ScanChess bills in credits and nothing else. There are no per-page fees, no export charges, and no upsell hiding behind a feature you already used. This page explains what a credit buys, how you get them, and what happens when you run out.
What each action costs
| What you do | Credits |
|---|---|
| Scoresheet photo → PGN | 2 |
| Board photo → FEN | 1 |
| Editing moves, replay, PGN export, game history | Free |
A scoresheet scan costs 2 credits regardless of how many pages you upload in that scan. A double-sided sheet photographed as two images and scanned together is one scan, not two — the moves are merged in order and you are charged once.
Only the recognition itself costs anything. Once a game is in your library you can correct moves, step through it on the board, export the PGN, re-download it a year later, and share it, without spending another credit.
Where credits come from
Signing up. Every new account starts with 10 credits. No card, no trial that quietly converts. Ten credits is five scoresheets, which is enough to find out whether the recognition copes with your handwriting.
Referrals. Share your referral link from the user menu. When someone signs up with it, you both get 5 credits.
Pro. A Pro subscription adds 100 credits every 30 days — roughly 50 scoresheets a month.
Credits do not expire
Credits sit in your balance until you spend them. The monthly Pro grant is added to what you already have rather than replacing it, so a quiet month is not a wasted one: if you scan 20 sheets in March and 80 in April, the April surplus is still there.
The same is true if you cancel. Cancelling stops the next charge, but the credits already in your balance stay, and you can keep spending them after Pro lapses.
What a credit costs in money
On the monthly plan, 100 credits for $4.99 works out to about $0.05 per credit, or roughly $0.10 per scoresheet. On the yearly plan ($29.99 for twelve monthly grants) it is closer to $0.025 per credit — about $0.05 a scoresheet. Pro+ grants 500 credits a month for $19.99/month or $119.99/year, which brings the per-credit price down to about $0.04 monthly or $0.02 yearly.
Put next to the alternative, that is the interesting number: typing a 40-move game into a PGN editor by hand takes most people five to ten minutes and introduces at least one transcription error per few games. A nickel is a reasonable price for skipping that.
When you run out
The scanner tells you before it charges you, not after. If your balance is below the cost of the scan, the Scan button explains that you are out of credits and links straight to the pricing page. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is charged.
Your existing games are unaffected. A zero balance stops new recognitions; it does not lock your library, your exports, or your history.
Common questions
Do I get charged if the scan is wrong? The credits are spent when the AI processes the image, so a scan that comes back with mistakes has still cost you 2 credits. That is why moves you can edit are free — fixing a misread rook is part of the same scan. If a scan comes back unusable rather than merely imperfect, email support@scanchess.com and we will put the credits back.
Do credits work across the app and the website? Yes. The balance belongs to your account, not the device. Scan on the web, spend the same credits in the iOS app.
Is there a way to buy credits without subscribing? Not currently — Pro is the only paid option, and it is the cheapest way to get a large balance. If you need a one-off block of credits for a tournament, write to us.
Next: how to cancel a ScanChess subscription, or see the current pricing.