Limits and plans
Most of the ways to create an explainer don't count against anything. The one allowance on a free account covers explainers you create from inside a scrim. Visitors who aren't signed in get a single explainer.
Free accounts
A free account can create six explainers from scrims. They're a one-off allowance, not a monthly one: they don't renew.
The Explain this to me dialog in a scrim shows how many you have left, for example 4 of 6 free Explainers left. When you've used all six, its button changes to Upgrade to Pro.
Nothing else you create while signed in counts towards the six:
- explainers you create on scrimba.com/explain (see Your first explainer)
- follow-ups and going deeper, including from an explainer that came from a scrim
- explainers you claim from ChatGPT or Codex, Claude Code or another MCP tool
Pro
With Pro, you can create explainers from scrims without a limit, and the dialog doesn't show a count.
Without an account
If you aren't signed in, you get one free explainer. It covers either creating one on scrimba.com/explain or claiming an unlisted draft, such as one made in ChatGPT, not both. After that, Scrimba asks you to sign in to create more.
An explainer you create without an account is always unlisted. See Privacy, claiming and sharing.
Explaining a scrim always needs an account, so it doesn't use this free explainer.
ChatGPT, Codex and coding agents
Creating a draft through ChatGPT or Codex, Claude Code or the MCP server is free, because the connected tool writes the lesson. Claiming it while you're signed in doesn't use any allowance.
A draft from Claude Code or another MCP tool is private, so claiming it needs an account anyway.