Every SheetMagic plan comes with two separate usage pools: AI tokens and integration credits. They track different things. They power different formulas. And they reset on their own schedules. Once you understand how they work, picking the right plan (and getting the most out of it) gets a lot easier.
This guide breaks down what each one covers, which formulas use which pool, how the monthly reset works, and what you can do when you need more.
Two pools, two meters
SheetMagic formulas fall into two groups:
- AI formulas that send prompts to language models and return generated content
- Integration formulas that pull data from websites and external services
Each group runs on its own meter. AI tokens track the first. Integration credits track the second. They don't overlap. An =AITEXT() call never touches your integration credits. And a =VISIT() call never touches your AI tokens.
AI tokens: what they cover
AI tokens measure every formula that talks to a language model, image generator, video model, or speech engine. If AI is doing the thinking, it costs tokens.
Formulas that use AI tokens
=AITEXT("Write a 100-word product description for: " & A2)Text generation. Token cost depends on how long your prompt is and how long the AI's response is.
=AILIST("List 10 blog post ideas about " & A2)List generation. Each item in the list adds to the output token count.
=AIIMAGE("A flat-lay photo of a minimalist desk setup, soft natural lighting")Image generation. Token cost varies by model. DALL-E 3, Imagen 4, and Gemini image models all have different rates.
=GPTV(A2, "Describe the product in this image. Return: name, color, category.")Vision analysis. You send an image URL to an AI model. The image itself counts toward your input tokens.
=AISPEECH(A2, "nova")Text-to-speech. Converts the text in A2 to audio using one of 11 voice options.
=AIVIDEO("A 5-second product showcase, rotating 360 degrees on a white background")Video generation via Sora 2, Veo 3, or Runway Gen 4. Costs more tokens because video output is complex.
The pattern is always the same. Your prompt goes in, the model processes it, and a result comes back. How many tokens that costs depends on three things:
- Input size. Longer prompts and bigger context (like passing in a full webpage with
=VISIT()) use more tokens. - Output size. A 500-word product description costs more than a one-word sentiment label.
- Which model you pick. GPT-5 costs more per call than GPT-4o Mini. Claude Opus costs more than Haiku. You can switch models anytime in Extensions > SheetMagic > Settings.
Doing high-volume work like classifying thousands of rows? Switch to a smaller model (GPT-4o Mini, Claude Haiku, Gemini Flash). For simple tasks like classification, the quality difference is tiny and your tokens go way further.
Token allowances by plan
| Plan | Monthly AI Tokens |
|---|---|
| Free | 3,000 (one-time trial) |
| Solo ($19/mo) | 3,000,000 |
| Team ($79/mo) | 15,000,000 |
| Business ($149/mo) | 80,000,000 |
So how far do tokens actually go?
It depends on the model and the task. Here are some rough numbers to give you a feel:
| Task | Approximate Tokens |
|---|---|
| Short classification ("Is this review positive or negative?") | 50-150 |
| Product description (100 words) | 200-400 |
| Blog outline (10 items) | 300-600 |
Summarize a full webpage with =AITEXT(prompt, VISIT(url)) | 2,000-8,000 |
| Image generation (DALL-E 3) | ~4,000 equivalent |
| Video generation (Sora 2) | ~50,000 equivalent |
On the Solo plan with 3M tokens, you're looking at roughly 7,500 to 15,000 product descriptions per month. Or 375 to 1,500 full-page summaries. Most users don't come close to running out.
Integration credits: what they cover
Integration credits power the formulas that go out and grab data from the web. No AI involved. These are your scraping, search, and data extraction tools.
Formulas that use integration credits
=VISIT("https://example.com/pricing")Scrapes up to 50,000 characters of text content from the URL. Handles JavaScript-rendered pages.
=SERP("best project management tools 2026", 10, "us-en")Returns up to 10 search results with titles, URLs, and snippets.
=GETSELECTOR("https://example.com", "h2.product-title")Extracts content matching a CSS selector from the target page.
=PAGEDATA(A2, A3, A4, A5)Extracts meta title, meta description, H1, and HTTP status from multiple URLs at once.
=DOMAINCHECK("mybrand.ai")Checks domain availability via RDAP protocol. Supports .com, .io, .ai, .co, and 20+ TLDs.
=GETMETATITLE(A2)Returns the meta title tag from the URL in A2.
Here's the big difference from tokens. Every integration formula has a flat credit cost. It doesn't matter if the page has 500 words or 50,000. One call, one credit.
Here's the simplest way to think about it. AI tokens are variable (cost scales with how much text goes in and comes out). Integration credits are flat (each call costs the same no matter what).
Credit allowances by plan
| Plan | Monthly Integration Credits |
|---|---|
| Free | 10 (one-time trial) |
| Solo ($19/mo) | 1,000 |
| Team ($79/mo) | 5,000 |
| Business ($149/mo) | 20,000 |
What does each function cost?
| Function | Credits per Call |
|---|---|
=VISIT() | 1 |
=SERP() | 1 |
=BULKSERP() | 1 |
=GETSELECTOR() | 1 |
=GETIMG() | 1 |
=DOMAINCHECK() | 1 |
=PAGEDATA() (per URL) | 1 |
=GETMETATITLE() | 1 |
=GETMETADESCRIPTION() | 1 |
=GETH1() / =GETH2() | 1 |
On Solo with 1,000 credits, that's 1,000 page scrapes, 1,000 SERP queries, or any mix per month.
Why not just combine them into one number?
Fair question. It comes down to cost structure.
AI tokens need GPU compute from providers like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. That cost scales with how much you generate and which model you pick. Integration credits need web infrastructure (proxy networks, headless browsers, caching layers). That cost scales with how many requests you make, not how complex the content is.
If we bundled them into one pool, every plan would have to compromise. With two separate meters, things work out better for everyone:
- Content teams writing thousands of AI-generated descriptions don't get penalized for the occasional page scrape
- SEO teams auditing thousands of URLs don't get penalized for the occasional AI call
- You can see exactly where your usage goes in the dashboard, broken out by type
How the monthly reset works
Both AI tokens and integration credits reset to your full plan allowance at the start of each billing cycle. Unused amounts don't roll over.
Here's what that looks like in practice:
You subscribe to Solo on April 5
Your billing cycle starts April 5. You get 3M AI tokens and 1K integration credits.
By April 28, you've used 2.1M tokens and 600 credits
You've still got 900K tokens and 400 credits left for the rest of this cycle.
May 5 hits and your cycle resets
Your balances go back to the full 3M tokens and 1K credits. The 900K tokens and 400 credits you didn't use in April? Gone. Fresh start.
Unused tokens and credits don't carry over. If you've got a big batch job coming up, check your remaining balance in the dashboard before you kick it off.
Why no rollover?
Rollover sounds nice, but it makes costs unpredictable on our side and balances confusing on yours. The flat monthly reset keeps things simple. You always know how much you have. And it's always the same number on day one of each cycle.
What to do when you need more
You've got three options.
1. Move to a bigger plan
If you're running out before the cycle ends every month, bump up a tier. Going from Solo to Team gives you 5x the tokens and 5x the credits.
2. Buy a credit pack
Want a one-time boost without switching plans? Grab a credit pack from the dashboard. You can get packs for AI tokens, integration credits, or both. They're good for 12 months, so they don't disappear at the end of your billing cycle like your monthly allowance does.
Credit packs kick in after your monthly pool runs dry. If you buy a 1M token pack on Solo, your formulas will use the 3M monthly tokens first. Then they start pulling from the pack.
Credit packs are available to all paid subscribers. LTD (Lifetime Deal) users can buy integration credit packs but not AI token packs, since LTD plans use BYOK for AI.
3. Turn on BYOK for unlimited AI
If AI tokens are the bottleneck, BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) removes the cap entirely. Plug in your own API key from OpenAI, Google, or Anthropic. Pay them directly at their rates. And your SheetMagic token meter stops ticking.
BYOK is included on all paid plans. Integration credits still apply, though. BYOK only bypasses the AI token pool.
Quick reference: which formula uses what
| Formula | Currency | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
=AITEXT() | AI Tokens | Text generation from prompts |
=AILIST() / =AILISTH() | AI Tokens | Vertical / horizontal list generation |
=AIIMAGE() | AI Tokens | Image generation from text prompts |
=GPTV() | AI Tokens | Image analysis with vision models |
=AISPEECH() | AI Tokens | Text-to-speech audio generation |
=AIVIDEO() | AI Tokens | Video generation from text prompts |
=AITRANSLATE() | AI Tokens | AI-powered translation |
=VISIT() | Integration Credits | Full page content scraping |
=SERP() / =BULKSERP() | Integration Credits | Search engine results |
=GETSELECTOR() | Integration Credits | CSS selector-based scraping |
=GETIMG() | Integration Credits | Extract image URLs from a page |
=PAGEDATA() | Integration Credits | Bulk page metadata extraction |
=GETMETATITLE() | Integration Credits | Page meta title |
=GETMETADESCRIPTION() | Integration Credits | Page meta description |
=GETH1() / =GETH2() | Integration Credits | Page headings |
=GETHEADINGS() | Integration Credits | All headings (H1-H6) |
=GETP() | Integration Credits | All paragraph text |
=DOMAINCHECK() | Integration Credits | Domain availability check |
Putting both to work in a real workflow
The best SheetMagic workflows chain both types together. Here's one we use all the time for competitive content research:
Pull competitor URLs with SERP
=SERP("best ai tools for content marketing", 10)Uses 1 integration credit. Returns the top 10 URLs for your target keyword.
Scrape each competitor page
=VISIT(A2)Uses 1 integration credit per URL. Pulls the full text content of each competitor page.
Run this for all 10 URLs. Total cost: 10 integration credits.
Analyze each page with AI
=AITEXT("Summarize this page in 3 bullet points. What is the main argument? What audience is it targeting?", B2)Uses AI tokens. The count depends on how long the scraped content is and how long the AI response is.
Run this for all 10 pages. Total cost: roughly 20,000-80,000 AI tokens depending on page length.
Generate your own content outline
=AILIST("Based on these competitor summaries, generate a 10-section outline for a blog post that covers gaps none of them address: " & C2 & C3 & C4 & C5)Uses AI tokens. One call that turns your competitor analysis into an actionable outline.
Total cost: roughly 1,000-3,000 AI tokens.
Total for the whole workflow: 11 integration credits and around 25,000-85,000 AI tokens. On the Solo plan, that's about 1% of each monthly allowance. You could run this 50+ times a month and still have plenty left over.
Checking your balance
Both balances are visible in the SheetMagic dashboard. You'll see:
- Your remaining allowance for the current billing cycle
- A usage breakdown by day and by formula type
- Your billing cycle dates so you know when the next reset is coming
- Your credit pack balances if you've bought any
Bookmark the dashboard. Before you run a 5,000-row SERP scrape (which would cost 5,000 integration credits), take a quick look to make sure you've got the headroom.
The short version
| AI Tokens | Integration Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| What it powers | AI generation (text, images, video, speech, vision) | Web data (scraping, SERP, page data, domain checks) |
| Cost model | Variable. Depends on prompt/response size and model | Flat. Set cost per function call |
| Resets | Monthly, when your billing cycle starts | Monthly, when your billing cycle starts |
| Rolls over? | No | No |
| BYOK bypass | Yes. Unlimited with your own keys | No. Credits still apply |
| Credit packs | Available for paid subscribers | Available for paid subscribers and LTD users |
Two pools. Two meters. Both reset monthly. That's the whole system.
Want to try it out? You can test every formula in this guide on the free tier. No credit card needed. You get 3,000 AI tokens and 10 integration credits. Install SheetMagic and see for yourself.