Credits explained

Credits are the currency SmarterSEO uses to pay for the search data your tools fetch. Every monthly plan includes a batch of them, packs add more, and each run spends a few. This article explains what a credit is, how the price of a run is worked out, and the rules that keep your balance predictable.

#What a credit is

One credit is worth about half a cent ($0.005) of search data. When a tool pulls a live Google results page, a batch of keyword metrics or a backlink profile, SmarterSEO pays the data provider for that call and debits the same amount from your balance, converted to credits.

That is why costs vary between tools. A single search results page is cheap (0.6 credits for the top 10), while a 12-month traffic history for a domain is comparatively expensive (36 credits). The full price list is in Credit costs by tool.

#Estimate first, then the measured charge

Each tool form shows what the run is likely to cost before you start it. On a credit plan the line reads About N credits · billed to your SmarterSEO credits, with an info icon labelled How this is calculated that breaks the number down. The estimate is the published price of each action multiplied by the number of units (keywords, requests, grid points and so on).

The estimate does two jobs:

1. It is checked against your balance. If the run needs more than you have, the button is disabled and the form says "This run needs X credits but the organization has Y."
2. It pre-authorizes the run. Nothing is taken yet.

When the run completes, SmarterSEO debits the measured cost of the data that was actually fetched, converted at half a cent per credit and recorded to four decimal places. The real charge can be a little lower or a little higher than the estimate: fewer results than requested, calls answered by the cache, or a provider price that differs from the catalogue all move it. The results page then shows N credits for this run, and while it is still collecting it shows About N credits · running.

Note: Screenshots in this knowledge base were taken in a lifetime-license workspace, so the cost lines in them show "$0.00" billed to the workspace's own data provider account. On a credit plan the same line shows credits.

#Cache hits are free

Results are cached per organization, and repeats inside the cache window cost nothing. Credit-plan workspaces share one cache, so if the same keyword or domain was fetched recently by any credit-plan user with the same settings, you get it for free. When that happens the cost line's tooltip says "Every request was served from the cache."

Rank tracker checks, local grid scans and AI search tracker checks deliberately skip the cache so that each snapshot is fresh.

Tip: The Lookups tile in Bulk Autocomplete and the API calls tile on the Usage page both show how many requests were served from cache, which is a quick way to see where you are saving credits.

#Failed or cancelled runs

If a run fails part way through, or you cancel a queued job, you are only charged for the data that was actually fetched. The cost tooltip reads "The run failed; only what was fetched is billed." A new attempt is estimated again from scratch, and anything already in the cache is free on the retry.

#Monthly credits and the Free top-up

• Paid plans receive their monthly credits at each renewal, recorded in Credit history as "{Plan} plan · monthly credits".
• Free is topped up to 200 credits once per calendar month, not by 200. If you have 50 left on the first of the month, you are brought back to 200; if you still have 200, nothing changes. The ledger entry is "Free plan · monthly credits".
• The Free top-up happens lazily: it is applied when someone opens the Billing & credits page, or when a run finds the balance too low. Free workspaces are always topped up before a run is refused.
• Only the workspace that holds your account's Free slot receives the top-up. Additional workspaces you create have Free's limits but no credits until they subscribe.

#Rollover

Unused credits stay in your balance. Plan credits add up month to month, and credits bought in packs never expire. The billing page describes the balance as "Spent as tools fetch data; packs add to it."

#The balance never goes negative

If a run's measured cost turns out to be higher than what is left in your balance, the remainder of the balance is taken and the balance stops at zero. You never owe credits.

#Credits in the API and MCP

Jobs started through the REST API or the MCP server are billed to the organization exactly like runs in the app. If the estimate exceeds the balance, the API responds with HTTP 402 and the error code insufficient_credits, and no job is created. See REST API.

#Related

• Credit costs by tool
• Plans and pricing
• Running out of credits
• Usage and history