AI powers several parts of your community — the assistant, writing help, moderation, and more. As the community owner, it helps to understand how that usage is funded and where to keep an eye on it. There are three pieces: your plan quota, on-demand credits in your wallet, and the option to bring your own provider key (BYOK). This guide is for owners and admins.
Plan quota vs. on-demand credits
Every plan includes a monthly allowance of AI usage. On top of that, you can buy extra capacity as you need it.
| Source | How it works |
|---|---|
| Plan quota | Your monthly allowance. It resets each calendar month. |
| On-demand credits | Extra AI credits you purchase. They roll over and don't expire, so they sit on top of your plan quota until used. |
Your wallet and add-ons
On-demand purchases run through the owner-only Add-ons & on-demand area. Only the community owner can manage it. There you'll find:
- A wallet you top up, with an option to view your top-up and purchase history.
- A card for each metered resource (such as AI requests), showing current usage against your included limit and whether you're in overage.
- The ability to buy extra credits for a resource, and to set up auto-recharge so your balance refills automatically when it runs low.
Whether on-demand AI top-ups are available depends on your plan. If they aren't included, the AI card explains that upgrading your plan is the way to unlock them.
Bring your own key (BYOK)
If your plan supports it, you can connect your own LLM provider instead of using the platform-managed one. In the owner-only AI Provider settings you can:
- Choose a provider — OpenAI, Anthropic, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
- Enter a model, an (encrypted) API key, and an optional base URL and max-tokens value.
- Test the connection before enabling, so a bad key fails loudly rather than silently.
When BYOK is active, AI requests use your provider and account, so the platform's quota and cost no longer apply — you're billed directly by your provider. You can remove the key at any time to revert to the platform-managed provider.
Where usage is tracked
The AI Usage Statistics page in your admin AI area shows how much AI your community is consuming. Expect to see:
- Totals for requests all-time, this week, and this month, plus token volume.
- A daily trend chart and breakdowns by feature and by provider, over a 7-, 30-, or 90-day window.
- Cost figures when you're on BYOK — shown as estimates, so always check your provider's console for exact billing.
Next steps
- Review your plan and what it includes on the pricing page.
- Handle plan changes and invoices in Manage subscription and billing.
- See everything the assistant can do on the AI features page, and set it up in Train your AI copilot.