--- title: "Out of credits mid-campaign — what happens & how to fix it | FirstSales" description: "You hit zero credits and operations start getting skipped. See exactly what pauses, what each action costs, and how to top up and get running again." canonical: "https://firstsales.io/tutorial/ran-out-of-credits/" --- [Home](/)/[Tutorials](/tutorial/)/Out of credits mid-campaign — what happens & how to fix it Billing & Credits # Out of credits mid-campaign — what happens & how to fix it You hit zero credits and operations start getting skipped. See exactly what pauses, what each action costs, and how to top up and get running again. 4 min read·Beginner·6 steps 1. 1 ## Read the symptom: operations started getting skipped A campaign stalled, or you noticed operations getting skipped. You’ve hit zero credits: credit-consuming actions — AI drafting, lead finding, contact verification — can’t run without balance, so they skip or pause. Some non-AI actions still complete normally. 2. 2 ## What still works vs. what stops Imports still land, but the **verification step is skipped** — you’ll see an amber banner: _“Contacts imported but not verified — insufficient credits.”_ AI email drafting and AI Leads sourcing both need credits, so at zero they can’t generate — which is often why a campaign goes quiet. See _My campaign isn’t sending_ if that’s what you’re seeing. 3. 3 ## Understand what costs what Budget with the real numbers: AI Leads is **1 credit per lead found** (as shown on the harvester screen) plus **0.2 credits per contact** for cleaning; AI emails are **2 credits (Standard)** or **8 credits (Premium)**; a manual email is **1 credit**. The full authoritative per-action table lives in _Understand credits & billing_ — check it if a number here looks off, since different screens in the app can show slightly different figures for the same action. ![Understand what costs what](/tutorials/billing-01-overview.webp) 4. 4 ## Top up Click the **“Top up credits”** link on the banner, or go to Billing → **Buy top-up credits**. Pick a quick amount (**$50 / $100 / $250 / $500**) or enter a custom amount (**minimum $50, maximum $10,000**) — **$1 = 100 credits**. Checkout completes through Dodo. 5. 5 ## Resume the skipped work Once credits land, re-run whatever skipped: **re-verify** the imported-but-unverified contacts (0.2 credits/contact), and confirm the campaign starts drafting and sending again. 6. 6 ## Prevent the next stall Turn on the low-credit alert in the Alerts center so you’re warned before hitting zero, and top up in advance of any big lead-sourcing run. ## Pro tips Hard-won shortcuts that keep warm-up on track. 1 ### You don’t lose imported contacts Running out of credits doesn't lose your imported contacts — it just skips verifying them. Top up, then re-verify at 0.2 credits each. 2 ### Budget before big runs AI Leads costs roughly 1 credit per lead found plus 0.2 to clean each. Source 1,000 leads and your balance needs to match. 3 ### $1 = 100 credits, $50 minimum Buy a buffer so a mid-campaign zero never stalls your sends. 4 ### Turn on the low-credit alert Getting warned at a threshold beats discovering zero when a campaign goes silent. ## Frequently asked questions Why did my operations start getting skipped? You hit zero credits. Credit-consuming actions (AI drafting, lead finding, verification) can’t run without balance, so they skip or pause until you top up. Did I lose the contacts I imported? No. Imports still complete at zero credits — only the _verification_ step is skipped, shown as “imported but not verified.” Re-verify after topping up. What does each action cost? AI Leads is around 1 credit per lead found plus 0.2 per contact to clean; AI email is 2 (Standard) or 8 (Premium); manual email is 1; contact cleaning is 0.2 each. The full authoritative table is in the billing/credits tutorial. How do I add credits? Billing → Buy top-up credits. Choose $50/$100/$250/$500 or a custom amount ($50–$10,000). $1 = 100 credits. Payment goes through Dodo. Is there a minimum top-up? Yes, $50\. The maximum is $10,000 per purchase. Will my campaign auto-resume after I top up? The skipped AI actions can run again once you have balance — re-check the campaign and re-verify any contacts that were skipped. How do I avoid this next time? Enable the low-credit alert and top up a buffer before large lead-sourcing runs. ## Ready to put this into practice? Start your FirstSales trial and launch a warmed, authenticated mailbox in minutes. [Start for $1](https://app.firstsales.io) [All tutorials](/tutorial/)