How VZLyze credits work: Quick, Deep, and what one credit buys

VZLyze doesn't run on a monthly subscription. You buy a credit pack once, spend from it at your own pace, and top up when the balance runs low. Nothing renews without you clicking a button. If you use it a lot in July and not at all in August, you keep whatever's left.

That structure keeps the pricing honest, but it also means new users have three fair questions on day one. What's the difference between Quick and Deep credits? Which pool does a given feature charge? And is there a way to accomplish things without spending a credit at all? This article answers all three, with references to the actual code so nothing here is marketing puffery.

The two-currency model: Quick and Deep

VZLyze has two credit types because there are two very different classes of AI operation running under the hood. Quick credits pay for fast, single-pass Haiku model calls: text extraction from images, PII anonymization, table extraction. Deep credits pay for the more expensive Sonnet model calls: Research Missions, Debug UI, and Compare Screenshots. A Deep credit is roughly worth several Quick credits' worth of API time, which is why the two currencies exist as separate buckets.

Your plan decides which pool you spend from. Free has a starter allocation in both pools (3 Quick and 1 Deep on signup) so you can try both tiers of analysis before choosing a paid plan. Starter tops the Quick pool up to 150. Pro and Business run entirely on Deep credits. On a Pro or Business plan, features that would normally cost a Quick credit (Anonymize, Handwriting OCR, Extract Table) charge from your Deep pool instead. The pool you have is the pool you spend, regardless of feature.

What one credit buys, by feature

Below is a straight readout of how the extension deducts credits. Every entry is one credit per successful run. Failed runs (network errors, model errors) are refunded automatically.

Free's signup bonus gives you 3 Quick credits and 1 Deep credit so you can try both tiers of analysis before choosing a paid plan. Once those are spent, you either upgrade or wait to buy a pack. There's no daily reset for Free credits.

What each plan gives you

Here are the four paid-plan pools in the same units you'll see on the pricing page and in the extension popup:

Free's allocation is a signup bonus, not a recurring quota. Once those 3 Quick and 1 Deep credits are spent, you upgrade or wait to buy a pack. The three paid plans are pay-as-you-go credit packs: you buy the pack once, spend the credits at your own pace, and top up when you need more. There's no subscription, no auto-charge, no expiry, and no monthly reset, but the credits themselves are a finite pool you spend down. If you buy a Pro pack in March and don't come back until September, your remaining balance is still there waiting.

Refill packs when you need more

Pro and Business accounts can buy refill top-ups without repurchasing the base plan. Refills add Deep credits directly to your existing balance. The Pro refills come in three sizes: 40 credits for $9.99, 95 credits for $21.99, and 200 credits for $39.99. Business has its own refill at 40 credits for $19.99, priced to include the Compare-eligible pool.

Refills stack additively. Buying two 95-credit refills gives you 190 credits added to whatever you already have. The balance is the sum, not the larger of the two. This is why credits don't expire: hoarding is a valid strategy if you know you'll need a big pool later.

The one guardrail worth mentioning: there's a daily cap on how many refill purchases a single account can make in 24 hours. This isn't there to limit power users; it's an anti-fraud measure that caps the damage a stolen card can do before you notice it. In practice you'd have to be trying to trigger it.

The features that don't cost credits

Two of the most-used tools in VZLyze are free on every paid plan, and one is free on all four plans including Free. That's not a marketing trick; those tools run locally in your browser instead of hitting a cloud API, so they cost nothing to serve.

Extract Text (Tesseract OCR) runs the entire OCR engine in your browser and is included on every paid plan — no credit cost. If the screenshot is printed text (a receipt, a code snippet, a page of a PDF you screenshotted), reach for Extract Text before Handwriting OCR. It's instant and it doesn't touch your balance.

Scan Code uses the ZXing decoder to read QR codes, barcodes, and 9 other formats directly from the pixel data. Free on Starter, Pro, and Business. Free doesn't get it, mostly to nudge Free users to try a paid plan for a useful zero-cost tool.

Capture, editor, PDF export, share links, GDPR export, and account deletion are free on every plan. The credit system is exclusively for AI operations that call an external model.

What credits are not

Being clear about this saves confusion at renewal time. Credits are not a monthly quota, so they don't reset and you don't lose unused balance at the end of a period. Credits are not tied to a subscription, so canceling isn't a thing; there's nothing recurring to cancel. Credits are not per-workspace or per-device; your balance is on your account and follows you across every browser you sign in to.

And when a paid plan's balance hits zero, VZLyze doesn't downgrade your account to Free. Your Pro or Business status stays intact for local features (capture, editor, Extract Text, Scan Code, PDF, share link). The only change is that AI features return a "no credits remaining" message until you top up. Your data, settings, and history are untouched.

Where to go next

If you're deciding between plans, the which-mode guide is a better starting point than the pricing page: it walks through the four AI modes and helps you match the plan to the work you already do. If you already know you need Compare Screenshots, the Business tier explainer covers what $49 buys and why.