Credits And Plans
How much does AI car photography cost per photo?
4 min read
Quick Answer
With Clearcoat, one finished Showroom photo costs one Credit. A Credit costs $0.25 on the Studio Plan ($25 a month for 100) and one sixth of a dollar, about 16.7 cents, on both Studio+ ($50 for 300) and Ultra ($100 for 600). You pay only for photos Clearcoat delivers: a photo that fails or that you cancel returns its Credit automatically. New accounts start with 6 free Credits, no credit card required.
What each Clearcoat Plan costs per photo
Every photo costs exactly one Credit, whichever Showroom, Plate Treatment or aspect ratio you choose. The per-photo price is the monthly price divided by the monthly Credits:
| Plan | Monthly price | Credits a month | Cost per photo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free start | $0 | 6, once | $0 |
| Studio | $25 | 100 | $0.25 |
| Studio+ | $50 | 300 | $0.1667 (16⅔ cents) |
| Ultra | $100 | 600 | $0.1667 (16⅔ cents) |
Studio+ and Ultra share the same rate: $50 / 300 and $100 / 600 both come to one sixth of a dollar, which the pricing page rounds to $0.17. Ultra doubles the allowance at double the price. Choose it because you need more than 300 photos a month, not for a cheaper photo.
Prices are in US dollars and exclude any applicable taxes.
What one Credit pays for
A Credit pays for a delivered photo, and nothing else. When you generate in the Studio, Clearcoat reserves one Credit for each selected photo. The Credit is spent only when that photo is delivered. If a photo fails, Clearcoat retries eligible failures automatically, up to three attempts, all inside the same Credit. If it still cannot deliver the photo, or you cancel it, the Credit comes back to your balance and the Studio marks it "Credit returned."
That is the practical reason Clearcoat's price is easy to plan around: your cost follows the photos you can actually put on a listing. A failed attempt, a retry or a canceled photo does not appear on the bill.
The one Credit also covers everything the Studio does to that photo:
- Placing the car in any Showroom, including one you create yourself. Creating a Showroom spends no Credits.
- Plate Treatment, whether you hide the plate or keep it as photographed.
- Any of the four aspect ratios: 3:2, 4:3, 16:9 or 1:1.
- A finished JPEG of about 2K, with no watermark.
What the Credit buys is your real car in a clean Showroom. Clearcoat keeps the car's own paint, badges, wheels, trim and wear from your photo, and nothing on the car is redrawn, so the photo you pay for is one you can list as the vehicle on your lot.
Credits belong to the Team, so one allowance covers everyone who photographs and lists your inventory.
What does one car cost?
Multiply your photos per car by the per-photo rate. For example, using a hypothetical set of 20 photos per car:
| Plan | Cost for 20 photos | Cars a month at 20 photos |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | 20 × $0.25 = $5.00 | 100 / 20 = 5 |
| Studio+ | 20 × $0.1667 = $3.33 | 300 / 20 = 15 |
| Ultra | 20 × $0.1667 = $3.33 | 600 / 20 = 30 |
At 24 photos, the most one Generation takes, a car costs $6.00 on Studio and $4.00 on Studio+ or Ultra. Your own number depends on how many photos you list per vehicle.
If you are comparing against a per-vehicle photo service, convert its quote to a cost per usable photo and check whether reshoots or rejected images are billed. Keep in mind that a photographer's fee also pays for someone to shoot the car, while Clearcoat works from the photos your team already takes on the lot.
Which Plan should I choose?
Choose the smallest Plan whose monthly allowance covers the photos you list in a typical month. At the start of each billing period, Clearcoat raises your balance to the Plan's allowance if it is below it. Unused Credits are not added on top of the next month's allowance, so buying more than you use raises your real cost per photo:
- 150 photos a month fits Studio+: $50 / 150 = about $0.33 per photo in practice.
- 400 photos a month fits Ultra: $100 / 400 = $0.25 per photo in practice.
The listed rate is the floor you reach by using the full allowance. If a month runs short, the Studio shows the Credits a Generation needs next to your available balance and does not start a Generation it cannot fully cover.
For the same reason, use your free Credits before you subscribe. Subscribing raises the balance to the allowance, so 4 leftover free Credits become 100 on Studio, not 104.
How to start
- Sign up and generate with your 6 free Credits. They produce full photos, with no credit card required.
- When you are ready for a Plan, there is no quote to request: the prices above are the prices. The Team Owner opens Settings, then Plan, and chooses Studio, Studio+ or Ultra. The Studio's "Get more" link goes to the same place.
- Your Credits are available to every member of the Team.
Plans renew monthly. If you cancel, you keep your Credits and access until the end of the period you paid for; after that, the remaining balance can no longer be spent. The full billing terms, including refunds and price-change notice, are in the Clearcoat Terms under Credits and billing.
