Zoho Writer Automation Add-On: Credits, Plans, Usage & Limits

Overview

Zoho Writer provides credit points to streamline document automation workflows. Each output option (merge, fillable or sign) you configure will consume one credit point. You might receive 200 or 1000 free credit points per month based on your subscription. If you wish to add more credit points for your organization, you need to subscribe to Zoho Writer's Automation Add-on.

This article answers the frequently asked questions regarding the Automation Add-on.

FAQs

1. Who would need Writer Automation Add-On?

Businesses that exceed the free credits for document automations included in their subscription will need to acquire extra credits through this add-on. This add-on merges and generates Writer, Word, and PDF documents, both on-demand and through API integration.

2. What are the type of plans available?

Free Plan - You will receive a specific number of free credits (ranging from 200 to 1000) depending on which Zoho service you are using to access Writer.

Fixed Plan - Get a fixed number of additional credits added to your account at the beginning of each billing cycle. Plans range from $25/month for 500 credits to $610/month for 40,000 credits. Ideal for businesses with consistent monthly needs.

Flexible Plan - A post-pay billing plan that lets you use credits first and bills at the end of each month, with a maximum limit to prevent surprising charges, is helpful for companies with variable document generation needs using Writer's automation continually. For a fee of $1/month, this plan can be activated.

3. How many free credits does Zoho Writer provide?

Services & Plans	No. of free credits/month	Daily limit/org
Zoho WorkDrive individual or essential users	200	10
Using Writer from any other integrated Zoho Services (CRM, People, Recruit, Projects, Orchestly) and WorkDrive paid subscribers	1000	1000
Zoho One users	Up to 2000 > 1000 (free credits) + additional credits based on no:of available user licenses. > 1 user license will get 50 free credits. Maximum cap for user license = 1000 free credits. PS: Ensure that Zoho WorkDrive is included in the one bundle.	1000

Zoho Docs service is deprecated. If you are a Docs user, please migrate to Zoho WorkDrive.
When a customer purchases the add-on, the free credits will reset with the new subscription cycle. For example, if you subscribe on the 15th of the month, your free credits will renew on the same date each month.
This provision applies only to direct subscriptions. If you are subscribed via Zoho One, your free credits will follow Zoho One’s billing cycle instead.

4. How to increase the free credits to more than 200?

To raise the monthly limit of free merges to 1000, choose any of the options provided in the list below;

1. Upgrade to Zoho WorkDrive paid version.

2. If Zoho One user, include Zoho WorkDrive to Zoho One bundle.

3. Subscribe to the new Document Automation Add-On from Writer.

Note: This is applicable for Zoho Forms free and paid users who are in Zoho WorkDrive individual/essential plan.

5. How to purchase additional credits?

You can go ahead and subscribe to any one of our paid plans, Fixed or Flexible.

6. What are the subscriptions modes available?

Plan	Subscription Modes	Subscription periods
Fixed	Online & Offline	Online - Monthly & Yearly Offline - Only Yearly
Flexible	Online & Offline	Online - Monthly & Yearly Offline - Only Yearly

7. What are the different SKU's in document automation and how are they charged for merged document generation?

In Writer, credit consumption is based on a combination of the number of merges (i.e., input records) and the output format. Generally, 1 credit is charged for most output formats (PDF, HTML, MS Word, Writer, Fillable Document), while PDF Forms require 5 credits per merge.

Credits are calculated regardless of whether the merge type is:

- Single document (merging all records into one document), or

- Separate documents (each record as an individual document).

For example, for 10 input records:

- If the output format is PDF (1 credit per document): 10 x 1 = 10 credits.

- If the output format is PDF Form (5 credits per document): 10 x 5 = 50 credits.

Output Document	Credits Charged per Generation	Example (for 10 Input Records)
PDF	1	10 x 1 = 10 credits
HTML	1	10 x 1 = 10 credits
MS Word (.docx) Document	1	10 x 1 = 10 credits
Writer (.zdoc) Document	1	10 x 1 = 10 credits
Fillable (.zfdoc) Document	1	10 x 1 = 10 credits
PDF Form	5	10 x 5 = 50 credits

This table outlines the credit consumption based on the output format for different operations, such as Merge & Email, Merge & Send for Sign, Merge & Store, Merge & Download, Merge On Form Submission, Fillable Form Submit, Merge & Invoke Custom Function, and Document Conversion.

8. What will happen if the same output format is used in multiple output deliveries?

If the same output format is used in multiple output deliveries, then the user will be charged only once.

For example: If PDF format is the chosen output format and it is used in multiple output deliveries like storing the document in WorkDrive, sending for ZohoSign and emailing for user As Attachment; then, the user will be charged for PDF generation once as the same PDF is used across multiple deliveries.

If multiple output formats are involved in a run, then the charges will be based on the number of formats involved.

9. Is there a possibility of increasing the daily limit beyond 5,000 merges per day?

Due to the resource-intensive nature of the document generation process, we have limited each merge operation to a maximum of 5,000 merges per day. Nevertheless, the daily limit can be increased depending on the document and workflow requirements.

Fill this form and our support team will validate and increase the daily limit for possible use cases.

Below is the list of daily merge limits for each merge output operation available via the template's UI.

Output option	Daily merge limit
Merge as a new document	5,000
Merge and store	5,000
Merge and send via email	1,000
Merge and send for sign collection	5,000
Merge and invoke custom function	5,000
Merge and send for approval	5,000
Merge and share fillable link	5,000

Note: This 5,000 daily merge limit applies to output options configured via the merge template's UI. For API-based merge output operations, the limit is 1,000 merges/day.

10. What happens when I exceed the daily merge limit?

When the daily merge limit gets exhausted, Writer will reset and renew the limit everyday at 12 AM in the corresponding data center.

Note: This limit only applies to the organization level and does not apply to individual user levels.

11. What will happen to the unused credits?

Monthly Plan: Free credits will NOT be carried over to next month. Unused paid credits of the present month will be carried over to the next billing cycle.

Yearly Plan: Unused credits cannot be carried forward in yearly subscriptions.

12. What happens if the free credits get exhausted?

You will have to wait for them to refresh at the beginning of every billing cycle to continue generating documents via automation operations. Nevertheless, it is possible to keep creating templates and collaborating with your colleagues.

To avoid any such interruption, we recommend you monitor your organization's credit usage and subscribe to a suitable Add-on plan. This makes sure your business has enough headroom to generate documents smoothly.

13. Will I be notified that the API limit is reached?

Yes, when the credits usage reaches 90% and 100%, a warning alert email will be sent to all the admin users of Writer integrated service (Zoho CRM, Zoho People, Zoho WorkDrive, Zoho Recruit, Zoho Projects, Zoho Forms, Zoho Qntrl or Zoho One) by default.

Note: Notifications will not be sent when daily limit gets exceeded.

14. How to manage the credit usage alert emails?

1. Go to the top band and click the User Profile > Admin Panel > Subscription in Writer Editor.

-> If you're using Writer from any other integrated Zoho service (Zoho CRM, People, Recruit, Projects, Forms or Qntrl), then open the merge template in that service before proceeding with the above step.

-> If you are performing Mail Merge directly from Writer, then any document (blank, merge/fillable templates) can be opened from Writer itself.

2. Now, admin users can enable/disable notification when usage reaches 50% and 75%. They can either turn on/turn off the email notification completely or for a specific percentage as shown below.

15. How can I view my usage reports?

Organization Admins can check the usage report by clicking the User Profile > Admin Panel > Usage Report

16. How can I download my usage reports?

1. Organization Admins can export their usage report by clicking the User Profile > Admin Panel > Usage Report > Generate Report.

2. You can choose the Period for which you would like to generate the report.

3. We also allow you to choose if User and Job info needs to be included in the report.

4. Generated report will be saved in your WorkDrive account. Report link will be emailed to your registered email address as well.

17. How many users in my organization can use this add-on?

This add-on works based on the number of merges (credit points) across an organization and does not consider whether it is a single member or an enterprise. It is calculated based on the merge volume and not on the number of users.

18. Is the purchase of this add-on a one-time transaction?

No, users have to renew their subscription monthly or annually. If one does not need it for next month/year, one has to downgrade.

19. How does credit reservation works for automation jobs?

When an automation job starts or is scheduled, the credits needed to complete the job are reserved instead of being immediately marked as used. As each record is processed successfully, the corresponding credits are marked as used. If a job is canceled, fails, or is partially completed, unused reserved credits are made available again. This ensures accurate credit management.

Writer Automation Credits Add-On