# Understand Sparks

> joli.studio’s internal currency. A glyph, a number, written the same way before and after the call — so you always know what the AI costs you.

Updated 2026-10-03

Models bill by the token, the millisecond and the pixel: three units nobody wants to think about while writing a post. joli.studio replaces them with a single one, the **Spark**. An organization receives them, spends them, buys more. The dollar never leaves our servers.

## What an action costs

A cost is always written the same way: the glyph, then the number. No spelled-out unit, no “about” sign. **An estimate and an expense look identical** — the context tells you which is which: before the call, the button carries the estimate; afterwards, the history line carries the real figure.

| Action | Cost |
|---|---|
| Rewrite a sentence | ✦ 1 |
| Adapt a caption while adapting a post | ✦ 1 |
| Analyze your tracking results | ✦ 1 |
| Write a reference’s profile | ✦ 1 |
| One turn of a reference interview | ✦ 1 |
| Suggest hook variants | ✦ 1 |
| Write a caption | ✦ 2 |
| Analyze a website | ✦ 4 |
| Ask the chat for a change | ✦ 4 |
| Write a post from a slot | ✦ 6 |
| Try a reference in a scene | ✦ 8 |
| Draw three castings for a reference | ✦ 11 |
| Generate a square image (1:1), high quality | ✦ 14 |
| Generate a 4:5 image, high quality | ✦ 17 |
| Generate a 9:16 image, high quality | ✦ 23 |
| Draw a reference’s sheet, from two photos | ✦ 26 |
| Write the strategy | ✦ 27 |

Three caveats beat a round number. An image is paid for **by area and by quality**: a square costs less than a 9:16, and high quality, which posts get by default, costs more than standard — ✦ 4, ✦ 5 and ✦ 6 for the same images. Quality is set for the whole post, and every level shows its cost. Each **attached** image then adds up: a 4:5 image in high quality goes from ✦ 17 to ✦ 20 with a reference’s sheet, and to ✦ 23 with the series anchor on top. Finally, a compound action — a post and its images, a conversion into a carousel — has no fixed price: its estimate is worked out on the spot, from the format, the ratio and the number of images you chose.

Costs always appear in the same place: anything that calls a model carries the blue flame, shows its estimated cost before and its real cost after, and can be undone.

> **What the 300 trial Sparks are for**
>
> ✦ 300, offered only once per person, with the first organization you create, as soon as your address is confirmed: enough to analyze your website, write a strategy and get your first posts out. Further organizations start with 0 Sparks (see [Create another organization](/en/guide/create-another-organization/)).

## Where to read your balance

The bottom of the sidebar permanently shows **Sparks · September** with the current organization’s balance; the card also flags an overdue payment. Click it for the detail: the organization’s page, **Sparks and plan** tab.

The top card, **Organization balance**, gives the total and then how it breaks down:

- the “subscription · expires October 25” part — the current slice’s Sparks;
- the “top-ups · never expire” part.

On the right, the current month: what has been spent, how much of the subscription is already used, and the daily pace. No forecast for the end of the month: the line only adds “low balance” when less than a tenth of the subscription is left, and “balance empty, AI calls on hold” when nothing is.

## What expires, what stays

> **Subscription Sparks do not roll over**
>
> They are granted every month on the anniversary of the subscription (the calendar month for a plan offered by the team) and expire at the next grant. Top-ups and the trial grant never expire, and neither do Sparks added by the joli.studio team, unless the team sets an expiry date.

Spending takes **whatever expires soonest first**, then the grants that never expire, oldest to newest. In other words: you burn through the month’s subscription before touching your top-ups, and you never lose Sparks you could have spent.

## The operations log

Still in the **Sparks and plan** tab, the **Operations** card lists grants and spending, with three filters: **All**, **Top-ups**, **Spending**. Every expense carries its project and its action: “site analysis”, “strategy”, “image generated”, “post written”, “review”, “converted to slides”… A member reads this history; only admins buy.

## When there are none left

Before each call, the estimate is **reserved** on the balance; the real cost replaces it once the action is done, and a canceled action gives back what it didn’t spend. When the balance runs a little short, a small overdraft is tolerated — about ten Sparks — and taken from the next grant.

The app stays entirely usable: only the AI actions stop. A refused call says “Out of Sparks: the organization balance is empty.” or, when you are just short, “6 Sparks short.” with the balance left, plus a **Top up** button that takes you straight to the **Sparks and plan** tab of the organization concerned.

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Source: https://joli.studio/en/guide/understand-sparks/