Air is the exception in this category: it publishes its prices. Credit where it's due.
The complication isn't transparency, it's the unit. Air bills in credits, and one pool of credits covers storage and AI usage together. That makes "how much storage do I get?" a question with no fixed answer, and makes Air genuinely hard to compare against per-TB competitors.
Here's how to translate it.
The Short Answer
Air's Business tier costs $900/month billed annually ($10,800/year), or $1,100/month month-to-month ($13,200/year). Starter is $25/month. There's a permanent free plan.
Business includes 30,000 monthly credits, which works out to roughly 1-3TB of storage — if you spend nothing on AI. Every AI enrichment or generation draws from the same pool.
Air Pricing at a Glance
| Tier | Annual | Month-to-month | Credits/month | Typical storage equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 120 | ~20 GB enriched |
| Starter | $250/yr (~$20.83/mo) | $25/month | 600 | ~30-70 GB |
| Business | $10,800/yr ($900/mo) | $1,100/month | 30,000 | ~1-3 TB (up to 5TB supported) |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | 60,000 | Custom |
Credits price enriched storage higher than raw storage, which is why the Free tier's 120 credits stretch further per GB than Business's 30,000. The ranges above assume typical enrichment at each tier — they aren't a flat credits-per-GB rate, and Air doesn't publish one.
Unlimited users on every plan, including Free. No per-seat charges at all — genuinely one of the better aspects of Air's model.
Annual billing saves roughly 17-18% over month-to-month.
How the Credit Model Actually Works
This is the part that catches people out.
One pool of monthly credits covers three things:
- Basic storage
- AI enrichment (auto-tagging, search indexing)
- AI generation
Spend more on AI, and you have less credit left for storage. Store more, and you have less headroom for AI. They're not separate budgets.
Two more rules that matter:
- Credits don't roll over. Unused credit expires at the end of each monthly cycle.
- Deleting assets returns credits to the current cycle's balance, so the model is a running balance rather than a permanent allocation.
Overage bundles are tier-priced. These are recurring monthly add-ons — a top-up changes your subscription rather than being a one-off purchase:
| Plan | Cost per 1,000 extra credits |
|---|---|
| Starter | $35 |
| Business | $30 |
| Enterprise | $20 |
Why you can't cleanly compare Air's storage to anyone else's
You'll see claims like "Air Business gives you 3TB." That's only true for a team using no AI. A team leaning on Air's 50+ AI models heavily might see the same 30,000 credits deliver closer to 1TB.
So when comparing Air against a fixed-allocation DAM, compare price against your expected usage, not headline storage. The honest framing is: Air trades predictable storage for flexibility, and you pay a variability premium.
Air's Price History Is Worth Knowing
Air has moved through three pricing models since 2020, with two increases inside 2024 alone, each step moving further from its original "affordable DAM for small teams" positioning:
| Period | Model | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-2023 | Per-seat | Plus ~$10/user/mo; Pro ~$25/user/mo |
| Early 2024 | Package-based | Plus $83/mo (to 5 users); Pro $250/mo (unlimited) |
| Mid-2024 (~6 months later) | Package, raised again | Plus $250/mo; Pro $500/mo |
| 2025-2026 | Credit-based | Business $900-$1,100/mo |
Two price increases in a single year, then a model change that makes plan-to-plan comparison harder. If you're signing an annual contract, factor in that Air's trajectory has been consistently upward and its structure unstable.
Source: Air.inc Raising Prices for Second Time This Year — note that tagbox.io is a competing DAM vendor, so treat the framing with the same scepticism you should apply to this page. The underlying plan names and prices are corroborated by Air's own pricing history and G2 listings; the narrative around them is a rival's.
One naming note: G2 lists Air's $25 tier as "Pro" while Air's own site calls it "Starter." Same plan; the naming drift is a leftover from the restructures.
What to Ask Before Committing
- "What's our actual credit burn at current usage?" — run the free plan or Starter first and measure before committing to Business
- "How are credits consumed per GB stored versus per AI operation?"
- "What happens if we exhaust credits mid-month?"
- "Is the annual price locked for the term?"
- "Does deleting assets immediately restore credit?"
The free plan is permanent and needs no card, which makes it an unusually good way to measure your real credit consumption before spending $10,800.
When Air Is Genuinely Worth It
We compete with Air, so weigh this accordingly.
Air is the right call when:
- AI-powered creative work is central to your workflow. Air's 50+ integrated AI models are a real differentiator and nothing else in this category matches that breadth
- You want unlimited users at every tier, including free
- Your team is design-forward and visual-first — Air's interface is genuinely one of the best in the category
- Creative multiplication (generating variants at scale) is a workflow you actually use
- You value self-serve signup with no sales call, which Air does properly
If AI generation is core to how you produce work, Air does something the rest of the category doesn't, and the credit model is the price of that flexibility.
Air is the wrong call when: you need predictable storage costs, you need a published, shareable brand guide (Air's Context Layer stores brand fonts, colours, logos and usage rules to drive Canvas edits, but doesn't publish them as a guide), or you organize work by client rather than by asset.
What Baseline Costs Instead
| Plan | Billed Monthly | Billed Annually | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1GB, 2 members, 1 published site — no expiry, no card |
| Starter | $59/mo ($708/yr) | $49/mo ($588/yr) | 250GB, 3 members, 10 published sites |
| Team | $199/mo ($2,388/yr) | $169/mo ($2,028/yr) | 1TB, 10 members, 50 published sites |
| Business | $399/mo ($4,788/yr) | $349/mo ($4,188/yr) | 3TB, 50 members, unlimited sites |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | SSO, custom integrations, 10TB+ |
Baseline's Business tier is a fixed 3TB for $4,188/year, against Air's variable 1-3TB for $10,800-$13,200/year — roughly 61-68% less, with storage that doesn't shrink when you use AI features.
Fair's fair on the free tier: Air's free plan is more generous than ours — unlimited users and roughly 20GB, against our 1GB and 2 members. If you're a small team that can live inside a free plan, Air's is the better one.
Our pricing has also stayed flat and published while Air has changed model three times.
The honest trade: Air's AI model library is better than ours, and if creative multiplication is central to your work, that's a real reason to pay more. Baseline adds live brand guide publishing, which Air doesn't offer at all, and a bill you can predict.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Air.inc cost?
Air's Business tier costs $900/month billed annually ($10,800/year) or $1,100/month month-to-month ($13,200/year). Starter is $25/month ($250/year billed annually). There's a permanent free plan with 120 credits/month, and Enterprise is custom.
How do Air's credits work?
One monthly credit pool covers basic storage, AI enrichment and AI generation together. Business includes 30,000 credits, roughly 1-3TB of storage if you use little AI. Credits don't roll over, and deleting assets returns credits to the current cycle.
How much storage does Air's Business plan include?
There's no fixed allocation. 30,000 monthly credits translate to roughly 1-3TB depending on how much you spend on AI features, with up to 5TB supported. Heavy AI users get less storage headroom from the same plan.
Does Air charge per user?
No. All Air plans, including Free, include unlimited users. You're never charged based on workspace headcount.
What do extra Air credits cost?
Recurring monthly bundles are priced by tier: $35 per 1,000 credits on Starter, $30 per 1,000 on Business, and $20 per 1,000 on Enterprise.
Has Air raised its prices?
Yes, repeatedly. Air moved from per-seat pricing (2020-2023) to package pricing in early 2024, raised those packages again roughly six months later, then restructured to the current credit-based model. Business now runs $900-$1,100/month.
Does Air have a free plan?
Yes. The free plan is permanent, requires no credit card, includes 120 credits/month (~20GB enriched) and unlimited users. It's a practical way to measure your real credit consumption before upgrading.
The Bottom Line
Air costs $10,800-$13,200/year at Business, and the credit model means your effective storage depends on how much AI you use.
Air deserves credit for publishing prices when almost none of its competitors do. Use the free plan to measure your actual credit burn before committing — with storage and AI drawing from one pool, that number is the only way to know what you're really buying.
Start free | See Baseline's pricing | Baseline vs Air, in detail
Sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these. Where they disagree, we've said so above.
- Air pricing page
- Air Help Center — explore pricing & plans
- G2 — Air pricing
- Tagbox — Air.inc raising prices for the second time this year
- The Digital Project Manager — Air pricing tiers