Billing & refunds

hikomi · Billing and Refunds

Last updated 10 October 2026, with version 0.5.3. This page is part of the Terms of Use.

The short version

Everything a character does is paid for in credits. New accounts start with 100 free.
A plan gives you a monthly allowance of credits and renews every month until you cancel. Cancel any time from "Plans & credits", and it stops at the end of the month you've paid for.
Packs are one-off credits that never expire.
Plans also include VRM exports of models you bring, in the Windows app for now: Plus 2 a month, Pro 20. The moves that can come with an export are part of it and are not counted again.
Once a month has started or credits have been used, they aren't refunded - except in the cases below, where we always make it right.

What credits pay for

A reply: 1 credit.
The character starting the conversation when you come back, to ask about something you mentioned that is now due (History > About you, on unless you turn it off): 1 credit, like a reply, at most once for each thing. Nothing is charged when there is nothing to ask about, or when your balance is too low for it. Its voice is charged as below.
Web lookups in Assistant mode (Settings > Assistant, on unless you turn it off): 2 credits for each search and 1 for each page opened, on top of the reply - at most 3 searches and 2 pages a reply. They are charged even if you stop the reply, because the search has already been made. With lookups on, a message in Assistant mode needs 2 credits more than the reply itself before it is sent, whether or not it ends up searching.
A character looking at a screenshot (a screen you share, or the talk key's look in the desktop app): 2 credits. While you share your screen, a message that clearly has nothing to do with it ("brb", "how was your day") is sent without the screenshot and costs only the reply; the talk key's look is always used.
A close-up around your mouse, sent with the talk key's look ("Include a close-up around my mouse", on unless you turn it off): 1 more credit on that reply. It is only sent from a large display - more than about 2,100 pixels on its longer side, such as 1440p, 4K or an ultrawide (a 2560x1080 ultrawide counts, by its width) - where the picture is shrunk the most. From a display no more than about 2,100 pixels on its longer side, such as 1920x1080 or 1920x1200, no close-up is sent and nothing extra is charged.
Live comments (beta, Settings > Comments): 0.1 credits for each quick glance at a screen you share. It glances at most every 10 seconds, only while your screen is changing, and a remark it leads to is charged as above.
A voice, made on our servers: 0.25 credits a second - about 1.5 credits for a typical line.
With the voice off for a chat (the speaker button beside the reply mode), no voice is made for that chat and none is charged: a reply there costs 1 credit, and a look at your screen 2 more.
Shaping a voice in the creator: fitting it to the personality is free. A preview of a shaped voice - two short sentences - is charged like a voice, about 2 credits. The first preview of each character you make is free (for up to five characters a day), and a preview already made with the same voice and settings plays again free while we still have it.
Making a new voice from the personality (in the creator's Voice tab, where it is offered): if you use it, a round of three new voices to listen to costs 12 credits, with the short line each voice says for you to hear included. The first round for each character you make is free, for up to 3 free rounds a day. There are at most 10 rounds a day, one at a time. Unless the round is free, the 12 credits must be in your balance when it starts; they are set aside then and taken only if the round works. If fewer than two good voices come out, or anything goes wrong, nothing is charged. A round carries on, and is charged if it works, even if you leave the page. Keeping one of the voices is free, and so is moving its pitch, speed, warmth and liveliness; a preview of a voice you made is charged like the preview above. A reply spoken in a voice you made costs the normal voice rate above.

Your balance is in the account menu. When it runs out, replies stop until you add more. If these rates change, the new ones are shown under "Plans & credits" on gethikomi.com before they apply, and only to what you use from then on.

Spending limits

In the account menu you can set a daily limit (off unless you set one; 5 to 10,000 credits) and a warning level ("Warn me at", 10 credits unless you change it).
"Today" is the calendar day where you are, worked out from your device clock's offset from UTC. The limit counts what replies, voice, screen looks, Live comments glances and web lookups have cost since your midnight.
When the next one would pass the limit, these pause until your midnight: Live comments glances, the character's remarks about your screen, and voice made on our servers. A voice line already playing stops where it reaches the limit, and only what was made is charged.
What you send still gets a written reply (1 credit, and 2 more if a picture of your shared screen goes with it), so the day's total can go a little past the limit.
The limit changes no prices. It is checked against what the next action would add, so a glance can be refused up to about 3 credits before the limit, and a voice line up to about one typical line (1.5 credits) before it.
When your balance falls to the warning level, the character says so in a caption that is never voiced, and the credits in the account menu turn amber with a Top up button.
Settings > Comments shows about how many credits an hour Comments is using on the screen you share, measured over the last 10 minutes from the Live comments glances, the looks and the spoken remarks, at the prices on this page (a typical spoken line taken as about 6 seconds of voice, none while the voice is off for the chat). It is an estimate at the current pace, not a charge: what you are charged is in your credit history.
Under the Live comments switch, "Stop after" can pause Live comments 1 or 3 hours after you turned it on (it keeps going unless you choose); turn it off and on to start again. The choice is kept on this device.
When a look or a glance is refused at your daily limit, Comments pauses until you turn it off and on.
A message you send while black boxes hide the whole shared screen still sends a black picture and is charged as a look at your screen (2 credits); Comments and Live comments send nothing then and cost nothing.

Plans

A plan adds a monthly allowance of credits each time the month is paid. The allowance is used before any credits you bought separately. Whatever is left of it at the end of the month doesn't carry over.

Any plan also lets a character you make in the desktop app wear a 3D model of your own as its body. Adding a model and trying it on don't need a plan. When a plan ends, those characters show their stand-in body or picture until you have a plan again; nothing is deleted.

Plans renew automatically every month, at the price you signed up at, charging the card you gave, until you cancel. The current plans and prices are under "Plans & credits" on gethikomi.com.

Studio exports. A plan also includes exports, as VRM files, of models you bring, in the Windows app for now (exporting a character you made in the creator isn't available yet): Plus includes 2 exports a month and Pro includes 20 exports a month, in all, counted by calendar month (UTC). Exports that aren't used don't carry over, and without a plan there are none. An export is counted when you ask for it. If the file can't be made, or you close the window before you have saved it, the export is given back, and the window tells you when hikomi has confirmed that; if hikomi can't be reached at that moment, the export may stay counted. It may also stay counted if hikomi can't be told at all - for example, if the app itself closes (or its page is left) while your plan is still being asked, before hikomi has answered. An export you have saved is final, and one is only given back in the month it was asked for. The moves that can come with an export (a zip of hikomi's body moves, with a box for it in the export window) are part of that export, not counted again and taking nothing more from your plan; an export is final once the file is saved, whether or not the moves were. Previews, the creator and trying a look on screen stay free.

Early access. While the early-access offer runs, subscribing takes the percentage shown off the plan's price, for as long as that subscription continues without a break.

Switching plans. Moving up to a bigger plan happens straight away: you're charged the difference for the rest of the month, and the new allowance is added. Moving down takes effect at your next renewal, so you keep what you've paid for.

Cancelling. Any time, from "Plans & credits", then "Manage plan" - no questions, and nobody (human or AI) will try to talk you out of it. The plan runs to the end of the month you've paid for and is not charged again. Deleting your account cancels the plan immediately.

Price changes. A new price applies to new subscriptions. If we ever need to change the price of yours, we tell you at least 30 days before it applies, so you can cancel first.

Packs

Credits bought once, in packs, never expire. They stay on your account until you use them or delete the account, and can't be moved to another account.

Payment

Prices are in US dollars and are shown before you pay. Payment is taken by Stripe, on Stripe's own pages - we never see or store your card details. If your card is in another currency, your bank may add a conversion fee. We keep a record of each payment for our accounts (see the Privacy Policy).

Refunds

Our rule: once a plan's month has started, or credits have been used, we don't refund them. Credits have no cash value. But we always refund in these cases:

You were charged by mistake, or twice: we refund the charge in full.
hikomi was faulty or unavailable for a significant part of the time you paid for, and we couldn't fix it: we refund that part.
We removed something you had paid for, or changed the terms in a way you don't accept: you can cancel and we refund the unused part of your month.
We closed your account without you breaking the terms, or shut hikomi down: we refund the unused part of your month and the bought credits you haven't used.
We closed an account because its owner was under the minimum age: we refund every payment made on it.
You're a consumer in the EU or the UK and change your mind within 14 days of first subscribing: we refund you, less the part of the allowance you had already used.

Nothing on this page takes away the rights you have as a consumer under the law where you live.

To ask for a refund, use the contact form (gethikomi.com/contact), pick "Billing, plans or a refund", and tell us the email on your account and roughly when you paid. Refunds go back to the card you paid with.

What a refund takes back. A refunded payment takes back what it bought: a pack's credits (or, if only part is refunded, that share of them), or what is left of a plan month's allowance. Credits you had already used are not charged for, and your balance never goes below zero. If the month you're in is refunded in full, the plan ends straight away and isn't charged again; refunding an earlier month leaves your plan running.

Chargebacks. Please write to us before disputing a charge with your bank - it's quicker for you, and we would much rather fix it. While a charge is disputed, the credits it bought are removed as for a refund, and a plan it paid for ends; if the dispute is settled in our favour, the credits come back.