Credits

Credits cover overflow beyond your account's request-rate or free validation quota. One credit covers one HTTP request, even if it crosses more than one of those limits.

Buy packs through your account; see pricing. Credits require an API key and are not available for anonymous requests.

When a credit is spent

A credit is consumed only when you hit a limit and have a pack with credits remaining:

• Per-minute rate limit — a burst above your tier's rate limit spends a credit instead of failing.
• Free validation quota — once a free account exhausts its daily or monthly address allowance, a further HTTP request spends one credit rather than being rejected.

Credits do not unlock premium features, raise per-request bulk limits, or bypass async-job limits and access restrictions.

If a request is served from credits, the response carries:

X-Credit-Used: true

Requests that stay within your normal limits never touch credits.

How packs are drawn down

• One credit = one request.
• Bulk quota counts unique entries, but one overflow credit covers the HTTP request. The batch must still fit your tier's per-request limit.
• If that request exceeds more than one limit, it still spends only one credit.
• Packs are consumed oldest-first, by purchase date.
• Purchased credits don't expire — a pack stays usable until it's drawn down.
• When no credits remain, the normal rate or quota response applies. See Error Handling.

Do you need credits?

Situation	Better option
Steady, predictable volume above your tier	Upgrade to a higher tier
Occasional spikes over your rate limit	Keep a credit pack on hand
One-off bulk run within your tier's batch limit	Credits can cover rate or quota overflow

Watch the header

Log the X-Credit-Used header so you can see when you're dipping into credits — a steady stream of credit-served requests usually means it's time to move up a tier.