AI tokens
Every AI feature in Ascend spends tokens from one workspace-wide pool. Tokens are the unit the underlying models charge in, and they are metered rather than sold per request, so a short question costs less than a long document.
What spends them
The AI Advisor, the Assistant, the Command Palette, document tagging and schema inference all draw from the same allowance. There is no separate quota per feature.
The Transactions table on the Billing page, filtered to Usage, lists each charge with the feature that made it and the tokens it consumed. That is the place to look when the allowance is going faster than expected.
What you get
| Plan | Allowance | Refills? |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 50,000 | No — a one-time credit |
| Solo | 1,000,000 per month | Yes |
| Studio | 5,000,000 per month | Yes |
| Trial | 5,000,000 per month | Yes, for the 30 days |
Free's 50,000 is a lifetime credit, not a monthly quota. It exists so you can see what the AI features actually do before deciding whether they are worth paying for. Once it is gone, AI features stop until you subscribe.
On Solo and Studio the allowance refills monthly. The Billing page shows the exact refill date under Next reset.
Unused tokens do not roll over
The monthly allowance resets to the plan amount on the refill date. A quiet month does not bank tokens for a busy one.
Buying more
Settings → Billing → Buy AI Tokens, or the Add-ons card. A bundle is 1,000,000 tokens for $10, charged once. It is added to your balance and does not renew.
Bundles are worth buying when a specific piece of work needs the headroom. If you are buying them every month, the next plan up is usually cheaper.
Rate limits
Separately from the allowance, there are burst limits so that one runaway loop cannot drain a month's tokens in an afternoon:
- 50 AI requests per user per hour
- 200 AI requests per user per day
- 1,000 AI requests per workspace per day
These are guards against runaway usage, not a second quota. Normal work does not reach them. If you do, the limit clears on its own — hourly limits after the hour, daily after the day.
Running out
AI features stop working and prompt you to top up. Nothing else in Ascend is affected: pages, databases, inbox, time tracking and invoicing all keep working exactly as before.
To restore them, buy a bundle, upgrade, or wait for the monthly refill.
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