Tokens and run cost
What counts toward your monthly tokens, how Hailo estimates a run before you start it, and what happens when the balance runs out.
Tokens pay for one thing: the clip-by-clip sorting of your main footage. Everything else in a run is included, and ceremony, toast and Blueprint films come out of their own monthly builds. This article explains what counts, where the estimates come from, and what happens when you run low.
What counts
One token sorts one minute of footage you shot by hand. Only the footage Hailo watches clip by clip counts:
| Footage | Counts? |
|---|---|
| Folders labeled Main footage | Yes, by their length in minutes |
| Folders labeled Long-form | No |
| Folders labeled Drone | No |
| Folders labeled Action camera | No |
| Folders labeled Don't include | No |
| Audio | No |
| Trimming and quality checks | No |
| Ceremony and toast films | No. Counted as ceremony and toast builds instead |
| Blueprint films | Counted as Blueprint builds instead |
| Everything else in the run | No |
Resolution never changes the price. A 4K wedding and a 1080p wedding cost the same per minute.
A trim-only run (labeling unticked) costs nothing at all, and rebuilding a wedding never sorts it again.
The estimate before you start
Hailo shows the cost twice before a run, and both places use the same rule.
On the review step
As soon as the scan finishes, a chip at the top of the folder list reads "≈ N tokens for this run · 2 h 30 m of footage". It adds up the minutes in every folder that will be analyzed and rounds up to whole minutes. Change a folder's label and the number updates: move a long-form folder off Main footage and it drops.
On the start dock
The start button reads Start processing · ~N tokens. Under it, "N tokens left this month · resets {date}" shows your balance. If the estimate is bigger than your balance, a warning reads "This run needs about N tokens" with how many you have left, and suggests splitting the drop into smaller runs or waiting for your reset.
The chip and the start button are estimates made before the run from the footage lengths Hailo could read at scan time. The figure that is actually deducted is measured as the run happens, and your billing page is the one true record. If the two differ by a few tokens, the billing page is right.
Your monthly balance
The Tokens pill on the Edit launchpad shows a small meter and the tokens used out of this month's. Click it for the popover: how many tokens you have left and about how many weddings that sorts, a meter that turns amber at 80 percent and red at 100 percent, Used this month with the tokens each tool has used (Sorting, Ceremony films and Speeches films), and Resets {date}. Blueprints are not in that list, because they use your monthly Blueprint builds, never tokens. Plans without a cap do not show the pill.
Your balance resets on your billing date each month. Unused tokens do not carry over, and bought tokens never expire. To see the same numbers with your invoices, or to buy more tokens mid-month, open See billing in the popover or go to the billing page. See Usage meters and Buy more tokens.
During a run, the progress card's stage banner shows a N tokens left pill so you can watch the balance move. When a sort finishes, its summary line adds how many tokens it used.
When the balance runs out
A run that needs more tokens than you have can still start: reading, checking sharpness and listening to audio are free and run first. When Hailo reaches the step that spends tokens and your balance is at zero, it pauses there with the message:
Your plan's monthly analysis budget is used up. This run is paused before Hailo labels anything. It resumes automatically when your cycle resets, or reach out to raise the limit.
Nothing is lost. Buy more tokens, or wait for the reset, and the run continues from that point on its own the next time you open it. See Pause, resume and failures.
Ways to spend fewer tokens
- Label long-form cameras Long-form. A two-hour ceremony camera on Main footage is 120 tokens for a file you would never label clip by clip.
- Label the drone and action cameras as what they are; both are free.
- Put the second shooter's personal folder on Don't include.
- Run trimming only when you do not need labels.
Troubleshooting
The chip says one number and the billing page says another. The chip is an estimate; the billing page is the measured figure. See the note above.
The pill is missing. Your plan has no monthly cap, so there is nothing to meter. The billing page still shows what you have used.
The run paused before labeling but I have tokens. Hailo checks your balance from the cloud. If Hailo could not reach it recently, open the run again and it re-checks and continues.