At 41 credits against the standard tier’s 6, a premium frame costs roughly seven standard frames. That ratio is the whole decision: a premium render has to be worth more than the six extra drafts you gave up for it. Sometimes it clearly is. Sometimes it is the most expensive way to make a mediocre picture.
Where premium earns it
The cover. One frame represents everything behind it — a pack, a profile, a launch. It is displayed largest, judged fastest and remembered longest. If any frame in a catalogue deserves the finish tier, it is this one. The hero portrait. The bio-page portrait your entire link hangs from is seen by every visitor you will ever get; amortised across those views, 41 credits is the cheapest line in your business. The proven brief. A specification that has already produced a strong standard frame has de-risked itself — the premium render is no longer a gamble, just an upgrade of a known quantity.
Where it quietly wastes money
Drafting. Rendering premium while the subject, wardrobe or scene is still undecided pays finish prices to answer fitting-room questions. Six standard drafts answer them better — variety is information. Routine volume. A daily feed frame is seen at thumbnail size for a day. Standard tier plus a good specification beats premium tier plus a lazy one at that size, every time.
The working rule
Draft at 6, promote at 41. Generate the run at standard, cull it honestly, and let only the survivors — the cover, the hero, the proven brief — go back through at premium. Your cost per shipped frame drops, and the frames your buyers actually judge you by are the best the shelf can make.