API Usage and Credits (Creative Units)

The Scenario API uses the same Creative Unit (CU) system as the web application.

Access Requirements

API access is available exclusively through paid plans (Creator, Pro, Team, or Enterprise). The Creative Units included in your plan can be used across both the web application and API, with no separate allocation.

Understanding Costs

Different operations consume varying amounts of Creative Units:

• Generating images: ~5 CUs per image (varies by model)

• Enhancing: ~15 CUs per operation

• Training models: ~100-500 CUs depending on complexity

To help manage your CU usage, you can estimate costs before running operations.

Estimating Costs

Scenario provides two ways to estimate API costs:

Using the dryRun Parameter

Add ?dryRun=true to any API request to simulate the operation and see how many CUs it would consume without actually running it. For example, instead of:
POST https://api.cloud.scenario.com/v1/generate/txt2img
use:
POST https://api.cloud.scenario.com/v1/generate/txt2img?dryRun=true


This returns the exact CU cost without deducting from your balance. Parameter is mentioned in the documentation when available.

Using the Cost Estimator Tool

In the web application, navigate to Organization Settings > Cost Calculator. This interactive tool lets you adjust parameters for different operations and see estimated monthly costs based on your anticipated volume.