ComicInk subscription plans: Basic and Plus

ComicInk has two monthly plans: ComicInk Basic at $9.99/month, the lower-priced plan, and ComicInk Plus at $19.99/month. For accounts created after subscriptions launched, a plan is how you get more credits on the web once the 100 free ones are spent, and it keeps Sidekick going after your free messages; credit packs are available as top-ups on top of either plan. Customers who were already buying packs before subscriptions launched can keep doing that without subscribing.

What each plan costs and what you get

• ComicInk Basic — $9.99/month. 1,500 credits added automatically on each billing date, and 150 Sidekick messages a month.
• ComicInk Plus — $19.99/month. 4,500 credits added automatically on each billing date, and unlimited Sidekick — no message limits for as long as your subscription is active.

Both plans work the same way otherwise:

• Unused credits roll over and never expire, and they stay yours if you cancel.
• You can top up with a credit pack any time while your plan is active.
• You can cancel any time — there's no lock-in.
• Credits cost the same on both plans: 50 for a comic page or cover, 10 for a character or asset image. See what costs credits.

Which plan is right for me? The difference between Basic and Plus

If $19.99 a month is more than you need, ComicInk Basic is the cheaper plan at $9.99 a month. The two differences are how many credits arrive each month and how much Sidekick you get.

• Choose ComicInk Basic if you mostly make comics at a steady pace. 1,500 credits is about 30 pages or covers a month, and 150 Sidekick messages a month is more than most people type.
• Choose ComicInk Plus if you make a lot of pages, lean on Sidekick all day, or make Story Videos. 4,500 credits is about 90 pages a month, and Sidekick has no limit.

For making videos, Plus is the plan that fits. One 10-second video scene at 720p costs about 1,500 credits, so a month of Basic covers roughly one scene, while a month of Plus covers roughly three. On either plan you can add a credit pack when a video needs more — see Story Video credits and costs.

Where to choose a plan

The plan chooser is titled Choose your plan and shows two cards — Basic first, then Plus, which is marked Best value. Pick a card and click Continue to payment. The same two plans are laid out side by side on the Pricing page (/pricing) under Pick your plan. The chooser opens from three places:

• The Credits page (/dashboard/credits) — click Subscribe.
• Sidekick, when your free messages run out — click See plans — from $9.99/mo.
• The out-of-credits popup that appears when you try to generate something without enough credits.

Sidekick messages on ComicInk Basic

ComicInk Basic includes 150 Sidekick messages a month, shared across comic Sidekick and video Sidekick.

• A message is something you type and send. Answering a question Sidekick asks you — tapping one of its suggested answers, or typing your own reply to it — doesn't count. Neither do Sidekick's own follow-up steps, or the updates the app sends on its own (such as telling Sidekick your script has finished writing).
• The allowance resets on your billing date — the day your plan renews — not on the first of the calendar month. Your renewal date is shown on the Credits page as "Renews" followed by the date.
• Unused messages don't carry over to the next month. (Unused credits do.)
• To see how many you've used, open the Credits page (/dashboard/credits): the line under the credit packs that shows your renewal date also shows "Sidekick: N of 150 messages used this period".

When you've used all 150: Sidekick's message box is replaced by a notice — "You've used this month's Sidekick messages" — that tells you the date they come back, with an Upgrade to Plus for unlimited Sidekick button if you don't want to wait. Everything else keeps working: the script editor, generating pages, characters and videos, and your credits. Only chatting with Sidekick pauses until the reset date.

ComicInk Plus has no message allowance to run out — Sidekick is unlimited.

How do I change plan — switch from Basic to Plus, or Plus to Basic?

Basic to Plus: open the Credits page (/dashboard/credits) or Billing and choose Upgrade to Plus. It takes effect straight away: $19.99 is charged to your card that day, 4,500 credits are added immediately, Sidekick becomes unlimited, and your plan renews monthly from that day. Credits you already have stay in your account. If you run out of Sidekick messages on Basic, the notice in Sidekick has the same Upgrade to Plus button. If your card is declined, nothing changes.

Plus to Basic: choose Cancel subscription on the Credits or Billing page. The same window offers Switch to Basic next to the cancel button. Switching takes effect at your next renewal date: you keep Plus, with unlimited Sidekick, until then, and from that date you pay $9.99 a month for 1,500 credits and 150 Sidekick messages. Until the date, the Credits page shows "Switching to Basic on …" with a Keep Plus button if you change your mind. Cancelling instead still works exactly as before.

Do I have to subscribe?

If you're new to ComicInk (web): yes, once you want more than your 100 free credits. Credit packs on the web are top-ups for subscribers, so a plan — Basic or Plus — is the first step; after that you can add any pack any time. The iOS app is different — in-app credit purchases there work without a subscription.

If you'd already bought credits before subscriptions launched: no. If that's you, Sidekick keeps working exactly as it does today, with no message limit, and you can keep buying credit packs and spending them at your own pace. You are never required to subscribe. A plan is an option for people who want monthly credits without thinking about it, not a requirement to keep the assistant working.

Either way, every new account gets 10 free Sidekick messages to start — shared across comic and video Sidekick — and a plan is what keeps Sidekick going after that. See the next section.

10 free Sidekick messages

Every new account gets 10 free Sidekick messages to try the assistant before deciding whether to subscribe. This is:

• Lifetime, not recurring — it's a one-time allowance, not a daily or monthly refresh.
• Shared across both surfaces — comic Sidekick and video Sidekick draw from the same pool of 10, not 10 each.
• Only messages you type count. Answering a question Sidekick asks you — tapping one of its suggested answers, or typing your own reply to it — is free. So are the updates the app sends on its own, such as telling Sidekick that your script has finished writing or that you saved a character.

Once you've used your 10 free messages, continuing to use Sidekick requires a plan — ComicInk Basic (150 messages a month) or ComicInk Plus (unlimited) — unless you're an existing pay-as-you-go customer from before subscriptions launched, in which case Sidekick stays included with your credit packs (see above). Everything else on ComicInk — writing and editing scripts by hand, browsing, publishing — stays free regardless of Sidekick access.

Cancelling

You can cancel any time, on either plan. On the Credits page, click Cancel subscription. (Manage billing, next to it, opens the billing portal for invoices, receipts and card changes.) Cancelling stops future monthly charges and future credit grants — it does not undo anything you've already paid for.

Three things change when the cancellation takes effect:

• Your plan's Sidekick access ends — unlimited Sidekick on Plus, the monthly messages on Basic. You go back to the free-message allowance for your account.
• You can no longer buy credit packs. Pack purchases come with an active subscription, so once yours ends the packs are no longer available to buy. (This doesn't apply if you'd already bought credits before subscriptions launched — see "Do I have to subscribe?" above. Those accounts keep buying packs exactly as before.)
• Your existing credits stay yours. See the next section.

Resubscribing restores all of it immediately.

What happens to my credits if I cancel?

You keep them. Credits your plan granted you are yours — they roll over month to month while you're subscribed, and they don't disappear or get clawed back if you cancel. That's the same on Basic and Plus. There's no expiration on any credits, subscription-granted or otherwise. Cancelling only stops the next monthly grant and ends your plan's Sidekick access; your existing balance stays exactly as it was, and you can keep spending it.

Signing up is unaffected

Neither plan changes what a new account gets at signup: 100 free credits with no card, and 2 free comic renders, same as always. A plan only comes in when you want more credits than that. See sign up and get 100 free credits.

iOS

Buying credits in the iOS app works the same as before — nothing about the in-app purchase flow changed. Both plans are bought and managed on the web.

Related

• How credits work
• Buying credit packs
• What costs credits, what doesn't
• Sidekick

Updated on: 14/10/2026