Free credits

Every new Nodaro Cloud account gets a one-time grant of 1,500 free credits. In most cases they are added the first time you open the app after you sign up, with nothing to buy and nothing to enter. The grant is the balance of the free tier: it works with every model the free tier can run, and it has no daily cap.

This page is about Nodaro Cloud. A self-hosted install uses your own model keys, or the credits of a connected Nodaro Cloud account.

What you get

Your balance shows at the top of the sidebar. The price of every node shows on its Run button before you run it, so you always know what a run takes from the grant.

When the grant waits for a first purchase

Occasionally the grant is not applied automatically. Your account still works normally, and a banner at the top of the app says that the free credits are added with your first purchase:

• Buy any credit pack. Any card works. The free credits are added on top as soon as the payment goes through.
• No separate step. There is no activation step and no form to save a card.
• A plan does not add the grant. A subscription brings its own monthly credits instead, and the one-time grant is not added to a plan.

If you believe your grant should have applied and you prefer not to buy anything, contact support from the same account.

What the grant covers

• The free tier's models. The grant pays for every model that the free tier can run. The first purchase unlocks every model.
• Watermarked results. Results made on the free tier carry a watermark until your first purchase.
• No daily cap. You can spend the whole grant in one day or over several weeks.

Video on free credits

Until your account buys anything, video runs within these limits:

• Not available: every Kling model except Kling 4.0 Flash (video generation, motion transfer and lip-sync), Seedance 2.5 (including its HD finish step), video upscaling (VEO 1080p and 4K, Topaz) and extending a video.
• Kling 4.0 Flash: the one Kling model open to free credits. It makes clips of 3 or 4 seconds at 720p, its only resolution.
• Every other video model: clips of up to 4 seconds, at the model's lowest resolution. For example, Seedance 2 Fast runs at 480p and VEO 3.1 Lite at 720p.
• Length: a model whose shortest clip is longer than 4 seconds is not available. An Auto length is not accepted.
• Resolution: name the resolution in every request. A request from the API or MCP that leaves it out is refused, because the model would render its own default.

The default Generate Video settings, Seedance 2 Fast at 4 seconds, run as they are. In the editor, the options outside these limits stay in the lists but are locked, with the reason written under them. A run outside the limits is refused before anything is charged, with a message that names the limit. Over the API, the refusal is HTTP 402 with the error code free_video_limit.

A real payment lifts the limits for good, in the editor, the API, MCP and published apps. Any credit pack counts, and so does any paid subscription invoice, also after the subscription ends. A card on file or a trial is not a payment.

The pricing page, also under Pricing in the sidebar, lists what each plan includes. Credits explains subscriptions, top-ups and how credits are spent.

Make the credits go further

• Start from a template. Copying a template or a tutorial is free, and each template shows the credits of one run.
• Run one node at a time. While you try ideas, run single nodes instead of the whole workflow, so you pay only for the step you change.
• Draft cheap, finish sharp. Try ideas on a cheaper model or a lower resolution, then switch for the final version. See Choosing a model.
• Failures are refunded. When a node fails, its reserved credits come back automatically in almost every case. See Running workflows.

On a self-hosted install

A self-hosted install can use Nodaro Cloud models through the Connect nodaro.ai button. Connecting signs you in to a Nodaro Cloud account, or creates one. A new account receives the same one-time grant of 1,500 credits. Free-account results are watermarked until the first purchase, and use through a connected install has no daily cap. See Connect to Nodaro Cloud.