Credits are what Sterling runs on.

You get a balance. Sterling spends from it when he does something for you. No feature is locked behind a higher plan — the only difference between plans is how much Sterling you get.

Each reply from Sterling costs 10 credits. An opportunity brief is 25, a fee read 25, an event page read 100. Writing runs 150 to 250 credits; a designed, published one-sheet is 1,000. Free accounts start with 1,500 credits and no card. Top-ups: 5,000 credits for $49, 15,000 for $129, 40,000 for $299. Plan credits last 45 days; top-up and reward credits never expire.