Both Higgsfield's credit plans and its unlimited mode let you generate — but they are not interchangeable, and confusing them will either waste money or break your automation. Here's how to pick, with the real per-clip costs I measured.
This is post #4 of the AI Video Automation series. It's the lesson that cost me the most time, so I put it in its own post.
Overview: two different systems
Higgsfield markets "unlimited generations on all top models." That is true — in the web UI. It is not true for the CLI. Their own pricing page states it directly:
Unlimited models and Free Generations are accessible only via higgsfield.ai and are not accessible on MCP/CLI, Canvas or Supercomputer.
I confirmed it empirically: one Nano Banana Pro image via the CLI dropped my balance from 10 credits to 8. The web UI's unlimited "relaxed" queue and the CLI's credit-metered queue are two separate systems.
Key differences
| Web UI (unlimited) | CLI / API (credits) | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free on an unlimited plan/trial | Credits per generation |
| Automation | Manual, one at a time | Fully scriptable |
| Speed | Relaxed (slow) queue | Priority queue |
| Best for | Free manual exploration | Hands-off batch pipelines |
The real CLI costs (measured)
| Generation | Credits |
|---|---|
| Kling 3.0 pro, 5s video | 12.5 |
| Kling 3.0 std, 5s video | 10 |
| Kling 3.0 std, 3s video | 6 |
| Seedance 2.0, 1080p 5s | 45 |
| Seedance 2.0, 720p 5s | 22.5 |
| Nano Banana Pro image, 2K | 2 |
Always check before a batch:
higgsfield generate cost seedance_2_0 --duration 5 --resolution 1080p --prompt "test"45 credits — drop to 720p and it's 22.5
When to use the web UI (unlimited)
- You're exploring, testing quality, or making a handful of clips.
- You have an unlimited plan or an active trial and don't mind clicking each generation.
- Budget is zero and you have time to babysit the relaxed queue.
When to use the CLI (credits)
- You're running a batch pipeline — a whole library, hands-off (see post #5).
- You want reproducibility, retries, and overnight runs.
- You value time over the credit cost.
Verdict / plan sizing
A ~46-shot cinematic library costs about 750–1,000 credits for one take each (Kling pro for heroes, Seedance 720p for backgrounds, cheap images). So:
- PLUS (1,200 credits) covers one full library pass plus ~35 regenerations — the right buy for a single project. Bill it monthly and cancel if it's one-off.
- ULTRA (3,000 credits) only if you want 2–3 full takes of everything.
- Free route: do it manually in the web UI on a trial — unlimited but slow and hands-on.
Rule of thumb: explore free in the web UI, then pay for credits only when you automate.
Output / preview
Now that the cost model is clear, the next post automates the whole thing within a credit budget.
[Insert preview: the cost comparison table — filename higgsfield-credits-vs-unlimited.png]
Related posts
- Previous: Cinematic AI Video Prompts: A Step-by-Step Formula
- Next: Automate Higgsfield with a Python Batch Queue Runner
- Series hub: AI Video Automation overview
Originally published at dineshstack.com — read the full version with code samples and updates there.
