The QUE Meter counts one credit for every customized output Templater produces. That is the whole rule. A render uses a credit, a replica uses a credit, and a spot check uses a credit. You buy credits ahead of time, Templater draws them down as you work, and a reminder message appears if you try to produce an output with no credits left.
That makes the Meter a pay-as-you-go way to run Templater. It suits people who make customized video now and then. It does not suit people who make it all day. Below we explain what the Meter is, exactly what it counts, how to fill it, and when a subscription is the better path.
What the QUE Meter is and what it counts
Our help page describes the QUE Meter as working with Templater to support pay-as-you-go production of customized video outputs. Two requirements come first. You need Templater 3.7 or later, and you need a licensed edition of Templater. The Meter does not replace a license. It works with one.
Which edition should you pair it with? The documentation says the Templater Rig edition is the most economical option for people who only occasionally customize video. Users of Templater Pro and Templater Bot can choose, project by project, to use the QUE Meter if they want to. So a Pro user is not locked in either direction. One project can run on the Meter while another does not.
Now the counting rule, because it is the part people ask about most. Each customized output consumes one credit. The documentation adds a note that outputs include spot checks, replicas and renders. Read that list slowly. A spot check is a preview, and it still costs a credit. A replica costs a credit. A render costs a credit.
Here is a scenario of our own, built from that rule. Say you have a sheet with eighty rows and you want a quick look at three of them before committing. You run three spot checks, which use three credits. You fix a typo and run two more, which use two. Then you render all eighty. In total that run used eighty-five credits, and the first five made no finished video. The spot checks were not free just because they were previews. If you work this way, count your checks into your budget.
Credits come in a pool, and the pool has rules. A QUE Meter account holds a maximum of 1,000 credits. The FAQ explains the reason. Once a user exceeds 1,000 outputs in a single month, a QUE subscription becomes the more affordable option, and the cap keeps people from missing the value of the unlimited output that Templater subscriptions provide. Credits also cost the same per credit no matter how many you buy. There is no bulk discount, which the FAQ says shows the value of a subscription for heavy use. We leave prices out of this page. See our pricing page for current figures.
One more point about the pool is useful to anyone with several machines. According to the FAQ, any active Templater license key, whether Rig, Pro or Bot, can be connected to the QUE Meter and draw from the same centralized pool of credits. You can share a bucket of credits across multiple Templater activations, licenses and computers. The FAQ calls that one of the most useful benefits of the Meter. A team with a few workstations does not need to divide credits among them by hand.
Connecting, filling and refilling the Meter
To use the Meter, you must have a QUE Meter account connected to Templater. A QUE Trial account does not offer QUE Meter functionality. If you have a Trial account, you can upgrade it by purchasing QUE Credits. Our related help topic, Authorizing Access to Your QUE Campaigns, covers the connection.
Credits can be bought in three places. You can buy them in Templater, in QUE, or by going to dataclay.com/credits. Your balance shows in both QUE and Templater, so you do not need to switch apps to know where you stand. Credits are sold in increments of 50, 100, 250 or 500.
The steps for refilling from inside Templater go like this. Open the Templater panel in your After Effects project. Check that you are connected to your QUE account by clicking the Q button next to the data field, and authorize the connection if you are not. In the QUE Meter area of the Output section, click the + icon. A browser window opens. Choose the number of credits you want. After your purchase is complete, return to the QUE Meter and click the Reload icon on the right. The balance updates.
From QUE, the path is different. Log in to your QUE account and click the account icon at the top of the page. In the Plan section, click Add Job Credits. Choose a credit amount, finish the purchase, and go back to Templater to click Reload. There is a catch. You must be logged in with a QUE Meter account to see the Add Job Credits button. If you have a QUE Solo or a QUE Team account, the button does not appear. If you cannot find it, check the kind of account you are signed in with before assuming something is broken.
A first-time setup checklist keeps this simple. Confirm that you run Templater 3.7 or later. Confirm that you hold a licensed edition. Make sure you are signed in with a QUE Meter account, not a Trial, Solo or Team account. Click the Q button next to the data field and authorize the connection if Templater asks. Buy a first block of credits and click Reload. Then run one small output and watch the balance drop by one. That single test proves the whole chain works before you depend on it for a deadline.
Behind the scenes, the Meter needs a live connection. The documentation says the machine running Templater must have an active internet connection that can reach the que-api.dataclay.com domain. As you produce output, Templater updates your balance. If you run out of credits and try to produce an output, a reminder message appears. That connection requirement is a real trade-off. The FAQ states it clearly: with the Meter, your computer must always be connected to the internet so your credit usage can be tracked, and that constant connection is not necessary with traditional Templater Pro and Templater Bot subscriptions. If you render on a machine that is offline, or on a network that blocks the domain, the Meter is the wrong tool.
One practical habit follows from all this. Before any large run, open Templater, look at the QUE Meter area of the Output section, and read the balance. The documentation says your QUE Meter balance displays in both QUE and Templater, so you can check it from whichever app you have open. If the number is smaller than the outputs you plan to make, top up first. Doing it before the run is easier than doing it in the middle, and it keeps spot checks, replicas and renders all covered by the same balance.
The same habit helps when more than one person shares the pool. Because several license keys can draw from the same credits, one person’s batch lowers the number everyone sees. Before you start a big job, look again at the current balance rather than trusting a number you read yesterday.
Budgeting credits before you start
Because the unit is the output, budgeting is plain arithmetic. Count the rows you plan to produce. Add the spot checks you expect to run while you tune the template. Add any replicas. The total is the number of credits you need. Compare it to the balance shown in Templater or QUE. If the balance is lower, buy the difference, rounded up to the next available increment of 50, 100, 250 or 500.
Try it with a concrete case, again of our own making. A designer needs 120 customized videos for a single campaign. She expects to run about ten spot checks while adjusting the layout, and she wants a margin for a few reruns after a data fix. Her need is somewhere above 130 credits. She checks the balance, sees it is short, and tops up. Because credits are sold in fixed increments and the price per credit does not change with quantity, she picks the increment that covers her need with room to spare. She also knows the account holds no more than 1,000 credits, so she does not try to stockpile a year of supply.
Notice what that example leaves out. It does not mention a subscription term, because the Meter counts outputs. When a quiet month brings no work, you produce no outputs, so no credits are drawn down. That is the main reason to pick it over a subscription for occasional jobs, and it is the reason the Rig edition pairs well with it. Rig is the economical entry point, and the Meter covers the occasional render.
Watch the balance as you work. The Meter updates as you produce output, and both QUE and Templater show the current number. If you run out of credits and try to produce an output, a reminder message appears. After a purchase, return to the QUE Meter in Templater and click the Reload icon. Our documentation lists that click as the last step of every purchase, so do not skip it.
Using the Meter with the Bot, and when to pick a subscription
The Bot deserves its own section, because it is the one place where running out of credits has a bigger effect. Our documentation says that if you use the QUE Meter with Templater Bot, the Bot stops running and is auto-disabled when you run out of QUE Credits. After you replenish the Meter, you can re-enable the Bot, and it picks up where it left off.
That behavior is forgiving, but it still costs you time. The documentation recommends making sure your balance is sufficient for large jobs before you enable the Bot. Count the rows in the pending data, remember that each output takes a credit, and compare the total to your balance. If the balance falls short, add credits first. A Bot that stops at row 600 of 900 in the middle of the night has not failed, but the Bot stays off until someone reloads the Meter and re-enables it. For what else can interrupt a queue, see what happens when a Templater batch fails mid-queue.
Who should use the Meter? Anyone who customizes video now and then, who wants no recurring commitment, and who works on a connected machine. It also fits a team that has several Templater license keys and wants one shared pool. Our post introducing QUE Meter is our post on the Meter, and Jotform plus QUE Meter covers pairing it with a form tool.
Who should skip it? Anyone producing more than 1,000 outputs in a month. At that point, the FAQ says, a QUE subscription is more affordable, and the account cap means the Meter cannot hold that many credits anyway. Anyone who needs to render offline should also skip it. And anyone whose Bot runs unattended on very large batches should weigh the stop-at-zero behavior against a subscription’s unlimited output. To compare the licenses, read our Templater licensing guide and QUE vs Templater. The product pages for Templater and QUE give the overview.
One more comparison helps when you are undecided. With the Meter, cost follows output, and the machine must stay online. With a Templater Pro or Bot subscription, output is unlimited for the subscription’s term, and the constant connection is not needed. Neither is better in general. The Meter wins when your volume is low or uneven and you can stay connected. A subscription wins when volume is steady and high, or when the render machine is offline. Count a typical month of outputs, then pick the side that month falls on.
We have limited this page to what the help page and FAQ state. They do not say how the Meter treats a failed render, whether an unsuccessful job still consumes a credit, or how credits expire. We will not guess, and if your plan depends on those answers, please ask us before you buy a large amount.
The bottom line is a single sentence to remember. One output is one credit, and spot checks and replicas count like renders, so buy enough to cover your tests as well as your final run. Choose the Meter for occasional work on a connected computer. Choose a subscription when your volume is high or your machine is offline.
Thinking about credits? Here are the questions we hear the most.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as one credit on the QUE Meter?
Each customized output consumes one credit. The documentation notes that outputs include spot checks, replicas and renders, so a preview costs the same as a finished render. Plan your balance around the total number of outputs you expect to produce, including test runs, not only the final batch.
What do I need before I can use the QUE Meter?
You need Templater 3.7 or later, a licensed edition of Templater, and a QUE Meter account connected to Templater. QUE Trial accounts do not offer Meter functionality, though you can upgrade one by purchasing QUE Credits. The machine must also have an internet connection that can reach the que-api.dataclay.com domain.
What happens to the Bot when my credits run out?
The Bot stops running and is auto-disabled. When you replenish the QUE Meter, you can re-enable the Bot and it picks up where it left off. We recommend checking that your balance is enough for a large job before you enable the Bot, so it does not stop partway through.
How do I add credits?
In Templater, click the + icon in the QUE Meter area of the Output section, pick an amount, complete the purchase, and click the Reload icon. In QUE, open your account icon, go to the Plan section and click Add Job Credits. You can also visit dataclay.com/credits. Credits come in increments of 50, 100, 250 or 500.
Why can’t I see the Add Job Credits button in QUE?
The button only appears when you are logged in with a QUE Meter account. If you have a QUE Solo or a QUE Team account, it does not show. Check which account type you are signed in with. If you are using a Trial account, purchase credits to upgrade it before the Meter becomes available.
Is there a limit on how many credits I can hold?
Yes. A QUE Meter account can hold up to 1,000 credits. Once you exceed 1,000 outputs in a single month, a QUE subscription becomes the more affordable option. Credits cost the same per credit at any quantity, so buying more at once does not lower the cost. See our pricing page for current figures.
Can several computers or license keys share one pool of credits?
Yes. Any active Templater license key, whether Rig, Pro or Bot, can connect to the QUE Meter and draw from the centralized pool of credits. That lets a team use multiple Templater activations, licenses and computers without splitting credits by hand. Each machine still needs an internet connection so usage can be tracked.
