Adobe generative credits are the unit Adobe uses to meter generative AI features in Creative Cloud, Acrobat, Adobe Express and Adobe Firefly. Adobe describes them as “like tokens you can use to generate high-quality image, vector, video, and audio outputs”.[2] Each subscription plan includes a plan-specific monthly allotment per user. For enterprise customers, the Firefly product description states that credits “provide priority processing of generative AI content”. The monthly allotment is per user, resets each month, does not roll over, and “cannot be pooled or shared across multiple users”.[1] Organizations on an Enterprise Term License Agreement (ETLA) can extend use beyond these allotments with Shared Credits. Shared Credits are organization-level Operations, sold per 1,000 Operations and consumed only after a user’s own credits are exhausted.[3][4]
Generative credits are an allowance attached to a user license rather than a license in their own right. The catalog nevertheless records them as a Generative Credit metric, because allotments, consumption rates and fallback rules determine whether a deployment has enough capacity.
Editions
Allotments vary by plan and by subscription date. The table shows selected organizational plans from Adobe’s generative credits FAQ, last updated 10 September 2026.[2]
| Plan | Feature access | Monthly generative credits |
|---|---|---|
| Creative Cloud Pro for teams; Creative Cloud Pro Plus for teams | Standard and Premium | 4,000 for premium generations; unlimited standard generations |
| Creative Cloud Single App for teams (subscribed on or after 2025-06-17) | Standard | 25 (500 if subscribed before) |
| Creative Cloud Pro Single App for teams with Adobe Stock standard assets | Standard | 700 |
| Acrobat Pro for teams; Substance 3D Collection for teams | Standard | 25 |
| Creative Cloud for enterprise Edition 4 (VIP and VIP Marketplace) | Standard and Premium | 4,000 premium; unlimited standard |
| Creative Cloud for enterprise Single Apps Edition 4 (VIP and VIP Marketplace) | Standard and Premium | 700 premium; unlimited standard |
| Creative Cloud for enterprise Edition 5, or Edition 4 with Premium Stock (ETLA) | Standard and Premium | 8,000 premium; unlimited standard |
| Creative Cloud for enterprise Edition 3; Document Cloud only; Stock only | Standard | 25 |
| Creative Cloud Shared Device Access | Standard | 10 |
| Shared Device License (basic install token) | None | 0 |
Adobe also sells Firefly plans for individuals and teams, from 2,000 to 50,000 premium credits a month, and credit add-on plans from 2,000 to 50,000 credits.[2] These plans are outside VIP Marketplace volume discounts. Adobe Firefly is listed among the offers to which volume discounts do not apply, and which do not count toward discount levels.[9] Under VIP, Generative Credits Add-ons likewise do not count toward VIP Select discount levels.[10]
Metrics
- Generative Credit: a per-user monthly allotment attached to a plan.[1]
- Operation: “the billing metric for use of API Actions, workflows, and other actions”. API Actions and workflows may consume more than one Operation. The consumption rate of each is set in a rate card in the Admin Console.[3]
The Shared Credit SKU is licensed per 1,000 Operations.[3] Firefly Creative Production for Enterprise is also metered in Operations. Its product description defines the Rate Card as the consumption rates and limitations listed in the Admin Console, “which may be updated from time to time”.[5]
Counting / floors
Monthly allotment
For paid subscriptions, generative credits renew monthly on the date the plan started or was assigned. The balance resets to the allocated amount, and unused credits do not roll over.[2] Enterprise customers are told the same thing contractually. The Firefly product description adds that credits cannot be pooled or shared across users (rule).[1] Adobe may also apply rate limits to prevent abusive or excessive use.[1] The enterprise PSLT reserves Adobe’s right to throttle, limit, disable, suspend or terminate access to generative AI features as described in the Sales Order or Documentation (§12.1).[8]
Standard and premium features
Adobe has one type of generative credit, spent at different rates on standard and premium features. Most standard features, such as Generative Fill with Firefly models in Photoshop, use 1 credit per generation. Plans such as Creative Cloud Pro, Creative Cloud for enterprise Edition 4 or above, Firefly plans and credit plans have unlimited standard generations, except inside Firefly Graph, where standard generations are still metered.[2] Premium features consume credits by duration or output. Examples from the FAQ:
| Premium feature | Consumption |
|---|---|
| Generate Video, 1080p at 24 FPS | 100 credits per second |
| Generative Extend in Premiere, 4K at 30 FPS | 175 credits per second |
| Translate Video and Translate Audio | 5 credits per second |
| Generate Music | 20 credits per minute |
| Generate Speech (Firefly Speech) | 10 credits per 1,000 characters |
| Firefly Image 5 | 10 credits per generation |
| Firefly Custom Models (beta) | 500 credits per training; 20 per generation |
Partner models, including those from Google, OpenAI and ElevenLabs, are classed as premium features, and their consumption varies by model. Credits are deducted up front and are typically refunded when a generation fails. Adobe lists some generative features that currently consume no credits, such as Generative Remove in Lightroom and Text to 3D in Substance 3D Stager.[2]
Shared devices
On Shared Device Licensing machines, a user who signs in with a Named User License uses their own plan’s allotment. A user with a Shared Device Access entitlement receives 10 generative credits. A lab-only user without an entitlement gets desktop applications only (rule).[2]
Shared Credits
Shared Credits were formerly called the Generative Credit Pool. They give organization-level Operations to assigned users after those users exhaust their individual monthly generative credits. Individual credits are always consumed first, and they reset and are used first again each month. Shared Credits “don’t pool or redistribute individual monthly generative credits” (rule).[4]
An administrator can assign Shared Credits only if the organization has an ETLA and has access to a Shared Credit Product.[4] The Shared Credit product description lists four such products, whose Operations may be pooled with the Shared Credit SKU: Firefly Creative Production for Enterprise, Firefly Services, Firefly Creative Production and Acrobat Studio.[3] Access is granted through Admin Console product profiles, directly or through automatic assignment rules, and the conversion rate from Operations to generative credits is shown in the product’s rate card.[4]
Administrators cannot cap usage for an individual user or group. Adobe states that “Shared Credits usage follows the contractual true‑up model”. Consumption beyond the available Operations is billed under the organization’s ETLA terms (rule).[4] Among the Adobe documents cited in this article, the Shared Credits page is the only one that refers to a true-up. What administrators can control is membership: users or user groups can be added to or removed from Shared Credits product profiles at any time.[4]
Terms for Generative AI Features
Enterprise use of generative AI is governed by the Specific Licensing Terms for Adobe Generative Artificial Intelligence Features (2026v1), effective 31 July 2026.[7] The terms cover any product feature that generates Output with generative AI, including “agentic AI systems”.[6] Their main provisions are:
- Prohibited uses. Illegal or misleading content, inferring protected characteristics, deceptive impersonation, simulated emotional relationships, and decisions about employment, education, housing, essential services or the administration of justice (§2.1).
- Provenance. Customers must not intentionally remove, alter or disable provenance or metadata tags, including C2PA metadata (rule, §2.2).
- Ownership. The customer keeps its rights in Input and owns Output. Output may be inaccurate and may not be protectable by intellectual property rights (§3.1, §3.3).
- No model training. Customers may not use a Generative AI Feature or its Output to build, train, test or improve AI systems (§3.5). The same restriction appears in the Creative Cloud enterprise PSLT for all products and outputs (rule).[6][8]
The Firefly product description also sets the scope of Adobe’s Firefly IP indemnity for customers whose agreement links to it. It lists the Eligible Firefly Features with the date each became eligible, from Text to Image (16 August 2023) to Generate Speech and Generate Music (13 July 2026). It also defines the Export Event on each eligible surface. For Firefly APIs, the Export Event occurs when a customer on a qualifying plan consumes Operations and downloads the Output. Features powered by non-Adobe models and features labelled beta or trial are excluded.[1]
Programs
Generative credit allotments come with Creative Cloud, Acrobat and Firefly plans bought through VIP, VIP Marketplace and the ETLA. Shared Credits require an ETLA.[4]
Out of scope
- Adobe Experience Cloud generative AI. Adobe Target defines a Generation and refers to separate licensing terms for Experience Cloud Generative AI Features. See Adobe Experience Cloud and Experience Manager metrics.
- Firefly API rate cards and Operation prices. These are shown only in the Admin Console and Sales Order.
- Education credit packs and free-plan allocations. These are listed in the FAQ but are not relevant to organizational licensing.
- Virtualization and cloud BYOL. Not applicable: generative features run as Adobe-hosted services.