Failed generations and refunds
What happens to your credits when a generation or message fails.
Sometimes a model can't finish a job. When that happens, you don't pay for it. Refunds are automatic, so you don't need to contact anyone.
How refunds work
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| An image generation fails | All its credits are returned |
| You create several images and some fail | Only the failed ones are refunded |
| A Magic tool fails | The credits are returned |
| A chat model fails to answer | The message credits are refunded. If the model used its whole reply limit thinking and wrote no text, the tokens it used are charged |
| The Movies Agent fails | The 8 credits are refunded |
Refunds appear in your balance and in the credit history on your account page.
Example
You create 4 images with Nano Banana 2 at 20 credits each, so 80 credits are charged. If 3 images arrive and 1 fails, you get 20 credits back and keep the 3 images.
What is not a failure
A refund happens when the model doesn't deliver a result. A result you don't like is still a finished generation, so it isn't refunded. To get better results:
- Read the Complete prompting guide.
- Try a different model in Choosing a model.
- Test ideas with a cheap model first, like Nano Banana Lite (10 credits).
Why generations fail
- The model's service is temporarily busy or down.
- The request was blocked by the model's safety filters.
- A network problem interrupted the job.
If a generation fails, wait a moment and try again. If it keeps failing, try another model or reword the prompt.
Note
Prompts that break our Content rules may be blocked. Repeated attempts won't help; change the request instead.
Checking your history
Open your account page to see every charge and refund with its date. If something looks wrong, this is the place to check first.