How AI tokens work, what each action costs, and how to make the most of your monthly allowance.
Every time StudyFlow generates a summary, creates exam questions, or processes your course material, it uses AI tokens. Tokens are the unit of measurement for AI language models — roughly 1 token = 0.75 words. Understanding how tokens are consumed helps you plan your usage and pick the right subscription tier.
Tokens are the smallest units that AI models process. A single word like "exam" is typically 1 token, while longer words like "understanding" may be 2–3 tokens. StudyFlow tracks two types:
Input tokens
The content you send to the AI — your course PDF text, images, and the instructions StudyFlow uses to generate output.
Output tokens
The content the AI generates back — summaries, exam questions, outlines, quiz answers, and study plans.
Here's what each StudyFlow operation typically costs in tokens. These are estimates — actual usage varies based on content length and complexity.
| Action | Input Tokens | Output Tokens | Total (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process a digital PDF (per chapter) | 2,000–8,000 | 1,500–4,000 | ~5,000–12,000 |
| Process a scanned/image PDF (per chapter) | 5,000–15,000 | 1,500–4,000 | ~8,000–19,000 |
| Process uploaded images (per image) | 1,000–5,000 | 1,000–3,000 | ~2,000–8,000 |
| Generate chapter outline | 500–2,000 | 500–1,500 | ~1,000–3,500 |
| Generate chapter summary | 2,000–6,000 | 2,000–5,000 | ~4,000–11,000 |
| Generate exam questions (per chapter) | 2,000–5,000 | 1,500–4,000 | ~3,500–9,000 |
| Generate discussion questions (per chapter) | 2,000–5,000 | 1,000–3,000 | ~3,000–8,000 |
| Create a study plan | 1,000–3,000 | 1,000–2,500 | ~2,000–5,500 |
| Quiz session (5–10 questions) | 1,500–3,000 | 1,000–2,000 | ~2,500–5,000 |
| Chat message (single turn) | 500–2,000 | 300–1,500 | ~800–3,500 |
| Custom course generation | 500–1,500 | 5,000–15,000 | ~5,500–16,500 |
Not all PDFs are created equal. The way your document was created significantly affects token consumption:
Created digitally (Word, LaTeX, Google Docs). Text is directly extractable.
PDF containing embedded images with text (e.g., slides exported as images). Requires AI vision to read.
Physically scanned documents or photographs of pages. Each page is processed as an image.
100K tokens/month
Split into feature buckets: 50K summarization, 20K exam questions, 15K quiz, 5K study plan and 10K other. Covers two small courses when they fit those buckets.
Own API key no hard limit
Bring your own AI API key. You pay the AI provider directly for usage — no platform cap. Most cost-effective for heavy users.
1M tokens/month
Enough for 8–15 full courses per month including all summaries, questions and quizzes. No API key needed.
Here's how token usage adds up for typical student scenarios:
Processing: ~60K | Summaries: ~75K | Questions: ~60K | Study plan: ~4K | 5 quiz sessions: ~20K
Total: ~219K tokens
Processing: ~120K | Summaries: ~64K | Questions: ~48K | Study plan: ~4K | 5 quiz sessions: ~20K
Total: ~256K tokens
Processing: ~18K | Summaries: ~20K | Questions: ~15K
Total: ~53K tokens
5 × ~200K average per course + quizzes
Total: ~1M tokens
Use digital PDFs when possible
Digitally created PDFs use 3–5x fewer tokens than scanned documents. Ask your professor or check your university portal for digital versions.
Split large PDFs
Use the PDF splitter to upload only the chapters you need instead of a full 500-page textbook. This avoids processing irrelevant content.
Don't regenerate unnecessarily
Summaries and questions are saved. You only need to regenerate if you change your education level or output language.
Monitor your usage
Check your token meter in Account → Subscription. The colour-coded bar shows how much of your monthly allowance remains (green = plenty, amber = moderate, red = running low).
Get AI-powered summaries, exam questions and adaptive quizzes that turn dense PDFs into a complete study system in minutes. Built by students, free to start.
Get Started — It's Free