How to Monitor Appifire Usage and Credits

You will monitor Appifire usage and credits on the Billing & Usage screen so you are not surprised mid-sale. When you finish, you will know Free replies remaining or Pro wallet balance, recent AI cost, and when to upgrade or buy credits.

Definitions: What Counts as an Appifire AI Reply?. If chat already stopped: What Happens When You Reach the Appifire Reply Limit?.

Direct answer

Open Appifire → Billing & Usage. Use This month at a glance for remaining capacity (Free replies remaining or Pro credits remaining), AI usage cost (last 30 days), and avg cost per chat. On Free, also read used X of Y replies this month. Review performance stats (including AI replies this month) and Billing history as needed. Confirm live limits on Billing and pricing. Marketing Free allowance is 500 AI replies/month; Pro is $20/month plus a credit wallet.

Prerequisites

• Appifire installed with access to the embedded admin
• Permission to open Billing & Usage
• Know whether the shop is on Free or Pro
• Optional: a weekly calendar reminder before peak campaigns

Step 1: Open Billing & Usage

1. In Shopify admin, open the Appifire AI Chat app.
2. Go to Billing & Usage (page title in-app).
3. Note any banners: plan updated, credits added, or low / critical low balance warnings.
4. Ignore widget Appearance settings for this job; usage lives here.

Expected result: You are on the billing screen, not guessing from chat logs alone.

Step 2: Read “This month at a glance”

This section is your primary meter.

Metric (label may be exact)	Free (typical)	Pro / wallet path (typical)
AI usage cost (last 30 days)	Dollar cost of AI usage in the window	Same
Replies remaining	Shown when Free and wallet is not the path	Prefer Credits remaining (dollar balance)
Credits remaining	Shows if you have leftover USD on Free	Your wallet balance in dollars
Avg cost per chat	Average charged cost per chat in the window	Same
Progress text	You have used X of Y replies this month (Z%).	Progress bar is Free-focused; Pro leans on dollar balance

How to use it:

1. If Free and replies remaining is low, plan an upgrade before a launch.
2. If Pro and credits remaining is near $0, open Buy Credits before chat blocks.
3. Watch avg cost per chat after big catalog or Knowledge Hub changes (longer answers can cost more on Pro).

Expected result: You can say “we have N replies left” or “we have $X credits left” in one sentence.

Step 3: Read performance / demand stats

Below the glance card, Billing shows a Performance summary (labels can include customers this month and AI replies this month). Use them to answer:

• Is traffic to chat rising week over week?
• Are AI replies climbing into a Free-cap danger zone?
• Does Pro spend match a busy support week?

Do not treat “AI replies this month” as a different product from Free’s used count. Cross-check the glance card if the two views ever look confusing after a plan change.

Expected result: You connect shopper demand to capacity, not only to a balance number.

Step 4: Check plan actions and Billing history

1. On Free, find the upgrade / paid plan path when you need more than the monthly reply allowance.
2. On Pro, find Buy Credits and confirm pack amounts in the UI (commonly $10, $20, $50, $100, $200).
3. Open Billing history for completed charges and credit purchases.
4. After a successful top-up, look for a success banner such as credits added, then refresh the glance metrics.

Expected result: You know the next click if capacity is low: upgrade or buy credits.

Step 5: Set a simple monitoring cadence

Cadence	What to check	Action if yellow
Weekly	Replies remaining or credits remaining	Schedule upgrade/top-up before the weekend sale
Before a campaign	Free used % or Pro balance	Top up early; do not wait for a red banner
After UTC day 1 (Free)	Used replies reset	Confirm capacity returned; see reply limit guide if not
When a low-balance banner appears	Credits remaining	Buy credits on Pro immediately

Optional: if Settings offers credit/spending alerts for your shop, turn them on so email backs up the Billing banners. Treat live Billing numbers as the source of truth if an email is delayed.

Expected result: Monitoring is a habit, not an emergency after chat dies.

Step 6: Verify with a controlled test (optional)

1. Note Free used or Pro balance.
2. Send one storefront test question.
3. Refresh Billing & Usage.
4. Free: used should rise by about 1. Pro: credits remaining should drop by a small variable amount.
5. If nothing moved but the bot answered, note UTC time and plan, then use the troubleshooting playbook.

Expected result: You trust the meters enough to coach your team from Billing screenshots.

Common failures and fixes

Failure	Fix
Watching Chats instead of Billing	Usage meters are on Billing & Usage
Mixing Free reply count with Pro dollars	Free = monthly reply cap; Pro = wallet dollars
Ignoring low-balance banners	Top up before the next peak hour
Expecting packs on Free with $0 wallet	Upgrade to Pro first, then Buy Credits
“Reset failed” on local midnight	Free resets on UTC day 1
Testing 20 questions near the Free cap	Each test can use a reply; use staging or wait

Verification checklist

• Opened Billing & Usage this week
• Can state Free replies remaining or Pro credits remaining
• Noted AI usage cost (last 30 days)
• Know next action: wait, upgrade, or Buy Credits
• Checked Billing history after any purchase
• Campaign owners know to check Billing before big launches

When to escalate

Escalate with shop domain, plan, Billing screenshot, and UTC time if:

• Banners say low balance but chat still works with $0 (or the reverse) after refresh
• Free used did not reset after UTC day 1
• A completed Shopify charge never appears in Billing history

Limits and non-goals

• UI labels can move slightly after releases; follow the Billing & Usage page you see.
• Live Billing and pricing win over blog copy.
• Monitoring usage is not the same as measuring storefront conversion from chat.
• Data Sync and Knowledge Hub saves are not Free reply counters.

Related Appifire guides

• What Counts as an Appifire AI Reply?
• What Happens When You Reach the Appifire Reply Limit?
• Appifire Billing and Credits Explained
• Shopify AI Chat Pricing Guide
• Getting Started With Appifire AI Chat
• Or open appifire.com

Last verified

2026-09-08 against the Appifire Billing & Usage UI (This month at a glance, Free used X of Y, credits/replies remaining, AI usage cost last 30 days, avg cost per chat, AI replies this month, Buy Credits, Billing history, low-balance banners). Re-check labels after app updates.

Next action

Open Billing & Usage now. Write down replies remaining or credits remaining. If you are under ~20% Free capacity or a thin Pro balance before a campaign, upgrade or buy credits today, not on launch morning.