Monitoring Credits Updates

Planet is updating PlanetScope pricing and changes may affect your product access. This article explains what is changing, what it means for your account, and what you can do now. No action is required for the changes to take effect, but please review this document and your existing subscriptions to see how the changes may affect your workflows and your credit usage.

This article applies to any customer who has purchased access self-service through our platform. If you previously have worked with our sales team to purchase products, please consult with your Planet sales representative to learn more. 

Monitoring credits replacing processing units

The first update is that the platform will have a new currency for usage and quota. A monitoring credit is a single currency you can spend to use data and analytics on Planet Insights Platform.

• Monitoring credits are drawn down as you stream, order, and analyze data.
• Monitoring credits replace processing units. They are also what you spend on tile streaming, ordering data, and using other platform tools.
• When you use imagery, the amount of credits used depends on three things: how recent the imagery is, whether you stream it or order it, and what plan you have.

Existing processing unit balances convert automatically at a rate of 10.9 processing units to 1 monitoring credit, rounded up to the nearest whole credit. You do not need to do anything for this conversion. It happens as part of the rollout.

Expanded baseline access

With monitoring credits, you will have access to PlanetScope mosaic streaming and PlanetScope scene streaming and ordering for data that was captured more than 30 days ago. This access is available across global land mass and near coast regions by default in your platform access. Usage will draw from your monitoring credits quota.

If you have not used mosaics or scene data before, you can find both in the data section of Planet Insights Platform. From there you can search the catalog, view scenes and mosaics on the map, and order data.

Before you start, understand what it costs. Viewing imagery streams tiles, and every tile view draws monitoring credits. Panning and zooming around an area draws more. Ordering data draws credits per square kilometer. Searching the catalog itself does not draw credits, but displaying results on the map does. Only explore this data once you understand the credit cost of doing so. 

Increased admin limits

We have increased the number of users and workspaces that organizations can have, so you have more room to structure your team and your work.

Planet Agriculture, formerly Area Under Management

This change affects you only if your account has Area Under Management quota for accessing PlanetScope data. Everything below is specific to that product.

• The product is renamed. Area Under Management is now called Planet Agriculture. Your quota and your defined areas are unchanged.
• The included archive is now a two-year window. Your access includes imagery from two years before your contract start date, plus all new imagery captured during your contract term. Previously, the full historical archive was included.
• Older data is still available, and now draws credits. Imagery from before that two-year window remains accessible. It consumes monitoring credits at 25 credits per square kilometer.
• Review the time of interest on your subscriptions. A subscription with a time of interest that reaches back past the two-year window will pull archive imagery, and that imagery now draws credits at the rate above. Setting a shorter time of interest on future subscriptions keeps them inside the included window and avoids the credit spend.

This guidance is specific to the Planet Agriculture archive change. It is not related to the processing unit conversion, and it does not apply to your other products.

What is not changing

• Your access to public imagery sources, including Sentinel-2 and Landsat.
• Your Planet Agriculture quota and the areas you have defined.
• Your existing workflows, integrations, and API endpoints.

Resources

When these changes are made, documentation and more details will be published and shared here.