> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://orbisearch.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Credits and Usage Pricing

> OrbiSearch charges 0.2 credits per email verified and 1 credit per email lookup. Results are cached for 24 hours — re-requesting the same lookup within that window costs nothing.

Credits are the currency you use to pay for email verifications and lookups in OrbiSearch. You purchase credits in advance and they are deducted as you use the API. Understanding how credits are counted — and how caching and deduplication reduce consumption — helps you get the most out of your balance.

## Cost per operation

| Operation                                                          | Cost                        |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------- |
| [Email verification](/docs/api-reference/verify-email) (single or bulk) | **0.2 credits** per address |
| [Email lookup](/docs/api-reference/email-lookup) by name + domain       | **1 credit** per lookup     |

There are no separate charges for API calls, substatus lookups, or failed requests.

## Caching

OrbiSearch caches lookup results for **24 hours**. A repeat request with the same input within that window returns the cached result and deducts no additional credits.

<Note>
  Looking up the same person at the same domain ten times within 24 hours
  costs 1 credit, not 10.
</Note>

## Deduplication in bulk jobs

When you submit a bulk verification job, OrbiSearch automatically deduplicates the list before processing. You are only charged for each **unique** email address, regardless of how many times it appears in the input file.

<Tip>
  You do not need to deduplicate your lists before uploading them. OrbiSearch
  handles this automatically and you will never be charged twice for the same
  address in a single job.
</Tip>

## Checking your credit balance

You can check your remaining credits at any time via the API or in the [dashboard](https://orbisearch.com/dashboard).

### API

Send a `GET` request to `/v1/credits` with your API key:

```bash theme={null}
curl "https://api.orbisearch.com/v1/credits" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"
```

The response includes your current balance and your user ID:

```json theme={null}
{
  "credits": 4250.0,
  "user_id": "usr_abc123"
}
```

### Dashboard

Your credit balance is displayed in the top navigation bar of the dashboard and on the **Billing** page, where you can also view your usage history and purchase additional credits.

## Tips for managing credit usage

<Tip>
  **Verify once, reuse the result.** Store verification results in your own
  database so you can reference them without re-verifying.
</Tip>

<Tip>
  **Filter obvious invalids before verifying.** Use client-side syntax
  validation to catch malformed addresses (missing `@`, invalid TLD) before
  submitting them to the API. This prevents spending 0.2 credits on addresses
  that would return `invalid_syntax`.
</Tip>

<Tip>
  **Batch with bulk jobs.** Bulk verification jobs are the most efficient way
  to process large lists. Deduplication is automatic and you avoid the overhead
  of making individual API calls per address.
</Tip>