What are Tailwind credits?
Tailwind Credits are a currency that you use with some of the more powerful features of Tailwind. For example, with Tailwind Ghostwriter writes Pin copy for you, when you generate new Pin images with SmartPin, or when you boost your Pins in Turbo.
Why does Tailwind use credits?
In the past, Tailwind subscriptions, like many other software tools, defined our different plan levels based on limits. You could connect this many accounts, publish this many Pins, design this many images and so on each month, based on which plan level you chose. If you wanted more, you had to upgrade to the next plan level - often a significant step up in price.
As our capabilities grew, we saw our customers getting frustrated with this model:
Emily wanted to publish a few more Pins each month but didn't use her Create limit
Johann loved SmartPin but didn't use Turbo yet
Charisse loved Turbo and wanted to boost as many Pins as possible there
The one size fits all model just didn't fit anymore.
Credits solve this by allowing each Tailwind customer to use the exact combination of features - in the exact amount - they want.
Don't want to use a given feature?
No worries - use those credits on a different feature instead!
Moving to a credit-based system is a pretty big task, but we're getting there.
Over time, expect to see more features use credits and fewer have hard limits.
As we do this, we'll adjust the number of credits included in each plan level to ensure subscribers still get comparable value on their Tailwind plans.
How do I get Tailwind Credits?
Tailwind Credits are included in every paid subscription plan.
On the current plans, credits are included per Pinterest account each month: 300 with Pin Scheduling & Creation, 50 with Pinterest SEO, 50 with Pinterest Engagement, and 400 with the Bundle. See Tailwind plans and pricing for what each action costs. On legacy Pro, Advanced and Max plans, your monthly credits are set by your plan.
New accounts get a one-time set of free trial actions, and accounts on the legacy Free plan get a small number of credits each month, so you can try the most powerful features before deciding to buy. See Free plan limits & Tailwind credits.
If you run out of credits and need more, you can re-fill in small batches of "rollover credits" - sort of like refilling the balance on your Starbucks or Dunkin' app. On the current plans, a refill pack is 100 credits for $10. These extra credits can be used in the current month or rolled over to future months as you need them.
If you use automatic refills, you can turn them on or off at any time with the Auto-refill Tailwind credits toggle in Settings → Billing (this toggle appears on legacy Tailwind plans).
When an automatic refill succeeds, Tailwind sends you a receipt/confirmation email showing the charge, the exact amount captured, and the card that was charged. Because the receipt shows the amount actually charged, it can be higher than the pack's list price where sales tax applies. Refill receipts are transactional payment notices, so they are sent even if you have unsubscribed from Tailwind marketing email. (If you were charged for an automatic refill without receiving this email before July 28, 2026, that was due to a technical issue which has since been fixed — the charge itself was still valid.)
Credit purchases don't get a statement of their own; they're listed on your next renewal statement. For a statement covering a credit purchase, see Why don't I see a separate statement for a credit purchase?
On the current plans (Pin Scheduling & Creation, Pinterest SEO, Pinterest Engagement, and the Bundle), automatic credit refills are controlled by the Auto-refill credits toggle in Settings → Subscription & billing. This changed on August 20, 2026 — previously there was no way to see or switch off automatic refills on these plans.
If you were already on one of these plans before August 20, 2026, auto-refill stays on. You can now see it in Settings and switch it off at any time.
If you started one of these plans on or after August 20, 2026, auto-refill is off until you turn it on. You can also opt in using the checkbox in the credit pack purchase window, which is unchecked by default.
Only the account owner can change this setting. Other members of the organization can see it, but not change it.
When auto-refill is on and a credit-consuming action (like a SmartPin generation) would take your balance below zero, Tailwind charges the card on file for a refill pack to cover it and emails you a receipt.
Automatic refills are capped at 3 refill charges per Pinterest account in a rolling 30-day window. The cap counts every successful automatic refill together, whichever feature triggered it. Once an account reaches the cap, credit-consuming actions normally stop with the ordinary insufficient-credits message rather than charging your card again — if several credit-consuming actions run at the same moment, an extra refill can occasionally go through. You can still buy credits manually whenever you want.
When auto-refill is off, Tailwind never charges you automatically. The action stops with an insufficient-credits message instead, and you can buy credits manually whenever you're ready.
If you're on one of the current plans and were charged for a refill you didn't expect, reach out to us at [email protected] and we can review it with you.
Please note: on legacy plans, an automatic refill is currently only attempted when Turbo activates a Pin. Other features that spend credits — including SmartPin generation — do not trigger an automatic refill. This means your balance can still run down to zero even when the auto-refill toggle is switched on. If most of your credits go to SmartPin, we recommend keeping an eye on your balance and topping up manually when it runs low.
How will I know when I'm running low on credits?
Some features — like SmartPin — keep working in the background and use credits on their own schedule, so your balance can go down even when you're not logged in. Tailwind lets you know before you're caught off guard:
When your credit balance runs low (or runs out), a warning banner appears at the top of your SmartPin dashboard with an option to buy more credits. You can dismiss the banner, and it will return later if your balance is still low.
If an automatic SmartPin generation is skipped because you don't have enough credits, Tailwind sends you an email letting you know. Skipped generations never use credits.
How do I use Tailwind Credits?
Using Tailwind credits is easy - and should happen naturally as you use more features within Tailwind.
You'll see a visual indicator whenever you are taking an action that will use credits, so you can budget and plan your use as you wish.
For example, when adding a Pin in Turbo, you can see the exact number of credits used based on how long you want to boost that Pin.