Credits and billing

Reader is metered in credits. Every successful scrape consumes credits according to the proxy mode that actually ran; failures and cache hits are free.

Cost table

Operation	Cost
Scrape in `standard` mode	1 credit per page
Scrape in `premium` mode	3 credits per page
Cache hit	0 credits (any mode)
Failed scrape (timeout, upstream error, block)	0 credits
Crawl	1 credit per page discovered and scraped

The resolved mode is reported in every response under metadata.proxyMode. Your usage history also tracks it; see /v1/usage/history.

Monthly allowance

Every account gets 1,000 credits per month. Credits reset at the start of each billing period. Unused credits do not roll over.

Checking your balance

curl https://api.reader.dev/v1/usage/credits -H "x-api-key: $READER_KEY"

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "balance": 955,
    "limit": 1000,
    "used": 45,
    "resetAt": "2026-05-01T00:00:00Z"
  }
}

Check programmatically from the SDK:

const credits = await reader.getCredits();
if (credits.balance < 100) {
  console.warn("Low credits, resets at", credits.resetAt);
}

When billing runs

Reader charges credits after a scrape succeeds, not before. The pre-flight check only verifies you have enough to start the request; the actual deduction happens once the content is in your response. The pre-flight check verifies you have the correct number of credits for the mode you selected: 1 credit for standard, 3 credits for premium.

Insufficient credits

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "insufficient_credits",
    "message": "You need 50 credits but only 10 are available.",
    "details": { "required": 50, "available": 10, "resetAt": "2026-05-01T00:00:00Z" },
    "docsUrl": "https://reader.dev/docs/home/concepts/errors#insufficient-credits"
  }
}

See the Credit exhaustion guide for how to handle this gracefully.

Estimating batch costs

Before running a large batch, estimate the bill:

cost = (number of URLs) × (credits per page for the mode you expect)

Know your target sites before running large batches. Standard works for 90%+ of the web. Sites known to require bot bypass (Amazon, LinkedIn, booking sites) need premium. See Cost estimation.

Browser session costs

Browser sessions are billed at 1 credit per minute, charged in real-time:

First minute charged on session creation
Each additional minute charged via interval timer
Session auto-stops if credits run out
No reconciliation needed on close - already charged

A 10-minute session costs 10 credits.

Browser sessions: full browser automation
Proxy modes: what drives cost
Caching: free cache hits
Rate limits: requests per minute, not credits

Get Started

Concepts

Getting Started Guides

Async Workflows

Production Patterns

Advanced Scraping

LLM & AI Use Cases

Troubleshooting

Credits and billing

Cost table

Monthly allowance

Checking your balance

When billing runs

Insufficient credits

Estimating batch costs

Browser session costs

Next

​Cost table

​Monthly allowance

​Checking your balance

​When billing runs

​Insufficient credits

​Estimating batch costs

​Browser session costs

​Next

Cost table

Monthly allowance

Checking your balance

When billing runs

Insufficient credits

Estimating batch costs

Browser session costs

Next