Pricing and Billing - Getting started

How billing works, where to see per-request cost in USD, and how pricing is grouped.

Billing

Manage payments, balance, request logs, and spending from the Billing menu in Desearch Console.

Supported top-up methods:

Card payments: add funds with a credit or debit card.
TAO cryptocurrency payments: add funds using TAO where supported.

You can enable auto-recharge with a linked card so your balance is topped up when it reaches a configured threshold. Console also provides transaction history, request-cost breakdowns, and usage visibility by API key/service.

Per-request cost in USD

Billable API responses expose the exact request cost in USD. Use this metadata for customer-facing usage displays, internal metering, debugging, and reconciliation with Console billing history.

JSON object responses include these body fields in addition to the endpoint-specific payload:

Field	Type	Meaning
`cost_usd`	number	Cost charged for this request, denominated in USD.
`usage_count`	integer	Number of billable usage units applied to the request.
`service`	string	Name of the priced service used for the charge, such as `AI Search`, `X Search`, or `Web Search`.
`currency`	string	Currency for `cost_usd`; currently `USD`.

Compatible charged responses also include the same values as HTTP headers:

Header	Meaning
`X-Desearch-Cost-Usd`	Cost charged for this request, in USD.
`X-Desearch-Usage-Count`	Billable usage units applied to the request.
`X-Desearch-Service`	Name of the priced service used for the charge, same value as `service`.
`X-Desearch-Currency`	Currency for the cost value; currently `USD`.

Compatibility rules:

JSON object responses preserve their endpoint fields and add cost_usd, usage_count, service, and currency.
JSON arrays preserve the array body shape and expose cost metadata through the X-Desearch-* headers only.
text/plain responses, such as Extract output, preserve the text body and expose cost metadata through headers only.
Streaming/SSE responses are not buffered or reshaped; read request cost from the response headers.

Representative charged endpoint behavior:

Endpoint	Success body shape	Cost metadata location
`POST /desearch/ai/search`	JSON object for non-streaming calls; SSE for streaming calls	Object body fields + headers for JSON objects; headers only for streaming/SSE.
`POST /desearch/ai/search/links/web`	JSON object	Object body fields + headers.
`POST /desearch/ai/search/links/twitter`	JSON object	Object body fields + headers.
`GET /twitter`	JSON array for typical search results; JSON object for object responses	Headers only for arrays; object body fields + headers for object responses.
`GET /web`	JSON object	Object body fields + headers.
`GET /web/extract`	`text/plain`	Headers only; text body is unchanged.
`POST /desearch/people/search/{x,youtube,linkedin,tiktok}`	JSON object (the created task)	Object body fields + headers. They report the reservation; see People Search billing below.

GET /web/crawl is a deprecated endpoint alias for GET /web/extract (same extract pricing tier). Prefer /web/extract for new integrations. This does not deprecate a Console plan or another API family.

Example non-streaming JSON object response:

json

{
  "answer": "ok",
  "cost_usd": 0.004,
  "usage_count": 10,
  "service": "AI Search",
  "currency": "USD"
}

Example headers for the same request:

http

X-Desearch-Cost-Usd: 0.004
X-Desearch-Usage-Count: 10
X-Desearch-Service: AI Search
X-Desearch-Currency: USD

Pricing

Pricing is usage-based and may vary by endpoint, source, volume, and account agreement. Check Pricing in Console for the latest rates available to your account.

Common pricing groups include:

Basic services: web search, X search, and link search endpoints.
AI-powered services: AI Search, AI X Posts Search, and multi-source summarization.
Social data services: TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and expanded X retrieval endpoints.
People Search: X Profile Search, YouTube Creator Search, LinkedIn Profile Search, and TikTok Creator Search, billed per person delivered.
High-volume or enterprise usage: custom limits, volume discounts, support/SLA, invoiced billing, or dedicated agreements.

Cost calculation example

If an endpoint rate is $0.15 / 1,000 usage units and the request uses 10 units, the API reports:

text

cost_usd = 10 * (0.15 / 1000) = 0.0015

This is why Desearch reports fractional USD values instead of cents.

Minimum charge for X searches

X (Twitter) search endpoints bill for the number of posts actually returned, with a minimum of 10 posts per request. A search that returns few or zero posts is billed at the 10-post minimum rather than the full requested count, and a request is never billed above the count you asked for.

People Search billing

People Search (POST /desearch/people/search/{x,youtube,linkedin,tiktok}) bills per person delivered, not per request:

Starting a search reserves count people at the service's rate. The create response reports the reservation in cost_usd and the X-Desearch-* headers, and the task shows it as reserved_cost_usd.
When the search ends, you pay for the qualified people it delivered, with a minimum per search that finds anyone: 5 profiles on X, 3 creators on YouTube, 2 profiles on LinkedIn, and 2 creators on TikTok. You never pay more than the reservation.
The rest of the reservation is returned automatically. Once the task has ended, it shows final_cost_usd and refunded_usd.
A search that finds nobody is free, and so is a search cancelled before it starts.
Polling a task, reading results, exports, pause, resume, cancel, and the profiles library are free.

Rates per 1,000 people are on the pricing page. See the People Search guide for the full flow.