Billing & Balance Issues
Understand charges, low balance, and payment problems.
Most billing questions come down to one of three things: where your recording minutes went, why a charge looked the way it did, or how to fix a card that failed. This page walks through the most common situations and the exact step to resolve each one.
Two separate things fund your recording time: your plan's included weekly minutes (which reset every Monday at 00:00 UTC) and any prepaid credits you have bought (which carry over). Recording always draws from included minutes first, then from credits. Knowing which one is empty usually explains what you are seeing.
Quick reference
Recording stopped or won't start
Recording stops automatically when your balance reaches zero, meaning both your plan's remaining included weekly minutes and any prepaid credits have run out. Kalima shows a low-balance warning before this happens so you have time to act.
To keep going, buy a credit top-up from the low-balance dialog or the Credits page, or upgrade to a plan with more weekly minutes. See Minutes, Credits & Balance.
This means your included minutes plus purchased credits have been used up, so there is no recording time left to draw on. The dialog shows your current balance, suggests a matching credit pack, lets you enter a custom top-up, and offers to upgrade your plan.
Pick a suggested pack, enter a custom amount (minimum 4.99 EUR), or choose to upgrade. Once your balance is restored, recording continues. Recording stays blocked until then.
Included weekly minutes are withheld until you verify your email address, and may also be withheld while an account is under review. This is why a fresh, unverified account can show 0 free minutes.
Verify your email to unlock the free allowance (check your spam folder for the verification message). If your account is under review, any purchased credits still work while the review completes. See Create Your Account.
Where my minutes went
Time is deducted in a fixed order: your plan's included weekly minutes first, then your prepaid credits. Included minutes reset each week; credits carry over. So a balance drop early in the week is usually your included allowance being used, not your credits.
Recording is metered at near-second precision and draws from included minutes first. If you record long sessions or several short ones, your weekly included allowance can be consumed before the week ends. That is expected, not a billing error.
Check the balance gauge and your usage view to see how much is left and where it is coming from. As a rough guide, the gauge reads "full" at around 10 hours and "critical" at around 1 hour of remaining time. For details, see Usage & Quotas.
Included minutes come with your plan and reset every week (Free 120 / 2 hours, Plus 1,200 / 20 hours, Pro and Team 3,000 / 50 hours, Enterprise unlimited). Credits are prepaid time you buy as a one-time purchase. They do not reset weekly and are used only after your included minutes run out. The base rate is 1 EUR = 60 minutes of transcription.
No. Only your plan's included weekly minutes reset every Monday at 00:00 UTC. Purchased credits carry over until you use them.
Hitting a plan limit
Recording minutes are one thing your plan meters, but features like AI summaries, AI chat, autocorrections, and file uploads have their own weekly quotas. Hitting one of those blocks only that feature, not your whole account.
You reached your plan's weekly quota for that specific feature. When a quota is reached, that feature pauses and shows a clear "reached your plan's limit, please upgrade" message until the next weekly reset.
You have two options: wait for the weekly reset (quotas reset every Monday at 00:00 UTC) or upgrade to a plan with a larger or unlimited quota. See AI Usage & Limits and Usage & Quotas.
You do not have to upgrade. Buy a prepaid credit top-up to keep recording past your weekly allowance. Credits are used automatically once your included minutes are gone, and larger packs give more hours per euro. See Minutes, Credits & Balance.
All weekly quotas and your included minute allowance reset every Monday at 00:00 UTC. Prepaid credits are unaffected by the reset.
Payment problems
Your card was likely declined or expired. Kalima shows an in-app banner so you can fix billing before your subscription falls behind.
Click Update payment in the banner and add or correct your card. If failures keep happening, the notice becomes more urgent, and an unresolved failure can eventually move your subscription to a past-due state and then a canceled one. See Payments & Invoices.
Go to your Billing dashboard, open Payment Methods, and add a card through the secure form. You can set which card is the default for charges and remove old cards. Card details are entered securely through Kalima's payment processor and are not stored by Kalima directly. See Payments & Invoices.
Yes. Upgrades take effect right away and are prorated, so you are charged the price difference for the remaining part of your billing period immediately. You can review the proration preview before confirming. Downgrades, by contrast, apply at the end of your current period so you keep access in the meantime. See Managing Your Subscription.
Open your Billing dashboard and scroll to Invoices. Each invoice shows its status, amount, and date, with links to view the hosted invoice or download a PDF. After any purchase, a receipt screen shows what you bought and a receipt number. See Payments & Invoices.
Promo codes and plan changes
A code is rejected when it is expired or inactive, has been fully redeemed, is restricted to certain plans, or you have already used it. Each code can be redeemed only once per account. Double-check the code and that it is still valid, then try again. See Promo Codes.
Promo codes at credit checkout are enabled only on the entry-level 4.99 EUR pack; the larger packs disable them. Apply your code to the 4.99 pack, to a subscription at checkout, or through the in-app Redeem Code dialog instead. See Promo Codes.
Your access is already covered by your organization's or team's subscription, so you cannot also hold a separate personal plan. Billing for your account is managed by your org or team admin. See Billing & Seats.
Only an active subscription can be paused, and only for 1 to 3 months with an automatic resume date. Make sure your subscription is active and choose a pause length of 1, 2, or 3 months. See Managing Your Subscription.
If you keep running low on recording time, compare a one-time credit top-up against moving up a plan tier. Heavy, recurring use is usually cheaper on a higher plan; occasional overflow is better handled with credits.
Still stuck?
If a charge looks wrong, a balance doesn't match what you expect, or you need help an account flag is blocking, reach out and we'll sort it out.