How do credits and email verification work?

Sound familiar?

You have seen the credits number at the top of your screen and the mentions of "verification", and you are not sure what you are spending, on what, or why some of your imported addresses need "verifying" at all. Two minutes of orientation saves recurring confusion 💳.

What's happening

Credits are the platform's currency for email work. They pay for two things: verifying email addresses (checking an address really exists and accepts mail, before you send to it) and sending emails. Your balance shows at the top right of every page, and the full picture lives in Settings → Account Settings → Credits: buy packs there, use the Co-Kinetic Credit Calculator (tell it how many addresses you'll verify and emails you'll send, choose your currency, press Calculate Credits), and optionally switch on Credits Auto Top-up so a campaign never stalls mid-send.

Why it works this way

Verification is what protects your sender reputation. Sending to dead or mistyped addresses gets you bounces; enough bounces and inbox providers start filing you — and everyone on our platform — under junk. Verifying first keeps your deliverability (and everyone's) healthy, which is why it is built into the economics rather than optional. Metering by credits keeps the model fair: light email users aren't subsidising heavy ones 🙂.

What to do now

Check your balance — top right, next to your name.
Before a big import or campaign, run the calculator — Settings → Account Settings → Credits: enter how many addresses you'll verify and how many emails you'll send, and it tells you what you need.
To buy credits: select a credits package first, then press Purchase Credits.
Decide on Auto Top-up — off by default; turn it on if you would rather never think about balance again.
Keep your list clean — remove long-dead contacts rather than paying to verify and send to them; a smaller engaged list beats a big cold one in every metric that matters.

The question behind the question

"Why did my contact import 'use up' credits before I sent anything?" That is verification doing its job — each new address is checked before it can be safely mailed. It feels like a cost; it is actually the thing keeping your future emails out of spam folders. Budget for it with the calculator when planning an import 📊.

The next question is usually...

How do I add contacts and create audiences in Co-Kinetic?
How do I create a nurture email workflow?
How do I manage my subscription, payment details and receipts?

Still stuck? This usually means...

A send seems not to have gone out. Check your balance first — an empty balance pauses email work; top up (or enable Auto Top-up) and it resumes.
You are not sure how many credits something will cost. The calculator is the answer — it exists precisely for this.
Your balance looks wrong. Tell us in the chat with roughly what you expected and when — we can trace exactly where credits went.