Track and understand your media minutes and AI credits

All Descript plans include two types of usage “currency:” Media minutes and AI Credits.

The total amount allocated to your drive depends on how many Editor seats are on the subscription. Each seat adds to the shared pool of Media minutes and AI Credits. Any Editor can use these resources. Viewers, and project-level Editors cannot use features that require Media minutes or AI Credits. Learn more about Drive membership roles.

This article covers:

On a Legacy or Sunset plan?

This article explains how usage is tracked on Descript’s current plans. If you’re on a Legacy or Sunset plan, usage works differently. See our Understanding your Legacy and Sunset plan guide for details.

What are media minutes?

Media minutes are the time you use when uploading or recording media in Descript — including video, audio, Room sessions, and screen, webcam, or microphone recordings. Still images count as 1 second each. In Descript, we refer to this usage as Media minutes; you may also see it referred to as media hours — both terms describe the same concept.

Media minutes are used when you:

  • Upload audio or video files
  • Record directly in Descript (Rooms or in a project)
  • Add still images (1 image = 1 second)

Unused Media minutes don’t roll over month to month.

Recording in Rooms

Rooms recordings use your media minutes, but only for the total length of the session — not per participant.

For example, a 1-hour session with 5 participants will use 60 media minutes, not 300. 

What are AI credits?

AI Credits are the units Descript uses to measure your use of AI-powered features. You use AI Credits whenever you apply or generate content using Descript’s AI tools, such as:

Unused AI Credits don’t roll over month to month.

Chatting with Underlord uses AI credits

Even if you’re just chatting with Underlord and not using a specific AI tool, each message still uses a few AI credits. Underlord is powered by AI, so every interaction draws from your credit balance.

How many credits does each feature cost?

AI feature costs come in two flavors: some are predictable costs that scale with the size of the job, while others are non-deterministic and depend on what the AI ends up doing.

When you apply AI features and effects manually

Cost scales with the size of the job. Run the same input twice and you'll be charged the same amount both times.

Things that affect what you pay:

Some tools have a cost ceiling

Studio Sound and Remove Filler Words have a max cost of 30 credits per file/tool application. So even if you apply these tools to a lengthy file, you won't be charged more than 30 credits per use.

When you work with Underlord

You can prompt Underlord with anything: edit any length of media, generate any kind of image, ask for any kind of help. That makes it non-deterministic, meaning the same kind of task can use different amounts of credits depending on the length of media, the model selected, or what the AI ends up generating. There's no fixed price per action, but your Usage tab shows exactly what each run cost. 

When Underlord runs a tool or applies an effect on your behalf, you'll be charged for both:

  • The "agent brain" (Underlord figuring out what to do)
  • The tool itself (doing the actual work)

View your usage

Check your usage of media minutes and AI credits anytime from the Usage tab in your App settings.

  1. Open your Settings panel
  2. Choose a drive from the drop-down selector menu
  3. In the left sidebar, select the Usage tab

Open your Usage tab directly

Usage tab in Descript

Need additional media minutes or AI Credits?

If you reach your monthly limit, you can add more Media minutes or AI Credits by purchasing a Top up from the Usage tab in your App Settings. Top ups are shared across your Drive and are available for one-time use without changing your subscription plan. Learn more about Top ups.