> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.keenable.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Credits

> The free allowance of 100,000 requests a month, how authenticated usage is metered against it, and what happens when it runs out.

[Rate limits](/rate-limits) cap how *fast* you can call the API. Credits cap how *much*: authenticated usage is metered in credits, and every organization gets an allowance of them at no cost.

## Monthly allowance

**100,000 requests a month, free.** The allowance resets each month, so it is a recurring budget rather than a one-off trial. To keep going once it is spent, buy a credit package in the [console](https://app.keenable.ai/console) — that is also where your current allowance and remaining balance are shown.

Quoting it in requests works because a credit *is* a request for the two operations that matter here: search and fetch each cost one. Anything priced differently draws more than one credit per call, which is why the rule below still holds — read what a call cost from the response rather than counting calls.

Unauthenticated requests are not metered at all. They are capped by the [request limits](/rate-limits) instead, so evaluating without a key does not draw on the allowance.

## What a call costs

Each billed operation has its own credit price, keyed by SKU:

| SKU               | Operation                                                               |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `search.realtime` | A search served in `realtime` mode                                      |
| `search.pro`      | A search served in `pro` mode                                           |
| `fetch`           | A fetch of Keenable's indexed copy of a page                            |
| `fetch.live`      | A fetch made live from the source ([`live=true`](/api-reference/fetch)) |

Two things to keep in mind when you budget against these:

* **Prices are per-organization.** Read what a call actually cost from the response rather than assuming a flat rate.
* **Search mode is not a request parameter.** Over MCP an integrator can pin it with [`_meta["keenable/overrides"]`](/mcp-server#operator-overrides-request-meta); otherwise the mode — and therefore which of the two search SKUs applies — is decided per call.

## Reading usage per call

Over MCP, every authenticated tool call reports its cost under `_meta["keenable/usage"]`, alongside the result rather than inside the model-visible `content`:

```json theme={"dark"}
{
  "content": [{ "type": "text", "text": "..." }],
  "_meta": {
    "keenable/usage": { "sku": "search.realtime", "amount": 1, "credits": 3, "paid": true }
  }
}
```

`credits` is what the call cost, and `paid` tells you which bucket it came from — `false` for the free monthly allowance, `true` for purchased credits. This is what to attribute cost against per call; see [Metadata for integrators](/mcp-server#metadata-for-integrators) for the full field list.

Unauthenticated calls are unbilled and omit the block entirely.

## When credits run out

With the allowance spent and no purchased credits remaining, `/v1/search` and `/v1/fetch` return [`402`](/authentication#error-responses). Buy a package in the [console](https://app.keenable.ai/console) to resume, or wait for the allowance to reset.