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Top-Up Rules and Credit Validity
In one sentence: top up freely in whole multiples of $5, every $5 yields 3,800 credits, there's no volume discount, and purchased credits stay valid for a year.
In one sentence: top up freely in whole multiples of $5, every $5 yields 3,800 credits, there's no volume discount, and purchased credits stay valid for a year.
How to Top Up
On the "Usage" page, click "Top Up" on the credit card to open the top-up window:
- Preset tiers of $10 / $25 / $50 / $100 are provided
- Or adjust with the stepper, in steps of $5, ranging $5 – $500
- After confirming, you're taken to a payment platform to complete the payment; you return to Soniva automatically once it's done, and credits arrive instantly
The window shows the exact credits this top-up yields in real time — trust that number, as it reads the backend's real configuration, not a frontend estimate.
No Volume Discount — On Purpose
| Amount | Credits received | Per dollar |
|---|---|---|
| $5 | 3,800 | 760 |
| $10 | 7,600 | 760 |
| $25 | 19,000 | 760 |
| $50 | 38,000 | 760 |
| $100 | 76,000 | 760 |
There's no tiered discount. $10 and $100 have exactly the same per-credit price.
Why 3,800 Instead of 5,000
The face value of a credit is "1,000 credits = the $1 Soniva actually receives." But your $5 doesn't all reach Soniva — the payment provider takes a cut, and your region's VAT/sales tax is also baked into the amount, roughly 24% in total. Soniva actually receives about $3.8, so it issues 3,800 credits based on the actual amount received.
This rule is identical across both payment providers and doesn't change no matter how much you top up.
This is deliberate. Tiered discounts would force you to agonize over "how much should I buy to get the best deal," while "no discount + 1-year validity" means you can casually top up a small amount and buy more when you run out — no need to stockpile.
This rule is modeled on ComfyUI's credit system — it too uses a single flat rate across the board rather than discounts to coax big purchases, instead relying on a long validity period to remove hoarding anxiety.
Top-Ups Require an Active Subscription
Topping up credits requires an active subscription on your account (any of Plus / Pro / Max).
The reason is to keep the credit pool always attached to a real account and to prevent bulk-registration abuse. If you haven't subscribed yet, the top-up button will guide you to pick a tier first.
The Two Kinds of Credits Have Different Validity
This is the most important thing to remember:
| Credit source | Validity | On expiration |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly subscription grant | Within the current billing cycle | Clears at cycle end; doesn't carry to next month |
| Top-up purchases | 1 year from purchase | Expires after 1 year |
Deduction Order: Grants First, Purchases Last
The system deducts subscription-granted credits first and saves your purchased credits for last.
This works in your favor:
- Granted credits clear at month-end anyway, so spending them first wastes nothing
- Even if you later cancel your subscription, purchased credits stay fully intact and usable within a year
Can I Still Use Purchased Credits After Cancelling
Yes. Purchased credits are independent and usable any time within a year, regardless of whether a subscription is active.
What you lose after cancelling: the monthly auto-grant, and any unused granted credits from the current cycle. Purchased credits are unaffected.
⚠️ Note: using cloud AI voices itself requires an active subscription. After cancelling, even with credits still in your balance, you'll need to resubscribe before those voices can be called again. System built-in voice and Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) are unaffected.
Payment Providers
Soniva currently works with two payment providers, and your top-up runs through the same provider as your subscription — you can't and don't need to choose; the system matches it automatically.
Both providers currently use the same rate ($5 → 3,800 credits). If a provider's fee or tax structure changes in the future, the credits received may differ slightly, and the real number shown in the top-up window is always authoritative.
For why payments redirect to a third party and why invoices aren't issued under Soniva's name, see Subscription Payment, Invoices & Payment Methods.
FAQ
Q: My top-up failed / I paid but credits didn't arrive — what now? First refresh the "Usage" page — normally it auto-syncs when you land back after payment. If it still hasn't arrived after a few minutes, email the receipt (order number) the payment platform sent you to soniva.cde@gmail.com, and the backend can issue a manual credit by order number.
Q: Can I get a refund? Within 14 days of the top-up, and provided none of those credits have been used, you can apply for a full refund. Any batch that's started being consumed isn't refundable (once credits are used, real upstream call costs have been incurred). Refunds require you to proactively email soniva.cde@gmail.com with the order number — we don't auto-detect and auto-refund. Full rules in the Refund Policy.
Q: Will my credits depreciate if rates change? The quantity of credits you've already bought never changes. What changes is the consumption rate — "how many credits per 1,000 chars" — and rate changes stem from the upstream brands themselves repricing (see the change notes at the end of the rate table). In other words: credits won't be confiscated, but if upstream prices rise broadly, the same credits will read fewer characters.
Q: Can I see exactly where each credit went? Yes. The credit ledger on the "Usage" page records how many credits each reading deducted and which brand and model, with a detail view on tap. Top-up and grant deposits appear in the same ledger.
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