In May 2026 monday.com changed how it charges for AI. Seats still pay for the people using the platform, and AI features such as Sidekick, agents, AI Notetaker, AI blocks, AI workflows and monday vibe now draw on a pool of AI credits. If your team has started using AI in monday.com, or your next renewal is coming up, this is what Australian teams need to know.
What changed
- Seats plus credits. Seats cover the people using monday.com. AI credits cover the AI work those people trigger.
- Who it applies to. Customers who joined the monday AI work platform from 6 May 2026 are on the new model. Existing customers can opt in through support or their account team.
- When charging started. Credit consumption began for Sidekick on 20 May 2026 and for monday agents on 8 June 2026.
- One pool per account. Credits are pooled at the account level, not per person, so one heavy user or one busy automation can use credits that the rest of the team was counting on.
How many credits each AI feature uses
monday.com publishes typical credit ranges for each feature. The exact amount depends on how complex the request is, how much board data the AI reads and which model it uses.
| Feature | Typical credits |
|---|---|
| Sidekick (per message) | 10 to 30 for a simple request, 30 to 80 intermediate, 80 to 150 complex, 150+ extra complex |
| monday agents (per run) | 10 to 50 simple, 50 to 150 intermediate, 150 to 250 complex, 250+ extra complex |
| AI blocks | 8 per action (repeat actions on the same item within 24 hours count once) |
| AI Notetaker | 120 per meeting hour |
| AI workflows | Varies with the complexity of each run |
| monday vibe | Credits per build prompt, and per run for published apps that use AI |
What credits cost
monday.com lists extra credits at US$0.01 per credit on yearly billing and US$0.0125 per credit on monthly billing, sold in buckets, with lower rates for larger buckets. Paid plans include an allocation of credits, and the size of that allocation depends on your plan. Check your current balance in Administration, AI governance, Credits. For seat prices in Australian dollars, see our monday.com pricing guide for Australia.
A worked example using those published numbers: a team that records 20 hours of meetings a month with AI Notetaker uses about 2,400 credits a month, or roughly US$24 at the yearly rate. Add 300 intermediate Sidekick messages at around 50 credits each and you use another 15,000 credits, roughly US$150. Your own numbers will differ, but the pattern is clear: conversational AI and agents drive most of the spend.
Five ways to keep AI costs predictable
- Turn on usage alerts. monday.com notifies admins at 80% and 100% of usage. Make sure those alerts reach someone who can act on them.
- Set account limits in AI governance. Admins can see which features use the most credits and set limits for the account.
- Use AI blocks for repeat work. At 8 credits per action, a well-designed AI block in an automation is far cheaper than asking Sidekick the same question every day.
- Keep boards lean. Sidekick and agents read board context. Archiving stale items and columns reduces what the AI reads on each request.
- Decide who can use what. On Enterprise, AI permissions control which roles can use each AI feature.
When a Health Check pays for itself
If credits are disappearing faster than expected, the cause is usually structural: duplicated automations, oversized boards or agents doing work a simple automation could do. Our fixed-price monday.com Health Check reviews your account, finds what drives AI usage and gives you a prioritised fix list. If you are still deciding whether to set up monday.com yourself, the DIY or partner self-check is a good place to start, and our guide to whether monday.com is free covers the plans.
Common questions
Are AI credits charged in Australian dollars?
monday.com publishes credit prices in US dollars. Your invoice currency and any GST depend on how your account is billed, so check your billing settings or ask your account team.
What happens when we run out of credits?
Some AI features keep running briefly after you reach the limit so you can top up, then AI usage may be paused until you buy more credits or the next billing cycle starts.
Do monday CRM, monday dev and monday service use the same credits?
monday.com’s AI Credits article covers the monday AI work platform. monday vibe credits also apply across CRM, dev and service. Check the pricing for each product you use.
