Monitoring Credits Updates

Planet is introducing Monitoring Credits (MCs) as a single currency for usage across Planet Insights Platform. This change replaces several separate usage and quota meters with one fungible credit balance.

This article explains what is changing, how Monitoring Credits work, and how existing Processing Units (PUs) map to Monitoring Credits.

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

What are Monitoring Credits?

Monitoring Credits provide a single unit of usage across Planet services and imagery. They replace three separate quotas that were previously metered independently:

• Download quota, previously measured in square kilometres, becomes credits drawn from the total area you order.
• Tile views become credits drawn per tile streamed.
• Processing Units become credits drawn on platform actions such as activation, clipping, egress, and mosaic generation.

With one fungible quota, you no longer need to manage three separate balances. Credits can be used across streaming, ordering, and processing according to your plan.

The amount of credits you use depends on factors such as the imagery you access, whether you stream or order it, and your plan.

Note: Monitoring Credits are specific to PlanetScope products. SkySat and Pelican tasking continue to be managed through tasking credits.

Coming from Processing Units?

If you previously used the platform when usage was metered in Processing Units (PUs), the underlying meter has not changed. Processing Units have simply been converted into Monitoring Credits.

Processing Units to Monitoring Credits conversion

Existing Processing Unit balances are automatically converted at a rate of:

10.9 Processing Units = 1 Monitoring Credit

You do not need to take any action; the conversion happens automatically as part of the rollout.

For example, a request that previously consumed 10.9 PUs now consumes 1 Monitoring Credit. The analysis itself—including its area, bands, dates, and hardware—is metered in the same way as before.

Managing your Monitoring Credit balance

• You will receive notifications as you use your quota, helping you manage your burn rate.
• Overages are not permitted. Usage stops when your balance is exhausted rather than continuing and generating additional charges.
• On monthly credit plans, credits refresh on the first of each month. Unused credits do not roll over.

Expanded baseline access

With Monitoring Credits, you have access to PlanetScope mosaic streaming and PlanetScope scene streaming and ordering for data 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 draws from your Monitoring Credit quota.

You can find mosaics and scene data in the Data section of Planet Insights Platform, where you can search the catalog, view scenes and mosaics on the map, and order data.

Before you start, understand the credit cost. Viewing imagery streams tiles, and each tile view draws Monitoring Credits. Panning and zooming can therefore consume additional credits. Ordering data draws credits per square kilometre.

Planet Agriculture, formerly Area Under Management

This change affects you only if your account has Area Under Management quota for accessing PlanetScope data.

• Planet Agriculture replaces Area Under Management. Area Under Management is not sold on the current packages. Existing Area Under Management customers may continue with Planet Agriculture.
• 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 and consumes Monitoring Credits at 25 credits per square kilometre.
• Review the time of interest on your subscriptions. A subscription with a time of interest extending beyond the two-year window will pull archive imagery, which now draws credits. Setting a shorter time of interest on future subscriptions can keep your usage within the included window and avoid this additional credit spend.

This archive change is specific to Planet Agriculture. It is not related to the Processing Unit conversion and does not apply to other products.

What is not changing

• Your access to public imagery sources, including Sentinel-2 and Landsat.
• Your existing workflows, integrations, and API endpoints.