A credit is a single outbound SMS message to a single contact. For example, if you had a list with 200 people on it and you sent a short message (160 characters or less) to that list, you would use 200 credits.
Some processes and features of Textify include automated outbound messages that require credits:
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The 'join' opt-in process requires at least 1 credit per contact opt-in because a confirmation text is sent
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Giving requires at least 2 credits per transaction for confirmation texts and receipts.
Essentially, any time a text is sent, it costs a credit - kind of like a stamp on a piece of mail. We recommend choosing the monthly plan that gives you the amount of credits you anticipate using on a monthly basis. You can always turn on the "auto fill" option to automatically purchase more credits for large messages or giving/purchasing pushes.
One thing to note: outbound messages are not limited to 160 characters even though they are sent via SMS messaging. If the message is longer than 160 characters, it will require multiple credits per recipient (calculated in multiples of 160). For example, if you send a message that is 200 characters long to a group with 100 people in it, it would require 200 credits. (2 credits per message X 100 recipients = 200 credits.)