Yes, the credits are different from your cellular plan. The credits are $3 a month and pays for the server. New cameras come with 1 month free. You can buy a group of credits by clicking "my account" in the Spartan app. You don't need them but everything works better if you keep them paid up. If your camera has video, you need credits to view them. A status report can take an hour or so to show up on your smartphone or computer. My Spartan sends a status report every day at 5am. You can do that in the app.