Understand credits, usage units, tiers, and provisioned concurrency.
Expand is credit-based. Fetch and Highlights create usage; credits pay for that usage; tiers and provisioned browser slots control how much work can run at once.
Start with welcome credits, add funds when needed, and keep usage running with Auto-Recharge.
Fetch is metered by billable outputs. Highlights add usage when requested.
Your tier gives you a base browser limit. Provisioned slots add more browser sessions immediately.
Manage balance, payment methods, invoices, Auto-Recharge, and browser concurrency from Billing.
Act from these three places:
Account Balance, Add funds, Auto-Recharge, payment methods, invoices, and Browser Concurrency.Need more browser capacity before your tier unlocks? Buy provisioned browser slots and they apply immediately. See Browser concurrency.
| Item | How it is billed | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fetch | Per billable Fetch output | Main content retrieval. $2 / 1,000 ($0.002 each). |
| Highlights | Per billable Highlights output | Called Fetch Search on some technical surfaces; docs say Highlights. $1 / 1,000 ($0.001 each). |
Current public pricing is $2 / 1,000 for Fetch outputs and $1 / 1,000 for Highlights outputs. New organizations start with $10 in welcome credits. Enterprise and high-volume usage is billed at custom rates — contact sales.
This is usage and credit based, not token based. Expand's value is that agents answer more questions with fewer tokens, but you pay per billable output, not per token.
Credits are dollar balance on your organization. Fetch usage draws down that balance as billable outputs are recorded.
Your first organization starts with $10 in welcome credits, which expire after their configured period (currently 365 days). Anonymous landing and demo usage runs on separate demo credits and does not draw from your account balance.
Billing shows your balance broken into:
Add more with Add funds. Added funds use Stripe through Orb, require a payment method, and create credits that expire after their configured period. To keep balance from reaching zero, turn on Auto-Recharge.
A normal Fetch creates a billable Fetch output. If you ask for Highlights, that adds Highlights usage.
Each requested output is metered independently:
| What you fetch | Usage recorded |
|---|---|
| A page for Main Markdown | Fetch |
| A page with Highlights | Fetch plus Highlights |
View request activity over time in the Usage view of your dashboard. Billing units in this page — Fetch and Highlights outputs — are the source of truth for what you are charged; the Usage view is for inspecting request activity.
Browser concurrency is how many browser sessions can run at once. It comes from two parts:
Total browser concurrency = base tier concurrency + provisioned browser slotsYour tier sets your included base browser concurrency. Tiers increase as cumulative spend and elapsed time thresholds are met.
| Tier | Qualification | Base browser concurrency |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Default | 2 |
| 1 | $10 cumulative spend | 5 |
| 2 | $50 cumulative spend + 7 days since first transaction |
Spend thresholds must be met for every tier above 0; for tiers 2 and up, the elapsed-time threshold must also be met. See Tiers for qualification rules, tier-up timing, and worked examples.
Tiers increase your included base browser concurrency over time. If you need more capacity now, add provisioned browser slots. Provisioned slots are available immediately on upgrade and are added on top of your tier limit.
Provisioned browser slots are a fixed-fee subscription item. Use them when you need predictable parallel throughput before tier progression catches up — Batched Fetch and live Fetch both queue under your browser session limit.
Removing provisioned browser slots takes effect at the next billing cycle.
Auto-Recharge adds funds when your balance falls below a threshold.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Threshold | $5 |
| Recharge amount | $10 |
When your available balance drops below the threshold, Expand charges your payment method for the recharge amount and adds the credits. Auto-Recharge needs a payment method on file. Keeping it on is the main way to avoid a zero-balance block that pauses usage. Adjust both values, or turn Auto-Recharge off, in Billing.
Payment methods are card records handled through Stripe. You can add a payment method, remove one, and set a default.
Invoices are generated through Orb and can include a hosted invoice link and a PDF link. Find them in Billing.
You cannot remove your last payment method while Auto-Recharge or a browser concurrency subscription is active — those need a card on file to keep running.
If your organization has positive credits, Fetch can run. If credits run out, usage can be blocked until funds are available again.
A single failed payment does not immediately disable all access. Blocks follow your credit balance, not one declined charge.
| Need | Where to go |
|---|---|
| Detailed tier examples and edge cases | Tiers |
| Exact endpoint schemas | API Reference |
| Rate limiting | Rate limiting |
| Enterprise contract terms |
| Browser concurrency |
| Included base tier plus optional provisioned slots |
| Higher tiers unlock more base concurrency; provisioned slots add capacity sooner. |
| Enterprise / volume | Custom | Bulk discount, higher support, and enterprise terms. |
| 10 |
| 3 | $200 cumulative spend + 14 days since first transaction | 20 |
| 4 | $500 cumulative spend + 30 days since first transaction | 50 |
| 5 | $1000 cumulative spend + 60 days since first transaction | 100 |
| Billing questions | FAQ |