Getting Started
Credits
UserCheck uses a credit-based billing model. Each API request consumes one or more credits depending on the endpoint and features used. Your plan includes a fixed number of credits per billing period.
Credit costs
| Request type | Credits |
|---|---|
Domain lookup (GET /domain/{domain}) |
1 |
Email lookup (GET /email/{email}) |
1 |
Gates decision (POST /v1/gates/{gate_id}/decisions) |
1 |
Optional features
Some request parameters consume additional credits on top of the base cost:
| Feature | Extra credits |
|---|---|
IP lookup (include ip in Gates request body) |
+2 |
For example, a Gates decision costs 1 credit by default. Adding the ip parameter for IP intelligence brings the total to 3 credits.
Only successful requests consume credits. A request rejected for invalid input costs nothing.
Requests that read or change your configuration are free: the Status endpoint, the Blocklist endpoints, and the Gates Management API consume no credits.
Plans
Each plan includes a set number of credits per month:
| Plan | Credits per month | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 1,000 | $0 |
| Pro 200k | 200,000 | $50/mo |
| Pro 500k | 500,000 | $100/mo |
| Pro 1.5M | 1,500,000 | $250/mo |
| Pro 3.5M | 3,500,000 | $500/mo |
Credits reset at the start of each billing cycle and unused credits do not roll over. Once the quota is used up, requests return 429 Too Many Requests until the cycle resets, unless your plan includes overage pricing. This 429 carries no Retry-After header, but the absence of that header alone does not identify quota exhaustion: temporary IP blocks may omit it too. See Rate Limits. Gates v1 endpoints name the case directly, with the code quota_exceeded.
Credits vs. rate limits
Credits and rate limits are separate concepts:
- Credits are your monthly quota: how many total credits you can use in a billing period.
- Rate limits control throughput: how many requests per second your plan allows.
A single API request always counts as one request toward your rate limit, regardless of how many credits it costs.
Checking your usage
Use the Status endpoint to check your current credit usage:
curl -X GET "https://api.usercheck.com/status" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
The response includes your plan's credit limit, current usage, and remaining credits for the billing period.