You're probably paying full price for animations you've already made
When people run out of credits faster than expected, the usual explanation is "I sent a lot of messages." The more accurate explanation is "I sent a lot of messages before landing on a look I liked" — and most of that spend wasn't buying the final animation, it was buying the search for it. That search is exactly the part a template skips.
Where the credits actually go
A message costs the same 2 credits whether it's "make the text pop in faster" or "actually, let's try a completely different color scheme." Starting from a blank prompt means the first several messages in most conversations aren't refinements — they're the model and you agreeing on a direction: what style, what pacing, what mood. Only once that's settled does the rest of the conversation turn into the small, cheap tweaks people expect editing to feel like. If a template already matches the direction you had in mind, you skip straight to the cheap part.
What forking actually saves
Click "Use this template" and you start from a version that's already timed, already styled, already proven to render cleanly — the direction is already decided. From there, a message like "swap the colors for our brand" or "make the logo bigger" is a patch to something that works, not a request to build something new. That's usually one or two messages instead of the five or six it can take to arrive at an original look from nothing.
Templates aren't just a starting point — they're a fork in the road
The other thing templates are for isn't saving credits, it's saving time you'd otherwise spend redescribing something you already like. If a template's overall style is right but you want a second version — a different color pass, different copy, a slightly different pace — you don't need to re-explain the whole look from scratch. Use the template, then just ask for the variation directly in chat. You're not starting a new search for a style; you're branching off one you've already confirmed you like, and the credits you spend go toward the difference between the two, not toward re-deriving the part that's already right.
When starting from scratch is still the right call
None of this means templates are always the move. If nothing in the library is close to what you're picturing, forcing a template to become something it isn't usually costs more back-and-forth than describing your own idea would have in the first place. Templates save the most when you're willing to let the starting point shape the outcome a little — which, for most short-form product clips and social cuts, is exactly the kind of animation people are making anyway.
Browse templates to see what's already been made, or read the guide for more on how forking and credits work together.