Monitoring Usage

Effective credit usage monitoring helps you avoid interruptions, optimize costs, and understand your categorization patterns. This guide explains how to track your usage, interpret the metrics, and take action based on what you observe.

Why Monitor Usage

Regular usage monitoring provides several benefits:

Prevent credit exhaustion - Avoid running out of credits mid-operation by tracking consumption patterns and purchasing top-ups or upgrading before you hit zero.

Optimize costs - Identify if you’re consistently over or under-utilizing your plan, allowing you to choose the most cost-effective subscription tier.

Understand patterns - Learn which operations consume the most credits and when your usage spikes, helping you plan bulk operations strategically.

Improve quality - Track categorization success rates through status indicators to identify when settings or descriptions need improvement.

Budget accurately - Predict monthly credit needs based on historical usage, making budgeting for Categorify more predictable.

Where to Monitor Usage

Categorify provides two main locations for monitoring your credit usage:

Dashboard - Usage Pane

The Usage pane on the main dashboard gives you real-time visibility into your credit balance:

Total available credits - Combined monthly and top-up credits remaining
Monthly credits - How many remain from your plan allocation with usage percentage
Top-up credits - Persistent balance with cycle-specific consumption

Example display:

Usage: 15,250 available

Monthly: 8,000 remaining · 15,000 / 23,000 used
65%

Top-up: 7,250 remaining (150 used this cycle)

When to check: Daily during heavy categorization periods, weekly during normal operations.

For complete details on the Dashboard, see Dashboard Overview.

Settings Page - Plan Section

The Settings page shows your subscription details and credit usage:

Current plan tier and monthly allocation
Credits used this billing cycle
Next renewal date
Visual progress bar

When to check: When evaluating plan changes or reviewing monthly usage patterns.

Understanding Usage Metrics

Total Available Credits

This is the sum of your monthly credits plus any top-up credits. It represents your current categorization capacity.

What it means:

High number: Plenty of capacity for categorization
Low number: Consider purchasing top-ups or you may run out soon
Zero: No categorization possible until credits are added

Action threshold: When this drops below 20% of your typical needs, consider adding capacity.

Monthly Credit Usage Percentage

Shows how much of your plan’s monthly allocation you’ve consumed in the current billing cycle.

What different percentages mean:

0-50% usage:

You’re on track for normal usage
Your plan likely fits your needs well
No immediate action needed

50-75% usage:

Normal for active categorization periods
Monitor more frequently to avoid exhaustion
Consider buying top-ups if a large operation is coming

75-90% usage:

High consumption for this cycle
Purchase top-ups if cycle doesn’t end soon
You’ll receive a low credits warning email when you cross below 10%

90-100% usage:

Critical - you may run out before cycle ends
You should have received a low credits warning email
Purchase top-ups immediately if needed

Over 100% (using top-ups):

You’ve exhausted monthly credits and are consuming top-ups

Top-up Credits Used This Cycle

This metric resets each billing cycle and shows how many top-up credits you’ve consumed during the current period.

What it indicates:

Zero top-up usage:

Monthly allocation is sufficient
You might be over-subscribed if consistently using under 70% of monthly credits

Occasional top-up usage (every few months):

Normal for seasonal businesses or large imports
Top-ups are working as intended for spikes

Regular top-up usage (every cycle):

Strong indicator you need a plan upgrade
You’re spending more than necessary on top-ups
Compare costs: monthly top-up purchases vs. next plan tier

Identifying Usage Patterns

Daily Monitoring During Active Periods

When you’re running bulk categorizations or imports:

Morning check:

View Usage pane to see starting credit balance
Note percentage of monthly credits remaining
Ensure sufficient credits for planned operations

After operations:

Check Latest Categorizations for results
Review status distribution (green/yellow/gray)
Confirm credit consumption matches expectations

End of day:

Verify remaining credits are adequate for tomorrow
Purchase top-ups if needed for next-day operations

Weekly Review During Normal Operations

For regular store operations with automatic categorization:

Once per week:

Check monthly credit usage percentage

Calculate projected usage for remainder of cycle

Questions to ask:

Am I on track to finish the month with credits remaining?

End-of-Cycle Review

Before your billing cycle renews:

What to review:

Total monthly credits used vs. allocated
How many top-up credits were consumed (if any)

Whether current plan tier matches actual needs

Decision points:

Used under 70% of monthly credits: Consider downgrading
Used 90-100% monthly + top-ups: Consider upgrading
Used 100% monthly, no top-ups: Current plan is perfect

Before downgrading: Make sure the lower tier can handle your busiest months. You can always purchase top-ups for occasional spikes.

Automatic Email Notifications and How to Respond

Categorify automatically monitors your credit usage and sends email notifications to help you avoid running out of credits unexpectedly. Here’s what each notification means and what you should do when you receive it.

Configuring Notification Email

All credit-related notifications are sent to your notification email address, which you can configure in Settings:

Open Apps → Categorify
Click Settings
Scroll to the Notifications section
Update your notification email address
Click Save

Tip: Use a team email address or distribution list if multiple people should receive credit warnings.

Low Credits Warning (< 10% Remaining)

When it’s sent: When your available credits fall below 10% of your monthly credit limit.

Example: On the Scale plan (23,000 monthly credits), you’ll receive this warning when you have fewer than 2,300 credits remaining.

What it means: You’re running low on credits and may exhaust them before your billing cycle renews.

Important: This calculation is based on your monthly credit limit, not your total available credits. If you have top-up credits, you’ll receive this warning when monthly credits are nearly exhausted, even if top-ups remain.

What to do:

Check your billing cycle - See when your monthly credits refresh
Decide on timing:

If renewal is 1-2 days away: Wait for monthly credits to refresh
If renewal is 3+ days away and you need to categorize more products: Purchase top-up credits

Purchase top-ups if needed - Buy enough to cover your needs until renewal
Prioritize operations - Focus on categorizing your most important products first
Consider pausing automatic categorization - Temporarily disable it in Settings to conserve credits for manual categorization

If this happens frequently: Upgrade to the next plan tier instead of repeatedly purchasing top-ups.

All Credits Exhausted

When it’s sent: When you’ve used all available credits—both monthly and top-up credits are at zero.

What it means: Categorization has stopped. You cannot categorize any products until you add more credits.

What to do:

Purchase top-up credits to resume categorization immediately
Or upgrade your plan if you need more monthly credits going forward
Or wait for your monthly renewal if you don’t need to categorize right now

If this happens frequently: Your current plan is too small for your needs. Upgrade to a higher tier.

Trial Credits Exhausted

When it’s sent: When you’ve used all 100 trial credits before the 7-day trial period ends.

What it means: Your trial has ended early due to credit exhaustion, even though time remains in the trial period.

What to do: Subscribe to a paid plan to continue categorizing products. Your trial time is over once credits are exhausted.

When Top-up Usage Becomes Regular

If you’re purchasing top-up credits every month:

You should upgrade your plan. Compare your average monthly top-up spending against the cost of the next plan tier—upgrading is usually cheaper and more convenient.

Example: If you’re on Growth ($49/month) and regularly buying $60 in top-ups, upgrading to Scale ($99/month) saves you $10/month and gives you 23,000 renewable credits.

Top-up Credits FAQ