Pricing
Credits model, per-request costs, tier table, and per-org caching.
Serpex uses a pay-as-you-go credits model. You buy a block of credits; each API request consumes a small number of credits.
Per-request credit cost
| Request type | Credits |
|---|---|
Search (POST /api/search) | 1 credit |
Extract — normal (POST /api/crawl) | 1 credit per URL |
Extract — stealth (POST /api/crawl with "stealth": true) | 5 credits per URL |
Errors and empty results are never charged. Check metadata.credits_used in every response to see exactly what was deducted.
Pricing tiers
Larger top-ups unlock a lower effective price per 1,000 requests:
| Tier | Top-up amount | Price per 1k requests |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $5 – $49 | ~$0.80 |
| Standard | $50 – $499 | ~$0.65 |
| Scale | $500 – $1,999 | ~$0.50 |
| Enterprise | $2,000+ | Contact sales |
Your tier is determined by your cumulative top-up history. Once you cross a tier threshold, the improved rate applies to all subsequent requests — you don't need to keep that exact balance.
New accounts receive 200 free credits to explore the API without a credit card.
Per-org caching
Results are cached per organization. If your code (or any key in the same organization) makes the same search query or crawl URL within approximately 5 minutes, the response is served instantly from cache and no credits are charged (credits_used: 0, from_cache: true).
Caching is per organization — a different organization making the same query still pays. Only your own repeated requests within the cache window are free.
This makes development iteration and idempotent retries cheap:
{
"metadata": {
"credits_used": 0,
"from_cache": true
}
}Managing credits
- Buy credits: go to Billing in the dashboard and select a top-up amount.
- Check balance: the dashboard shows your current balance and usage history.
- Low-credit alerts: Serpex sends an email and Slack notification when your balance falls below 10% of your last top-up amount (or below 200 credits on the free tier).
See also
Visit serpex.dev/pricing for the full pricing page, including an interactive credit calculator.