The principle: billing by usage instead of per user
With PaperOffice AI you do not pay a price per head. You choose a plan with a monthly base price and included processing credit, and billing follows usage. User accounts are included in every paid plan, and twenty employees already fit into the smallest paid plan. Which plan fits depends mainly on how many documents you process.
Where your plan allows additional user accounts, you can add them at any time; they are paid and billed with the next renewal. The free plan has only one account.
What Credits are
Credits are the usage quota of your organization. Every action that uses AI, document processing or the API consumes Credits. This applies in the web app, the desktop app and the mobile app, through agents and through the API.
The credit pool is shared by the entire organization. It does not belong to a single user or device. If a colleague processes documents, the Credits come from the same pool as yours.
Plan credits, wallet and invoices
- The plan includes monthly plan credits and the plan features. Plan credits reset on the billing date.
- The wallet (account balance) pays for usage beyond the plan credits, for plan renewals and for top-ups. Usage beyond the plan credits is deducted from the wallet once a monthly limit for this is active.
- Invoices are the receipts for your payments. You can download them in the app.
Plan, wallet and invoices are in the web and desktop app under billing, not in the mobile app:
- Current plan and wallet:
/en/paperoffice-account/billing/overview - Plans:
/en/paperoffice-account/billing/plans - Invoices:
/en/paperoffice-account/billing/invoices
Other interface languages use the same paths with their language code.
Which features are paid
In the app, every feature that uses AI, document processing or the API is a paid feature and consumes Credits. The most important examples:
- Document processing on upload and import: reading, classifying and extracting, depending on the AI-DMS tier of the workspace. Higher tiers consume more Credits.
- AI features on documents, for example chatting with documents, IDP agents, workflow agents, the Split Agent, the Trust Agent and the 3-way match.
- The security audit with fraud risk score and VAT ID check in AI-DMS Ultra.
- Conversation Agents on the phone and in the website chat, the automatic conversation analysis and the translation of transcripts.
- Text messages to recipients and callers, and calls through a phone share.
- Reminders for automatically created deadline tasks, once you switch them on in the workspace.
- Website sources in Knowledge Base AI: every crawl run is charged in advance.
- Operational sources for business data: fetches, new or changed records, messages and stored records.
- AI help in Helpdesk AI tickets.
- Calls through the API and through AI connectors such as Claude, ChatGPT, Grok or Cursor.
In the app, paid options are marked as paid. The current prices are on the pricing page.
What is free
- The web tools on paperoffice.ai, for example merge, split, redact or sign PDFs. They run in the browser and file nothing in a workspace.
- The web tool “Image to text” for short documents of up to 5 pages. It returns only text and saves nothing in a workspace.
- Reading and the basic features of the PaperOffice PDF Reader without signing in. More tools and AI in the Reader need an account and are paid.
The free plan needs no credit card. It includes the document management with workspaces, folders, versions, search and access rights, plus one-time starter credits. Once these are used up, further processing needs a paid plan or wallet credit. Details: Is PaperOffice AI free?
When Credits run out
PaperOffice AI does not delete anything when Credits run out. Files, workspaces and users stay. Documents that are already stored remain readable.
What stops is new processing: import, upload with AI-DMS, IDP agents, workflow agents and other paid actions can be refused until Credits are available again. The app shows a notice in this case.
- Plan credits reset on the billing date.
- Until then, the wallet can be topped up. Topping up is reserved for the root account or an account with billing rights.
- Users without billing rights ask the root account.
- Auto-refill is available on the same billing page, depending on the plan. It does not replace a missing payment method.
For paying organizations, a short courtesy buffer may apply. It does not replace a top-up or a matching plan.
Top up the wallet
- Sign in with an account that has billing rights, usually the root account.
- Open Licences & billing and then Current plan & billing.
- Top up the wallet.
A top-up can be refused if the billing details, for example tax status or currency, are incomplete. The billing currency is fixed after the first posting.
API and AI connectors
Calls through the API consume Credits from the same pool. Tool calls that an AI assistant makes through the PaperOffice connector are billed exactly like the corresponding API call. There is no separate connector subscription. Some status and health queries are not charged; details are in the API documentation. Reading, searching, extracting, uploading and workflow operations are paid. Calls that are rejected because of invalid input are charged as well; rate-limited calls are not.
You see the calls with their Credits under API & Developer → API Usage: the live log shows each request, the history shows usage by date, handler and action. Rate limits depend on your plan and apply to API and connector calls together. Technical details for developers: Limits and credits.
When Credits run out, calls are rejected with a clear message. Nothing is deleted; the assistant simply cannot run the requested action until Credits are available again.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I pay per user? No. User accounts are included in every paid plan. You pay for usage.
- Is PaperOffice AI free? The free plan is for getting started. Every processing feature consumes Credits; the free plan includes one-time starter credits.
- Are my documents deleted when my Credits run out? No. Only new processing stops.
- Who can top up? In the app, the root account. A top-up requires an active paid plan.
- Where are the prices? On the pricing page. For a quote, use the contact form.