Usage & Metering
PerfectSearch measures usage by counting bot requests served each month. Every plan includes a monthly request allowance, and any usage beyond that limit is billed as overage at a transparent per-request rate. Human traffic is never counted.
How is usage measured?
Usage is measured in bot requests served. Each time PerfectSearch serves a pre-rendered snapshot to a detected bot, whether from cache or freshly rendered, it counts as one request. Human visitor traffic is completely excluded from usage calculations since PerfectSearch only intercepts and serves content to bots.
- One bot request served = one unit of usage
- Both cache hits and cache misses count equally
- Human traffic is never counted
- Usage is tracked in real-time and visible in the dashboard
What happens if I exceed my plan limit?
Service continues uninterrupted when you exceed your monthly plan limit. Additional requests beyond your allowance are billed as overage at $0.10 per 1,000 requests. Overage charges are calculated at the end of your billing period and added to your next invoice. PerfectSearch never throttles or blocks bot traffic due to overage.
| Plan | Included Requests | Overage Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | 100,000 | $0.10 / 1,000 |
| Growth | 1,000,000 | $0.10 / 1,000 |
| Scale | 10,000,000 | $0.10 / 1,000 |
How do I monitor my usage?
Navigate to Dashboard, then Billing to see your current usage. The billing page displays a usage bar showing what percentage of your monthly limit you have consumed, along with the exact number of requests used in the current period. Historical usage data shows month-over-month trends so you can plan upgrades ahead of time.
- Usage bar — visual percentage of monthly limit consumed
- Current period usage — exact request count for this billing cycle
- Historical usage — month-over-month comparison chart
When does my billing period reset?
Your billing period resets monthly from the date you started your subscription. For example, if you subscribed on March 15, your usage counter resets to zero on the 15th of each subsequent month. The reset date is shown on the Billing page in your dashboard. Any overage from the previous period is invoiced at the reset point.
What counts as a bot request?
A bot request is any request from a detected bot where PerfectSearch serves a pre-rendered snapshot. This includes all major search engine bots like Googlebot and Bingbot, as well as AI crawlers like GPTBot, ChatGPT-User, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot. Requests that are blocked by access control rules do not count toward your usage, since no snapshot is served.
- Counts: Googlebot request served from cache, GPTBot request triggering a fresh render, any bot receiving a snapshot
- Does not count: Human visitor traffic, bot requests blocked by access control rules, requests to paths excluded by middleware matcher
Trial plan usage
The free trial includes 10,000 bot requests over 14 days. There is no overage on the trial plan. When you reach the 10,000 request limit or the 14-day period expires (whichever comes first), bot traffic falls back to your origin server without pre-rendering until you upgrade to a paid plan.