How minutes work
Minutes are VForge's only currency. Every plan includes a monthly allowance; everything else — templates, styles, languages, voices — is included on every plan.
The basics
- A finished video uses minutes equal to its length, rounded up (a 6m20s video uses 7 minutes).
- Your allowance refills on your billing date each month. Unused plan minutes don't roll over.
- The dashboard bar always shows used / allowance, plus any top-up minutes.
Holds: how we protect you
When you hit Generate, the estimated minutes are held — subtracted from your available balance but not yet spent. Then:
- Video completes → the actual length is charged and the hold is released.
- Video fails → the hold is released. You're charged nothing, ever, for failed videos.
- You cancel → same as a failure: everything comes back instantly.
Top-up minutes
Need more without upgrading? Buy top-up minutes from Billing at $0.50/min (minimum 10). They never expire and are consumed only after your monthly allowance runs out.
Per-video caps
Each plan also caps a single video's length (Free 5 min, Starter 10, Pro 15, Studio 20). The wizard warns you on Step 1 and blocks generation on Step 4 if the script runs over — trim it or upgrade.
Estimates vs. actuals
Estimates use ~140 narrated words per minute. The final video is usually within 10% of the estimate; you're always charged on the actual finished length.
On-screen minutes info
Two places surface your balance live so there are no surprises:
- Dashboard Plan card — info tooltip (ⓘ): hover it to see the exact formula: Available = plan minutes + top-ups − used − held. It also notes that held minutes are released if a video fails, so your balance is always accurate.
- Step 5 (Confirm) — "Available after this video" line: shows how many minutes you'll have left once the hold is placed, so you can see at a glance whether you have room for another video today. A note below it confirms that drafting minutes are credited — if you spent minutes generating a draft script, those are returned when you generate the final video, so you're never double-charged for the same content.