Unity AI Credits Budget Worksheet for Personal Plans - 2026

It is day four of the billing cycle. You still have a menu polish pass, two texture regenerations, and a “quick Agent fix” for the pause screen. By Thursday the dashboard shows 12 credits left and Generators are paused until the next reset. That is not a Unity bug. That is a missing Unity AI credits budget.

This is a business / spend worksheet for studios on Unity Personal who treat the $10/month / 1,000 credit allotment like a real line item - not another modes tutorial. Official allotment language lives on Unity AI features and Unity plans. Example burn ranges live in About Unity Credits. Mode safety (Ask → Plan → Agent order) stays in our companion post Unity AI Assistant Ask Plan Agent Modes - First Safe Session 2026. The MCP bridge cousin is Unity MCP with Cursor - First Safe Editor Bridge Session 2026 - MCP needs an AI subscription but does not spend Unity Credits per call.

Evidence note: Primary keyword unity ai credits. Demand signals include Semrush-tracked parent volume for unity and strong traffic on Unity’s Open Beta / MCP onboarding coverage. SERP gap: official tables list example costs; this URL adds a Personal-plan monthly worksheet, Ask / Plan / Agent / Generators caps, a Gateway BYOK escape, and a spend receipt - distinct from the safe-session modes walkthrough.

Non-repetition: This is not the Ask Plan Agent first safe session (mode order and Hierarchy verification). It is not the Unity MCP Cursor bridge (external tools allowlist). It is not the December engineering floor cap worksheet (founder hours). Same “cap the month” idea, different meter: credits, not calendar hours.

Why this matters now (July 2026)

Unity AI Open Beta for Unity 6 made Ask / Plan / Agent and Generators first-class inside the Editor. Personal users get a 14-day trial with 1,000 credits, then a $10/month subscription for 1,000 recurring credits (Unity AI FAQ, Open Beta thread). Credits do not roll over. When the balance hits zero, AI features pause until reset or you buy more.

What changed for micro-studios:

1. Estimated costs are documented - Unity published example tables so teams can forecast before they click Run (credits docs).
2. Agent nights are the silent killer - Lite Agent tasks can land in the tens; Ultra “simple” scenes can land near 150; advanced Ultra builds can approach 1,500 in a single thread.
3. Generators compete with Assistant - Images are cheap per job (often 1–6), but four variations × five retries is still a week of Ask budget gone.
4. SERP is pricing + docs - Review blogs restate the $10 figure. Indies still need a Monday spend ritual with hard caps.

Direct answer: Open the Unity Dashboard Manage Credits tab, record credits_remaining, fill the worksheet below so Ask + Plan + Agent + Generators + buffer ≤ 1,000 (or your actual allotment), latch gates C1–C6, and set unity_ai_credits_ok: true only when the month’s planned burn fits the remaining balance.

Who this worksheet is for

Time: about 45–60 minutes to fill the first month sheet; 10 minutes each Monday to re-check balance.
Prerequisites: Unity 6 project with Unity AI enabled (or trial); access to Unity Dashboard credit views; a copy of the Ask Plan Agent safe session if you have never run Agent safely.

Who should skip this sheet

• Teams on Pro / Enterprise / Industry with bundled higher allotments who already have finance-owned AI budgets - adapt the same tables, but start from your seat allowance (pricing).
• Anyone looking for how to click Ask / Plan / Agent - use the modes tutorial first.
• Classic ML-Agents / NavMesh work - that is not Unity Credits billing; see Unity AI Toolkit explained and toolkit not working help.

Allotment reality - trial, Personal, Pro

Use Unity’s published language as the source of truth; numbers below are the July 2026 Personal path studios ask about most.

Beginner rule: Treat trial credits like a soft open - practice Ask and Plan, not a full Ultra city hub. Treat paid Personal as a hard monthly wallet.

Developer rule: Record allotment_type (trial | personal_monthly | pro_bundled | topup) in every receipt so finance can tell a burned trial from a burned subscription.

Official burn ranges you must respect

Unity’s own disclaimer: examples are representative, not guaranteed rates. Actual spend varies with project context, conversation length, mode, model, and output count (About Unity Credits). Still, planning without ranges is how months die on Tuesday.

Assistant message examples (Lite vs Default vs Ultra)

Generator examples (per job)

Studio rule: Budget Agent Ultra and large Default builds as explicit line items. Never “see how it goes” on the last 200 credits of the month.

The Personal plan budget worksheet

Copy this into release-evidence/ai/unity-ai-credits-budget-YYYY-MM.md (or a shared Notion page). Fill numbers before the first Agent night of the cycle.

Header

Envelope (Personal default = 1000)

If you are mid-cycle: replace 1000 with credits_remaining and scale percentages, or freeze Agent Ultra until reset.

Weekly drawdown (four-week Personal month)

Creator tip: Put the one Ultra / heavy job in Week 3, not Week 1. Week 1 is for learning burn rates on your actual project size.

Daily stop-lights

Mode caps that survive contact with reality

Translate the envelope into session rules so Discord “just one more Agent” cannot override the sheet.

Pair these with the safe session script so budget and Hierarchy discipline travel together.

Generators vs Assistant - same wallet, different failure mode

Assistant burns credits on conversation complexity. Generators burn on job count × per-job cost. Indies often starve Agent by regenerating the same icon twelve times.

Generators hygiene checklist:

1. Lock style + prompt in a text file before the first job.
2. Budget N jobs, not “until it looks right.”
3. Prefer 1–2 variations, then human edit in external tools.
4. Remember multi-output actions sum per job (credits docs).
5. If art is the bottleneck, buy a top-up or use non-Unity generators - do not silently empty Assistant.

Decision table:

Gateway / BYOK escape hatch (when credits are the wrong meter)

Unity MCP / Gateway paths let external agents talk to the Editor. Important billing nuance from our MCP safe session: MCP requires an active Unity AI subscription but does not spend Unity AI credits per call. That does not mean “free AI” - you still pay the model provider (Claude, Cursor plans, API keys) and you still need an allowlist.

Use the escape hatch when:

• Personal credits are Red and you still need Editor tooling.
• The work is read-only console / Hierarchy inspection via MCP.
• Finance prefers provider invoices over Unity credit top-ups.

Do not use the escape hatch to:

• Bypass Plan review with unrestricted write tools.
• Hide spend - track provider cost in the same receipt under external_ai_usd.
• Skip the Ask Plan Agent baseline if you have never run a safe in-editor session.

Gates C1–C6 (credit latch)

Latch: unity_ai_credits_ok = C1 ∧ C2 ∧ C3 ∧ C4 ∧ C5 ∧ C6.

Receipt schema - unity_ai_credits_budget_receipt_v1.json

Store under release-evidence/ai/.

{
  "schema": "unity_ai_credits_budget_receipt_v1",
  "project": "your-game-slug",
  "billing_cycle_start": "2026-07-01",
  "allotment_type": "personal_monthly",
  "allotment_credits": 1000,
  "credits_before": 1000,
  "credits_after_planned": 50,
  "envelope": {
    "ask": 150,
    "plan": 200,
    "agent_lite": 300,
    "agent_ultra_or_heavy": 150,
    "generators": 150,
    "buffer": 50
  },
  "ultra_job": {
    "approved": false,
    "ticket": null,
    "estimated_credits": 0
  },
  "generators_retry_cap": 2,
  "soft_stop_pct": 80,
  "hard_stop_pct": 95,
  "external_ai_usd": 0,
  "mcp_used_as_escape": false,
  "gates": {
    "C1": true,
    "C2": true,
    "C3": true,
    "C4": true,
    "C5": true,
    "C6": true
  },
  "unity_ai_credits_ok": true,
  "owner": "engineering-lead",
  "notes": "Week 3 Ultra deferred; Generators slice reserved for capsule icons only."
}

Verification steps:

1. Sum envelope buckets; must equal allotment_credits (or credits_before if mid-cycle resheet).
2. Confirm credits_after_planned = credits_before - (sum of non-buffer planned spend) lands ≥ buffer.
3. If ultra_job.approved is true, estimated credits ≤ agent_ultra_or_heavy bucket.
4. Set unity_ai_credits_ok false if any gate is false - do not “round up.”

Worked examples (Personal 1000)

Example A - solo hobbyist, scripting week

Outcome: Comfortable month; no top-up. Matches “one to two heavy edits per week” hobby patterns discussed in third-party 2026 Unity AI coding comparisons without inventing studio names.

Example B - jam week with one Ultra scene

Math: 80+120+150+450+100 = 900; buffer 100. Fail C2 if Ultra estimate is 450 but Ultra bucket was only 150 - either raise Ultra bucket (cut Agent Lite / Generators) or reject Ultra and split the controller into three Lite Agent tickets.

Example C - art-heavy marketing week

Outcome: Valid only if Generators are the product this month. Turn Generators off again after the capsule set ships so Agent is not starved next week.

Company diligence language (copy for partners)

Use when a publisher or lead asks “what does Unity AI cost us?”

Unity Personal AI is budgeted as a $10/month / 1,000 credit line item per subscribed seat (trial: 1,000 credits / 14 days). Credits do not roll over. We maintain a written envelope (Ask / Plan / Agent / Generators / buffer), soft stop at 80% and hard stop at 95%, and file unity_ai_credits_budget_receipt_v1.json each cycle. Ultra / large Default jobs require named approval. Top-ups and external Gateway / BYOK spend are recorded separately. Official consumption examples: About Unity Credits.

Governance ownership:

Common mistakes

1. Starting the trial with Ultra city hubs - burns the educational window.
2. Ignoring multi-output Generator jobs - four images = four jobs.
3. Assuming MCP is “free Unity Credits” - subscription still required; provider bills elsewhere.
4. No soft stop - discovering Red at 3am with a ship build open.
5. One shared org without an owner - everyone Agent-spends; nobody reconciles.
6. Confusing this sheet with mode safety - budget ≠ Hierarchy discipline; run both.
7. Treating docs examples as invoices - always reconcile against Dashboard history.
8. Buying top-ups without raising the envelope - spend returns tomorrow.

Monday ten-minute ritual

1. Open Dashboard → Unity AI → Manage Credits.
2. Write credits_remaining into the sheet.
3. If below hard-stop threshold, set Generators off and Agent Ultra to none.
4. Schedule the week’s Ask/Plan/Agent tickets against remaining buckets.
5. Update receipt notes; commit to VCS with other release evidence.

Same spirit as the engineering floor cap ritual - different meter.

How this pairs with other GamineAI Unity AI pages

Key takeaways

• Unity AI credits on Personal are a $10 / 1,000 / month wallet after a 14-day / 1,000 trial - unused credits do not roll over.
• Plan with Unity’s example burn tables, then verify against the Dashboard - examples are not invoices.
• Split the month into Ask / Plan / Agent Lite / Ultra / Generators / buffer so one Agent night cannot empty the allotment.
• Cap Ultra / heavy Default as a named line item; advanced Ultra jobs can approach an entire Personal month.
• Generators compete for the same wallet - cap retries and prefer locked prompts.
• MCP / Gateway can escape credit burn per call but still needs subscription + provider spend + allowlist.
• Latch C1–C6 and file unity_ai_credits_budget_receipt_v1.json with unity_ai_credits_ok.
• Keep this worksheet distinct from the modes safe session - budget and safety are both required.

FAQ

How many Unity AI credits do Personal users get?

Unity documents a 14-day free trial with 1,000 credits, then a $10/month subscription for 1,000 credits per month for Personal Edition (Unity AI, Open Beta discussion). Confirm your org’s current allotment in the Dashboard.

Do unused Unity AI credits roll over?

No. Official credits documentation states unused credits do not roll over between billing cycles (About Unity Credits). Plan the month; do not bank “leftover” Agent nights.

How fast can Agent burn a Personal allotment?

Example tables show Lite Agent tasks from roughly 8 credits for a simple script up through 100+ for complex refactors, while Ultra advanced builds can approach ~1500 credits - more than one Personal month (credits docs). Treat Ultra as a scheduled purchase decision.

Should I use Ask, Plan, or Agent when credits are low?

Prefer Ask, then small Plan reviews. Freeze Agent Ultra and Generators at hard stop. Mode order details: Ask Plan Agent first safe session.

Does Unity MCP spend Unity AI credits?

MCP requires an active Unity AI subscription but, per our MCP bridge guide, does not spend Unity AI credits per call. Track provider/API cost separately in external_ai_usd.

Where do I see my remaining balance?

Unity’s AI FAQ points to the Unity Dashboard Manage Credits area under Unity AI (features page). Record the number before every heavy session.

Can I turn Generators off but keep Assistant?

Yes. Unity’s FAQ notes Generators can be turned off in dashboard settings while keeping the Assistant active (Unity AI). Use that when art iteration is emptying the Agent envelope.

Is this the same as the Unity AI Assistant modes tutorial?

No. Modes teach how to run a safe first session. This page teaches how to budget the month so that session (and the next twenty) fit the Personal wallet.

Conclusion

Unity AI credits are not infinite Editor magic - they are a metered wallet with published example burn rates and a hard Personal ceiling. Fill the envelope before the first Agent night, put Ultra behind a named approval, cap Generator retries, and file the receipt. When the Dashboard goes Red, switch to Ask-only or the MCP escape hatch with eyes open - not panic top-ups. Bookmark this worksheet next to the Ask Plan Agent safe session and treat both as ship hygiene.

Related reads

• Unity AI Assistant Ask Plan Agent Modes - First Safe Session 2026
• Unity MCP with Cursor - First Safe Editor Bridge Session 2026
• December Engineering Floor Cap Worksheet - Contractors Offline Holidays 2026
• Top AI Tools for Unity Developers 2026
• Unity AI Toolkit Explained for Beginners
• Unity AI Toolkit Not Working - Step-by-Step Fix Guide
• About Unity Credits (Official)
• Unity AI Features Overview (Official)