# Pricing · Onto > Read API tiers, credit packs, and Serve plans. Free forever for the first 1,000 requests. No card required to start. **Source:** /pricing **Extracted:** 2026-05-20T20:59:17.407Z --- Pricing ## Honest pricing. _Built for compounding usage._ Start free with 1,000 reads a month — no card required. Pay only when you outgrow it. Site owners get the SDK free forever; paid tiers unlock the dashboard features. Read, Serve, and (soon) Act are independent billing lines so you only pay for what you use. 01 — Read API Layer 01 LiveFor AI developers ### Call the API. _Pay only for reads._ Any AI developer calls `api.buildonto.dev` with any URL and gets clean Markdown plus an AIO accuracy score — sub-100ms cache hits, single-digit-second cold fetches. Tiers scale with monthly request volume and concurrency. Free $0forever 1,000 requests / month 2 concurrent · hard monthly cap * Read · Score · MCP server * Clean Markdown + AIO accuracy score * Community support [Start free](https://app.buildonto.dev/signup) Starter $9/ month 10,000 requests / month 5 concurrent · top up with credits * Everything in Free * Credit packs unlock overage * Email support [Upgrade to Starter](https://app.buildonto.dev/read/billing) Most popular Growth $49/ month 100,000 requests / month 20 concurrent · priority queue * Everything in Starter * Priority queue · lower cold-fetch latency * Credit packs unlock overage [Upgrade to Growth](https://app.buildonto.dev/read/billing) Scale $250/ month 500,000 requests / month 50 concurrent · shared Slack * Everything in Growth * Shared Slack support * Higher rate limits on bulk reads [Upgrade to Scale](https://app.buildonto.dev/read/billing) Need more than 500k reads / month?[Talk to us about Enterprise](mailto:founder@buildonto.dev) 02 — Credit packs ### Burst over plan? _Buy credits, never get cut off._ Any paid Read tier can top up with credit packs. Credits roll over month-to-month and only debit when your plan quota is used up. Bigger packs include progressively higher bonuses. Top-up S $5 500 credits Top-up M+10% $20 2,200 credits Top-up L+20% $50 6,000 credits Top-up XL+40% $200 28,000 credits Free tier can't purchase credit packs.Upgrade to Starter or higher to unlock overage billing. 03 — Serve Layer 02 AlphaFor site owners ### Install the SDK. _Pay only for the dashboard._ `@ontosdk/next` is free forever on npm — clean Markdown for bots, full HTML for humans, no plan needed. Paid Serve tiers unlock dashboard features: advanced analytics, per-route context injection, and multi-site management. Free $0forever 1 site 30-day analytics retention * SDK is free forever on npm * Bot detection + clean Markdown serve * Basic analytics dashboard [Install the SDK](https://app.buildonto.dev/signup) Most popular Pro $19/ month 1 site 1-year analytics retention * Advanced bot breakdown + route heatmaps * Per-route context injection * Email support [Upgrade to Pro](https://app.buildonto.dev/serve/billing) Business $99/ month Up to 10 sites Unlimited analytics retention * Everything in Pro, across 10 sites * Every new Serve feature first * Shared Slack support [Upgrade to Business](https://app.buildonto.dev/serve/billing) Enterprise Customannual Unlimited sites Custom SLA + dedicated infra * Volume + custom retention * DPA, security review, SSO * Dedicated solutions engineer [Contact sales](mailto:founder@buildonto.dev) 04 — Compare Read tiers ### What unlocks _as you scale._ Every Read tier ships the same cleaning engine and accuracy scoring. What changes is volume, concurrency, and the support model. Feature Free Starter GrowthMost popular Scale Monthly requests 1,000 10,000 100,000 500,000 Concurrent requests 2 5 20 50 Read · Score · MCP AIO accuracy score Hallucination risk flag Credit-pack overage Priority queue Support Community Email Email Shared Slack 05 — Questions ### Pricing in _one place._ If something is missing here, email [founder@buildonto.dev](mailto:founder@buildonto.dev) and we'll add it. Is the SDK really free forever?+ Yes. `@ontosdk/next` is open-source on npm and free without a cap. Paid Serve tiers unlock dashboard features — advanced analytics, per-route context injection, multi-site management. The SDK itself keeps working whether or not you pay. What counts as a request on the Read API?+ Every `/v1/read`, `/v1/score`, or `/v1/read-and-score` call counts as one billable request, regardless of the response size. Cache hits count too — they're cheaper for us, so they don't consume credits at a higher rate, but they do tick your monthly quota. What happens when I exceed my monthly plan?+ On Free, requests start returning a quota-exceeded error — there are no surprise charges. On any paid Read tier, overage requests debit your credit balance instead. If both your plan and credit balance are empty, the API returns `PAYMENT_REQUIRED` until you top up or the next billing cycle starts. Can I hold a Read subscription and a Serve subscription at once?+ Yes. They're independent. The same account can have, say, Read Growth and Serve Pro at the same time — separate Polar subscriptions, separate quotas, separate billing lines. Do you bill in USD only? What about taxes?+ Billing is handled by Polar.sh as merchant of record. They handle VAT, GST, sales tax, and currency conversion automatically based on your billing address. The prices on this page are USD; what you pay may differ slightly based on your local tax rate. When does Act (Layer 3) ship?+ Q3 2026. Pricing isn't finalized — early customers on Read or Serve plans get first access. See the [roadmap](/roadmap) for what's in the queue. Read API #### Building an agent? Start free. 1,000 requests / month, no card required. [Get an API key](https://app.buildonto.dev/signup) Serve SDK #### Own a site? Make it agent-readable. `npm install @ontosdk/next` — free forever. [Install the SDK](https://app.buildonto.dev/signup) [See how the engine works](/how-it-works)