> For the complete user guide index, see [llms.txt](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/llms.txt).

# Usage and limits

[Canonical page](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/more/usage/)

## Applicability

- **Task:** Read your credit balances and understand what can start or continue
- **Access:** Portrait account; balances and limits depend on the account and organization plan
- **Audience:** Portrait users reviewing their account usage
- **Surfaces:** web
- **Workflow status:** current
- **Availability:** Account-dependent usage and limits
- **Content type:** reference
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-09-24

Open your name in the web app's left navigation, select **Settings**, then **Usage**. This is where you check your allowance, the period it covers, and how much is available before starting more research.

## Normal usage and Mosaic usage

Portrait keeps two separate credit balances. Check the one that applies to the work you want to start.

| Balance | Work counted against it |
|---|---|
| **Normal usage** | Deep Research, Screening, Monitors, Scheduled Research, legacy Chat, and Easel conversations created outside Mosaic |
| **Mosaic usage** | Mosaic Research and Ranking, plus Easel conversations created from Mosaic |

The **Normal usage** panel appears on accounts where Normal usage is enabled. **Mosaic usage** can be visible even when your account cannot open Mosaic. A displayed balance does not itself grant access to a tool or a data source.

An Easel conversation keeps the balance associated with where it was created when you continue it later. Merely opening or rereading a conversation does not start a new chargeable request. See [Mosaic usage and estimates](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/mosaic/usage/) for the difference between a Mosaic run's estimate and your remaining balance.

## Used, Reserved, and Available

| Label | What it means |
|---|---|
| **Used** | Usage already counted against the allowance. It can include estimates for accepted work while its final usage is still being calculated. |
| **Reserved** | Credits set aside for upcoming Monitor and Scheduled Research activity through the end of the current Normal period. These reduce what is available for other work. |
| **Available** | The included credits left after Used and Reserved. It stops at zero when the included allowance is exhausted. |

For example, an allowance of **10,000** credits with **2,000 Used** and **3,000 Reserved** leaves **5,000 Available**. These figures illustrate the calculation; they are not a plan or a price quote.

Under **Normal usage by source**, a source's total includes both its used and reserved credits. **Mosaic usage** has Used and Available, without the separate Monitor reservation segment. Figures can change as accepted work finishes and estimates are replaced by its measured usage. A usage figure is not necessarily a final invoice.

## Your allowance or your organization's allowance

Some plans give each user a separate allowance; others share a pool across the organization. When usage is pooled, the headline and source totals describe the organization's balance. **Your contribution** identifies your own contribution where shown.

The expanded **Monitors** details show your Monitors, even when the summary totals cover the whole organization. Other members' work can therefore reduce the shared balance without appearing in your Monitor list. Shared credits do not automatically share access to research, Projects, or Mosaic results.

## When credits renew

Read the period and date shown for **each** balance. Normal and Mosaic can have different periods.

A balance can use a monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, annual, or lifetime period. A lifetime allowance does not renew.

- Monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, and annual allowances renew at the start of the displayed **Renews** date in US Eastern time.
- **Trial credits** are a one-time allowance. **Available through** is their end date, not a renewal date; waiting does not refill them.
- If Normal usage has no credit limit, the panel shows usage without a remaining-credit figure. Feature access and other limits can still apply.

## How Monitors reserve credits

A Monitor's estimate is monthly, while its reserved credits cover the remaining part of your actual Normal period. A quarterly or annual reservation is therefore not the same as one month's estimate.

Open **Monitors** under **Normal usage by source** to inspect the used and reserved amounts for your Monitors. Monitor usage accrues over the active days of its commitment; it is not a count of emails or matching updates. Ending a Monitor's commitment releases its unused future reservation and retains the amount already used. See [Manage a Monitor](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/monitors/manage-a-monitor/) before archiving or deleting work.

Creating a Monitor checks the proposed reservation before saving it. If that reservation exceeds the available included allowance, creation can be refused even when your organization has pay-as-you-go enabled. Restoring archived Monitors can reserve usage again.

## What happens at a limit

| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Not enough Normal credits | Check Used and Reserved, the renewal date, and whether your plan includes additional pay-as-you-go usage. Contact your account team if more allowance is needed. |
| Not enough Mosaic credits | Check the Mosaic balance and its own period. Normal credits and Normal pay-as-you-go do not replenish it. |
| Too many runs in progress | Let an existing run finish, or cancel work you no longer need and confirm that it has stopped before retrying. |
| Feature not included | Ask your account team about access. A positive credit balance does not remove an access restriction. |
| Easel sessions or message limit reached | Read the [Easel allowance guidance](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/easel/start-a-session/#fixed-session-allowance). A fixed session allowance is separate from credits and does not renew automatically. |

On eligible Normal plans, **pay-as-you-go** means usage beyond the included allowance is counted against the organization's additional allowance. It is subject to its own limit. Mosaic has a separate limit for accepting new work; it does not fall back to Normal pay-as-you-go.

A blocked start does not mean an earlier run was cancelled. Stopping a run or deleting an output also does not automatically refund work already performed. Check the run's status and usage before submitting it again. If the numbers or refusal remain unclear, [contact support](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/more/contact-us/) with the affected tool, approximate time, and visible message.

## Scheduled Research reservations

Enabling a scheduled task books its estimated monthly commitment; **Create scheduled task** enables it at once. Editing an active or paused task's trigger updates that commitment, and an **Around earnings** task's estimate grows with its number of companies. A **Paused** task stops future scheduled runs but keeps the reservation; pausing is not a way to release those credits, and resuming books nothing new. **Delete** ends the task's future commitment and retains prior usage and run history; it cannot be undone. A draft has not booked the commitment. Check [Manage scheduled tasks and credits](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/scheduled-research/manage-tasks/) before choosing between pausing and deleting.

The [email-only trial](https://portraitresearch.com/documentation/integrations/email-trial/) has a separate message cap and no app login. Its exhaustion is not repaired by checking web Usage, reconnecting, or waiting for a credit renewal.