

Example: A 10-minute interview with AI insights = 10 + 2 = 12 credits

Credit Tracking#

View your credit balance and usage in real time:

1. Go to Settings → Billing
2. See your current balance, usage this period, and projected usage
3. Click Usage Details for a breakdown by campaign

Credit Alerts#

Set up alerts to avoid running out of credits:

1. Go to Settings → Billing → Alerts
2. Configure thresholds:
   • Warning: Notify when balance drops below X credits
   • Critical: Notify when balance drops below Y credits
   • Depleted: Notify when all credits are used
3. Choose notification channel (email, Slack, webhook)

Subscription Plans#

Free Plan#

Get started at no cost:

• 5 credits per month
• 1 active campaign
• 30-day data retention
• Community support
• InterviewRelay branding on interviews
• Basic analytics

Perfect for trying out the platform and running small pilots.

Starter Plan — $49/month#

For individuals and small teams:

• 100 credits per month
• 5 active campaigns
• 90-day data retention
• Email support
• Remove InterviewRelay branding
• Full analytics and insights
• CSV/JSON export

Professional Plan — $199/month#

For growing teams and organizations:

• 500 credits per month
• Unlimited active campaigns
• 1-year data retention
• Priority support
• Custom branding and theming
• Advanced analytics and reporting
• API access
• Webhook integrations
• Team collaboration (up to 10 members)
• SSO (SAML/OIDC)

Enterprise Plan — Custom Pricing#

For large organizations with specific needs:

• Custom credit allocation
• Unlimited campaigns
• Custom data retention (up to unlimited)
• Dedicated support and account manager
• Full white-label solution
• On-premise deployment option
• Custom AI model training
• SLA guarantee (99.9% uptime)
• Unlimited team members
• Advanced security (SOC 2, HIPAA)
• Custom integrations

Contact sales@interviewrelay.com for a custom quote.

Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG)#

No monthly commitment:

• No base fee
• Credits purchased on demand
• $1.00 per credit (volume discounts available)
• All Professional features included
• No expiry on purchased credits
• Pay only for what you use

Managing Your Subscription#

Upgrading#

Upgrade your plan at any time:

1. Go to Settings → Billing → Plan
2. Click Upgrade
3. Select your new plan
4. Confirm and pay the prorated difference

Downgrading#

Downgrade takes effect at the end of your current billing cycle:

1. Go to Settings → Billing → Plan
2. Click Change Plan
3. Select the lower plan
4. Confirm the downgrade

What happens when you downgrade:

• Current features remain until end of billing cycle
• Credit balance is not affected until the next cycle
• Active campaigns exceeding the new plan's limit will be paused
• Data retention follows the new plan's policy going forward

Cancelling#

Cancel your subscription via the Stripe customer portal:

1. Go to Settings → Billing
2. Click Manage Subscription
3. This opens the Stripe customer portal
4. Click Cancel Plan
5. Choose to cancel immediately or at end of billing period

After cancellation:

• Access continues until end of billing period
• Data is retained per your plan's retention policy
• You can reactivate within 90 days and retain your data
• After 90 days, data is permanently deleted

Credit Purchases#

One-Time Purchase#

Buy additional credits on any plan:

1. Go to Settings → Billing → Credits
2. Click Buy Credits
3. Enter the number of credits
4. Complete payment

Purchased credits are added to your balance immediately and do not expire.

Auto-Reload#

Never run out of credits with auto-reload:

1. Go to Settings → Billing → Auto-Reload
2. Toggle Enable Auto-Reload
3. Configure:
   • Trigger: Reload when balance falls below X credits
   • Amount: Number of credits to purchase
   • Monthly cap: Maximum auto-reload spend per month
4. Save settings

Credit Gifts & Promotions#

Promotional credits may be added to your account via:

• Referral program: Earn 50 credits for each referred user who subscribes
• Seasonal promotions: Watch for special offers in your email
• Partner discounts: Discounts through our technology partners

Promotional credits have a 90-day expiry and are consumed before your plan credits.

Usage Tracking#

Usage Dashboard#

Monitor your credit consumption in Settings → Billing → Usage:

• Current period usage: Credits consumed this billing cycle
• Daily breakdown: Chart showing daily credit consumption
• By campaign: Credit usage per campaign
• By feature: Breakdown by feature (interviews, insights, exports)
• Projected usage: Estimate for the remainder of the billing cycle

Usage Reports#

Generate detailed usage reports:

1. Go to Settings → Billing → Reports
2. Select date range
3. Choose grouping (by day, week, campaign, team member)
4. Export as CSV or PDF

Usage API#

Access usage data programmatically:

curl https://api.interviewrelay.com/v1/billing/usage \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -G \
  -d "from=2024-01-01" \
  -d "to=2024-01-31" \
  -d "group_by=campaign"

Billing History#

Invoices#

Access all past invoices:

1. Go to Settings → Billing → Invoices
2. View list of all invoices with date, amount, and status
3. Click any invoice to view details or download PDF

Payment Methods#

Manage your payment methods:

1. Go to Settings → Billing → Payment Methods
2. Add, update, or remove credit/debit cards
3. Set a default payment method

We accept all major credit and debit cards via Stripe. Enterprise customers can pay via invoice/wire transfer.

Failed Payments#

If a payment fails:

1. You'll receive an email notification
2. Stripe retries up to 3 times over 7 days
3. If all retries fail, your account is paused
4. Update your payment method to restore access
5. Outstanding balance is charged automatically upon update

Organization Billing#

Centralized Billing#

For organizations with multiple teams:

• Single invoice: One bill for all teams and projects
• Department allocation: Assign credit budgets per team
• Spending limits: Set maximum monthly spend per team
• Consolidated reporting: View usage across all teams

Team Budgets#

Allocate credits to teams:

1. Go to Settings → Organization → Teams
2. Select a team
3. Click Budget
4. Set monthly credit limit
5. Choose behavior when limit is reached:
   • Pause: Stop new sessions
   • Alert: Notify admins but continue
   • Auto-purchase: Buy more credits from org pool

Cost Centers#

Tag campaigns with cost center codes for accounting:

1. When creating a campaign, add a Cost Center tag
2. View usage reports grouped by cost center
3. Export for your accounting system

Pricing FAQ#

Do unused credits roll over?#

Monthly plan credits do not roll over. Purchased credits (one-time or PAYG) never expire. Annual plan bonus credits roll over within the plan period.

What happens when I run out of credits?#

New sessions cannot be started, but active sessions in progress will complete normally. Enable auto-reload to avoid interruptions.

Can I get a refund?#

Unused plan credits are non-refundable. Purchased credits are refundable within 14 days if unused. Contact support for refund requests.

Do abandoned sessions consume credits?#

Yes, credits are consumed based on the actual duration of the session. An abandoned session that lasted 5 minutes consumes 5 credits.

How are partial minutes billed?#

Partial minutes are rounded up to the nearest minute. A 3-minute-20-second interview consumes 4 minute credits.

Is there a free trial?#

The Free plan is always free. For Starter and Professional, we offer a 14-day trial with 50 bonus credits. No credit card required to start.

Can I switch between monthly and annual billing?#

Yes. Switching to annual saves 20%. Go to Settings → Billing → Plan and toggle the billing frequency.

Do you offer discounts for nonprofits or education?#

Yes! We offer 50% off for verified nonprofits and educational institutions. Contact support@interviewrelay.com with your organization details.

Cost Optimization#

Tips to Reduce Credit Usage#

1. Optimize script length: Shorter interviews consume fewer credits. Focus on essential questions only.
2. Use conditional logic: Skip irrelevant questions with branching logic to reduce average duration.
3. Set time limits: Configure maximum interview duration to prevent runaway sessions.
4. Monitor abandoned sessions: High abandonment wastes credits. Improve your invite messaging to attract committed participants.
5. Batch exports: Export in bulk rather than one-by-one to minimize export credits.

Volume Planning#

Estimate your monthly credit needs:

Monthly credits = (avg. interview minutes × credits per minute)
                  × expected sessions per month
                  + (sessions × AI insights credits)
                  + estimated exports

Example:

• 200 interviews/month × 10 minutes = 2,000 credits
• 200 sessions × 2 AI insights credits = 400 credits
• 50 PDF exports × 0.5 credits = 25 credits
• Total: ~2,425 credits/month → Professional plan (500 included) + ~1,925 purchased credits

Annual vs. Monthly#

Compare the costs:

| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per month) | Savings | |------|---------|-------------------|---------| | Starter | $49/mo | $39/mo | 20% | | Professional | $199/mo | $159/mo | 20% |

Annual plans also include a 10% bonus credit pool.