Consumption order
Credits live in grants. Each grant has a source, an amount, the remaining credits and an expiry date:
| Grant | Created | Expires |
|---|---|---|
subscription |
At the start of each billing month (yearly plans get monthly grants too; Free: each calendar month) | End of that month |
pack |
When you buy a credit pack | Purchase + 3, 6 or 12 months |
bonus |
When Frontmail support adds credits | Set per grant |
overdraft |
With each month of a paid plan (overdraft) | End of that month |
The rule: earliest expiry first, overdraft last
Section titled “The rule: earliest expiry first, overdraft last”Every accepted email reserves one credit from the grant that expires first. Expired grants are skipped. The overdraft grant is always used last, even if it expires earlier than a pack.
Example on the Starter plan on 20 March:
| Grant | Remaining | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| subscription | 140 | 31 March |
| pack (25,000) | 18,300 | 12 July |
| overdraft | 300 | 31 March |
The next 140 emails use the subscription grant, then the pack. The overdraft is only touched when the pack is empty too. On 1 April, a new subscription grant appears (expiring 30 April) and becomes first in line again – the pack keeps its remaining credits.
This order guarantees you never lose credits that you could have used: the ones that would expire soonest are always spent first.
When is a credit used?
Section titled “When is a credit used?”- A credit is reserved when the API accepts the message (
queued). - It is confirmed when the provider accepts the message (
sent). - It is refunded to the same grant – if that grant still exists and hasn’t expired – when:
- the message fails permanently (
failed), - the provider rejected your credentials (the message goes to
held_service_errorand reserves a credit again when it is released), - processing failed on our side.
- the message fails permanently (
- Held messages don’t use a credit until they are released.
- Test sends from the editor are free. Auto-replies and resends use one credit each. Batch sends use one credit per message.
Delivery events after sent (bounce, complaint) don’t refund the credit – the provider did the work.
Seeing your balance
Section titled “Seeing your balance”The top bar of the dashboard always shows how many credits you have left. Click it for the breakdown by source (subscription, credit packs, bonus, overdraft) and the nearest expiry. Billing → Credits & ledger lists all grants and the full ledger – every reservation, refund, purchase and expiry with its reason.