Notion AI credits explained: Standard vs Select and Auto
2026-10-20 · 4 min read
Notion AI credits now come in two pools. Each Business or Enterprise seat gets 1,500 Standard credits a month, used whenever Notion picks the model (Auto), and 500 Select credits, used when you pick the model yourself or run Custom Agents. New customers are on the system now, and existing workspaces switch on November 2.
The change landed on October 19. Co-founder @akothari posted first, saying Notion agents can now use a computer and a browser and keep a task going for up to 24 hours. He added: "We've also overhauled our pricing and packaging." A few minutes later @NotionHQ put out the full list: stronger agents, bring your own AI, an improved Notion MCP, an AI Command Center that hasn't shipped yet, the new credits, and "a smarter Auto (frontier results, 90% cheaper)."
Standard vs Select credits
Notion's announcement post gives the allowances below. It states them only for Business and Enterprise seats.
| Credit pool | What spends it | Included per seat, per month |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Work where Notion picks the model, including Auto | 1,500 |
| Select | Work where you pick the model, and Custom Agent runs | 500 |
| Add-on credits | Shared Custom Agents, high-credit models like Fable and Astra, anything past the included amount | Bought by admins |
Notion says it split the pools so a busy Custom Agent can't eat the credits people use for everyday questions. It also says "the vast majority of users are unlikely to run out." Add-on prices aren't in the announcement, and neither is rollover, so check your admin email before you plan around either.
What Auto actually does
Auto is a router. It looks at each request and sends it to whichever model Notion thinks gives the best mix of quality, speed and cost. Quick questions go to fast, cheap models, and multi-step agent work goes to stronger ones. When a model stalls, Auto moves the task to another model.
The "90% cheaper" figure is Notion's own. The company says that across more than 20 common tasks it tested, Auto matched Opus 5.5 and Astra at about 90% lower average cost, so credits go roughly ten times further. I haven't seen anyone test it independently yet. Picking a top model yourself spends Select credits, the same pay-more-for-the-best tradeoff we covered in Claude Opus 5.5 fast mode pricing.
The agent upgrades
Notion lists these changes for agents:
- A single task can run for more than 24 hours. The old limit was five minutes.
- Agents get their own computer and browser, and they can write scripts, which Notion says costs less than spending model tokens on each step.
- A new "Review for me" mode has a second model check whether an action is safe before the agent takes it.
- Custom Agent runs cost about 30% less in Notion's testing, and chats load up to 50% faster on mobile.
How to try it
- Start with Auto. Run your usual Notion AI tasks with the model choice left to Notion. Those draw on Standard credits, the bigger pool.
- Test a Custom Agent on included credits. Notion says you can trial Custom Agents with your Select credits before buying any. A weekly status-page agent is an easy first test.
- Connect ChatGPT if you already pay for it. The personal Notion Agent can run on a ChatGPT Plus, Pro or Go plan. That doesn't apply to Custom Agents. Bring Your Own Key is in alpha for Enterprise only.
- Wire in your other agents. The improved Notion MCP connects ChatGPT, Claude, Grokbot and Muse to your workspace, and memory sync works today. If you already use Claude connectors, our post on Claude Marketplace connectors explains how that setup works.
The admin side, the AI Command Center, is still listed as coming soon. It will show usage by member, feature and agent, and let admins set spending limits and choose allowed models. Per-member spending limits are part of that release, so plan on watching usage by hand for now.
What this means for a small business
If you run a small team on Notion, two things stand out. The first is metering. Your AI bill now depends on how people use it, not only on how many seats you pay for, and Notion isn't alone: Meta's Muse, which we looked at when it connected to QuickBooks and Shopify, is free up to a usage limit with paid plans for heavier use. The second is that a 24-hour agent behaves nothing like a chat box. It can chew through a backlog overnight, and it can spend credits overnight too.
So it pays to know which jobs are fine on Auto and which deserve a model you pick, before the meter starts. If you aren't sure where your team's hours go, New Face Design's free process audit can map that out before November 2.