Short Shorts AI has five distinct ways to earn Bonus Credits — most users know about one. Here's exactly how the system works and how to use all five.
Short Shorts AI is pay-as-you-go — 1 credit per Short published, no subscription. But there's a parallel system running alongside it: Bonus Credits. These are awarded for specific actions, expire after 12 months, and can't be cashed out — but they publish Shorts just as well as paid credits.
If you use all five methods below consistently, it's realistic to publish 50–100 Shorts a month for free, indefinitely. Here's how.
Go to Settings → Publishing → Description Footer. You'll see a field for text that gets appended to every YouTube Short description. Click "Use template" to fill it with the Short Shorts attribution line, then save.
That's it. You get 50 Bonus Credits as a one-time thank-you — and every Short you publish from that point forward includes a link back to shortshorts.ai in the description. Takes 5 minutes to set up and runs forever in the background.
Worth noting: the attribution footer also improves SEO for your own channel description — the URL acts as a backlink and the "created with" line signals production quality to viewers.
Post a Short or video about Short Shorts AI to your YouTube channel or X account. Then submit the URL in your Affiliate dashboard. The system checks it automatically and awards 100 Bonus Credits within minutes.
The rules: it must be a genuine review or tutorial — not a blank video with a watermark. Maximum once per calendar month. Maximum 5 times total (500 Bonus Credits lifetime from this method).
Do it every month for 5 months and you've earned 500 Bonus Credits from this method alone — that's 500 Shorts published for free. If your current plan is 8 Shorts a week, that's 62 free Shorts, or roughly 8 weeks of publishing costs covered.
Tutorial content converts extremely well. "How I automate my Shorts" gets consistent organic search traffic. The video earns you credits upfront and drives referral commissions long-term.
Join the affiliate program and share your referral link. Every person who signs up through it and buys Paid Credits earns you 60% commission on their first $50 spent — real cash, not credits.
Here's the hack most affiliates miss: you can effectively convert that cash commission back into credits at 1:1. Earn $30 in commissions → request payout → buy credits with it → you've published your Shorts at a 60% discount.
The commission structure decays as each referred user's lifetime spend grows, but the initial 60% rate on every new user's first $50 is compounding — each new referral resets the clock on the highest rate.
| Referred user's spend | Your rate |
|---|---|
| First $50 | 60% |
| $50–$150 | 40% |
| $150–$400 | 25% |
| $400–$1,000 | 15% |
| $1,000+ | 10% |
Short Shorts AI drops promo codes in YouTube video descriptions, comment sections, and social posts. These codes grant Bonus Credits on redemption — typically 50–200 credits depending on the promotion.
Codes are first-come-first-served and expire. The best place to find them: YouTube video descriptions (we link them from every tutorial), and X posts from @shortshorts_ai.
If you're a creator running your own community, you can also request a custom promo code for your audience. Your followers get credits on signup; you get notified every time someone redeems it.
Redeem any code at Settings → Credits → Have a promo code?
This one takes more effort upfront but compounds hardest over time. When you refer someone who then becomes an affiliate themselves, you earn 10% of every commission they generate — automatically, forever.
Example: you refer 5 creators who each become active affiliates earning $200/month in commissions. You earn 10% of each — $20 × 5 = $100/month, passively, from their work. They earn 60% on their referrals. You earn 10% on their earnings. Everyone wins.
The practical way to do this: create a "Short Shorts AI affiliate program" tutorial and publish it. Creators who find that video are already motivated to monetise their audience — they sign up, become affiliates, and you earn sub-affiliate income on everything they generate.
Let's say you publish 30 Shorts a month (the "Steady" plan). At 20¢ per credit (starter rate), that's $6/month. Here's what a creator using all five methods earns back:
| Method | Credits / month |
|---|---|
| Attribution footer (one-time, amortised) | ~4 |
| Promotion reward (monthly video) | 100 |
| 2 referrals buying starter packs | ~60 equiv. |
| Promo code redemptions | varies |
| Sub-affiliate income (2 active) | ~20 equiv. |
| Monthly total | 180+ credits |
At 30 Shorts a month, that's 6 months of publishing for free. The promotion reward and referral income are recurring — the number above grows every month as your referral base builds.
Do these in order:
Bonus Credits expire 12 months from grant date. Paid Credits never expire. Commission rates and credit amounts are subject to change — check the Affiliate Terms for the current structure.