What a credit buys. Choosing the right Desk plan.

Hynca Media Desk pricing is built on credits. Each plan gives you a monthly allowance of credits and a set number of websites, and each type of piece uses a fixed number of credits. To pick a plan, add up what you publish in a month and check it against the allowance. There are three plans: Standard at £29 a month, Pro at £79 and Agency at £199. Prices are in pounds, and no VAT is charged at present.

This guide covers what a credit buys, what each plan includes and how to work out which plan suits you. Our view: count the credits your real monthly mix uses and the websites you run, then match a plan to both. Everything below is there to help you do that sum accurately.

What does each piece cost in credits?

Every piece the Desk writes has a set cost in credits. The cost depends on the type of piece and its length.

• A news piece of about 400 to 700 words uses 1 credit.
• An article or guide of about 1,000 to 1,800 words, written from up to three sources, uses 2 credits.
• A set of social posts, with one post for each platform you choose, uses 1 credit.
• A short video script uses 1 credit.
• A long YouTube script uses 2 credits.

Two of these cost 2 credits: the guide and the long YouTube script. Everything else costs 1. Once you know roughly how many of each piece you want in a month, the plan choice is arithmetic.

A set of social posts counts as one piece, however many platforms you pick. If you share one story on three platforms, you get three posts and use 1 credit.

Guides are also the only piece type with a stated source limit. A guide can draw on up to three sources, which suits topics such as a change in the rules that affects your members or customers, where one source rarely tells the whole story.

What does each plan include?

The three plans differ in two ways: the number of credits each month and the number of websites you can run.

• Standard: £29 a month, 40 credits a month, 1 website.
• Pro: £79 a month, 150 credits a month, up to 3 websites.
• Agency: £199 a month, 500 credits a month, up to 15 websites.

Monthly credits reset each month. They don't build up from one month to the next, so a quiet month doesn't bank credits for a busy one.

Start with the website count, because it can settle the question before you add up a single credit. A business with one site and a modest publishing schedule fits Standard. A member organisation with a main site and a couple of branch or event sites needs Pro, even if it publishes little. An agency managing 4 client sites needs Agency, whatever its credit use, because Pro covers only 3.

How many credits will you actually use?

This is where most of the decision sits. Base it on the pieces you'd publish in an ordinary month.

1. List the pieces you want in a typical month: news, guides, social sets and any video scripts.
2. Multiply each by its credit cost and add them up.
3. Add a margin for drafts you might turn down (more on that below).
4. Check the total against each plan's allowance, then check your website count.

Here's how Standard's 40 credits might be spent in a month. Sixteen news pieces use 16 credits. A set of social posts for each of those stories uses another 16. Four guides use 8. That's 16 + 16 + 8 = 40, exactly the allowance. For a single business site, that's roughly four news stories a week, each shared on social, plus a guide a week.

The same 40 credits could go entirely on longer pieces: 20 guides and nothing else. Most sites want a mix, but the sum works either way.

Video changes the sums only a little. Swap two news pieces for two short video scripts and the total stays the same, because both cost 1 credit. Swap a guide for a long YouTube script and it stays the same too, at 2 credits each.

On the larger plans, divide the credits by the number of sites. Pro's 150 credits spread across 3 websites is 50 credits per site each month, 10 more than Standard gives one site. Agency's 500 credits across 15 websites is about 33 credits per site. That's enough for each client to have, for example, a dozen news pieces with social sets and a few guides.

The credits on Pro and Agency aren't tied to a site. One busy client can use more of the allowance in a given month while a quieter one uses less, as long as the total stays inside it.

What if you need more one month?

Extra credits come in packs of 25 for £20, which works out at 80p a credit. You can buy them at any time. They carry over from month to month, and they're used after the month's own credits, so your plan allowance always goes first.

For an occasional busy month, a pack is the better buy. Say you're on Standard and a local planning decision or a sector change means you want 55 credits' worth of pieces one month. One pack of 25 gives you 65 credits for that month at an extra £20. Moving to Pro would cost £50 more for that month and change your plan for every month after.

Because pack credits carry over, the 10 you didn't use in that example are still there next month. They sit behind your fresh 40 and are used only once those run out.

If your total runs over in most months, packs stop being the cheaper route. The per-credit cost of a bigger plan is lower: Pro's 150 credits for £79 is roughly 53p a credit, and Agency's 500 for £199 is roughly 40p. Buying two packs a month on Standard costs £29 plus £40, which is £69 for 90 credits. Pro gives 150 credits for £79.

Referral credits are a second way to add to your balance. When someone signs up through your referral link and pays their first invoice, you each get 25 extra credits. That's the same number as a paid pack, at no cost to either of you.

When are credits used, and when are they returned?

A piece you turn down still uses its credits, because the work has been done. A run that fails gives the credits back.

You'll read every draft before it goes anywhere, and some won't be right for your readers that week: the story may have moved on, or it may not fit your area. That's how it should work. A person decides, and nothing is published by itself.

So build in some headroom. If you expect to turn down two or three news pieces a month, add 2 or 3 credits to your total before you choose a plan. On Standard, that might mean planning for 36 or 37 credits of approved work, not a full 40. On Agency, a small margin per client site adds up across 15 sites, so allow for it in the overall figure.

Is a yearly plan worth it?

Yearly plans charge 10 months, so 2 months are free. Here's what that means for each plan.

• Standard: £290 a year, against £348 paid monthly. You save £58.
• Pro: £790 a year, against £948 paid monthly. You save £158.
• Agency: £1,990 a year, against £2,388 paid monthly. You save £398.

The saving is only worth having on the right plan. Paying yearly for a plan that's too small means buying packs most months; paying yearly for one that's too large means paying for credits you won't use.

We'd choose yearly once you know your mix. For most people that's after the trial and perhaps a month or two of normal use, when you've seen how many pieces you approve, how many you turn down and whether you ever need a pack.

How does the trial work?

The trial lasts 14 days and comes with 10 credits. It's available once per organisation. Your card is taken at the start, and your plan begins when the trial ends unless you cancel first. You can cancel at any time under Plan and billing.

Use the 10 credits to test the mix you'd really publish. One guide (2 credits), four news pieces (4 credits) and four social sets (4 credits) uses all 10, and shows you each of the main piece types on your own site. If video is part of your plans, swap a news piece and its social set for a short script.

Keep a note of what you approve and what you turn down. By the end of the 14 days you'll have a fair picture of your monthly total and how much headroom to allow.

Every piece is written from the source's own facts, linked and credited, and checked claim by claim. A person approves every one. Ready to see it on your own site? Try it for 14 days.