The rules
- Pro includes 1,500 credits a month.
- One credit is one minute of audio that Soniox processed. Pauses count too: Soniox hears the silence as well.
- The month starts on the day you paid. Buy on the 28th and fresh credits arrive on the 28th of every month, on a yearly plan as well. If you paid on the 29th, 30th or 31st, shorter months renew on their last day.
- Credits do not carry over. Whatever is left at the end of the month expires, and a new 1,500 arrive.
The other engines do not use credits. With Pro they have no limit at all.
Where to see the balance
While Soniox is your online engine, a Credits row sits above the Quality and Speed lamps: a small glass indicator with fifteen green cells, one for each hundred credits, and the number left. Hover over it for the details, including the date they renew. For any other engine the row reads UNLIMITED.
The mini tube and mini meter show the same number on a tab that slides out from them.
When the credits run out
Dictation does not stop. It continues with Google until the credits renew, and a recording that runs out in the middle carries on with Google without a break. Soniox stays your choice and is used again once credits are back.
Long recordings
A Soniox recording can be as long as a meeting or a lecture. Behind the scenes it is split into stretches of about five minutes, and the switch happens on a pause so no words are lost. Now and then a full stop appears where two stretches meet.
Spend fewer credits
- Stop the recording with the hotkey when you finish instead of waiting for auto-stop.
- Keep auto-stop short. On online engines it is always on and waits 60 seconds at most, so a forgotten microphone costs a minute, not an hour.
- For long dictation with pauses to think, an offline model costs nothing; see engines.