Originality.ai costs $14.95/month for the Base plan (2,000 credits), or $30 one-time for a 3,000-credit pay-as-you-go pack with no subscription. Agencies pay $179/month for Pro. The whole system runs on credits — 1 credit scans 100 words — so the real question isn't the sticker price, it's how many articles your credits actually cover. Here's the math.
Every plan & price
There are two ways in — a monthly subscription or a one-time credit pack — plus a Pro tier for teams.
| Plan | Price | Credits | What's included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pay-as-you-go | $30 one-time | 3,000 | AI detection, plagiarism, fact-check, readability — no subscription |
| Base | $14.95/mo | 2,000/mo | Everything above, monthly refill, scan history |
| Pro | $179/mo | High volume | Team seats, full API access, priority — built for agencies |
| Enterprise / API | ~$0.01/credit | Volume | CMS/pipeline integration, custom limits, SSO |
Note the quirk: the pay-as-you-go pack ($30 / 3,000 credits) gives you more credits than a month of Base ($14.95 / 2,000 credits) — but Base refills every month. If you scan in bursts, PAYG credits that don't expire monthly can be the smarter buy.
How credits work
One credit scans 100 words, and that's the unit for everything — AI detection and plagiarism run on the same credits in a single pass. So a scan's cost is simply its word count divided by 100. Subscription credits refill monthly and generally don't roll over; the pay-as-you-go pack behaves more like a wallet.
The confusion people hit is assuming a "scan" is one flat charge. It isn't — a 3,000-word guide costs 30 credits, ten times what a 300-word snippet costs. Budget by total words per month, not number of documents.
Cost per article
Here's what the credits translate to in practice on the Base plan (2,000 credits/month):
| Content | Words | Credits | Base plan covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short blog post | 800 | 8 | ~250/month |
| Standard article | 1,500 | 15 | ~130/month |
| Long-form guide | 3,000 | 30 | ~66/month |
For a solo blogger or a small editorial team, 2,000 credits a month is plenty. A high-volume content agency scanning every draft will burn through Base quickly and should price out Pro or the API instead.
API & enterprise
The API starts around $0.01 per credit at volume and is the reason a lot of publishers pick Originality.ai — you can wire detection and plagiarism straight into a CMS so every submitted draft gets scanned automatically. Pro ($179/mo) unlocks full API access plus team seats and a shared scan history; Enterprise adds custom limits and SSO. If you just want to check documents by hand, you never need to touch this tier.
Is it worth it?
For its target buyer — content teams and publishers vetting freelance work — yes. You're getting the most accurate detector on paraphrased text plus plagiarism and fact-checking in one scan, which would otherwise be two subscriptions. At $14.95/mo the Base plan is cheap insurance against paying for AI-generated content you thought was human.
It's not worth it for casual or student use. There's no free tier, the credit model is overkill for occasional checks, and it's tuned for web copy rather than student essays. If that's you, start with GPTZero's free tier instead. To see how it compares head-to-head, read GPTZero vs Originality.ai, or the full best AI detectors guide. Deeper on features in our Originality.ai review.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Originality.ai cost in 2026?
The Base subscription is $14.95/month for 2,000 credits. There's a pay-as-you-go pack at $30 for 3,000 credits with no subscription, and a Pro plan at $179/month for agencies with API access and team seats.
How much does one scan cost on Originality.ai?
One credit scans 100 words. A 1,500-word article costs 15 credits, so the Base plan's 2,000 monthly credits cover roughly 130 articles. AI detection and plagiarism can run in the same scan on the same credits.
Is Originality.ai worth it?
For content teams and publishers vetting freelance work, yes — the accuracy on paraphrased text plus bundled plagiarism and fact-checking justify the price. For casual or student use, a free detector like GPTZero is better value.
Does Originality.ai have a free trial?
There's no ongoing free tier. The lowest-cost way to try it is the $30 pay-as-you-go pack of 3,000 credits, which has no subscription and lets you test it on real documents before committing monthly.
Do Originality.ai credits roll over?
Subscription credits refill each month and generally don't roll over, so unused Base credits are lost. Pay-as-you-go credits behave more like a wallet balance, which is why burst users often prefer the $30 pack.
Is the pay-as-you-go plan better than the subscription?
If you scan irregularly, yes — the $30 PAYG pack gives 3,000 credits that don't expire monthly, versus Base's 2,000 credits that reset. If you scan steadily every month, the $14.95 Base subscription is cheaper per credit over time.
Does the price include plagiarism checking?
Yes. AI detection, plagiarism, fact-checking, and readability all run in the same scan using the same credits on every paid plan — you're not billed separately for the plagiarism check.