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

# Pricing and cost control

> FetchFox uses cost plus pricing, with many ways to lower cost

FetchFox uses [cost plus pricing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost-plus_pricing), which means we charge a fixed fee on top of our underlying costs. The underlying costs for each scrape are network traffic through proxies, and the cost of AI usage. We pass on these costs directly, and add a FetchFox fee based on API usage.

$$
Your\ Price = Network\ Traffic + AI\ Usage * AI\ Surcharge + FetchFox\ Fees
$$

In `metrics`:

* `cost.network` = proxy bandwidth cost
* `cost.ai` = model token cost
* `cost.fetchfox` = operation fees + AI surcharge

Credits are USD-denominated (`1000` credits = `$1.00`).

## Viewing cost metrics

Every call you make to FetchFox has a `metrics` field. This field includes a cost breakdown, showing how much of the cost for that call was for network traffic, AI usage, and FetchFox fees.

Below is an example cost breakdown.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Summary" defaultOpen icon="sparkles">
    ```json theme={null}
    {
      "cost": {
        "ai": 0.02,
        "network": 0.00019,
        "fetchfox": 0.035,
        "total": 0.05519
      },
      ... full breakdown ...
    }
    ```
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Full breakdown" icon="sparkles">
    ```json theme={null}
    {
      "cost": {
        "ai": 0.02,
        "network": 0.00019,
        "fetchfox": 0.035,
        "total": 0.05519
      },
      "ai": [
        {
          "model": "openai:gpt-5.2",
          "tokens": {
            "input": 100000,
            "output": 4000,
            "total": 104000
          },
          "cost": {
            "input": 0.016,
            "output": 0.004,
            "total": 0.02
          },
          "runtime": {
            "sec": 90.4,
            "msec": 90400
          }
        }
      ],
      "network": [
        {
          "tier": "datacenter_dedicated",
          "bytes": 3800000,
          "cost": 0.00019
        }
      ],
      "fetchfox": [
        {
          "path": "crawl",
          "count": 1,
          "cost": 0.001
        },
        {
          "path": "extract",
          "count": 20,
          "cost": 0.02
        },
        {
          "path": "visit",
          "count": 10,
          "cost": 0.01
        },
        {
          "path": "surcharge",
          "count": 1,
          "cost": 0.004
        }
      ]
    }
    ```
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

In this example, you can see a summary of costs for network, AI, and FetchFox usage. You can also see a detailed breakdown showing which proxies were used for how much data, which AI models were used for how many tokens, and which FetchFox calls were used.

## FetchFox fees

FetchFox operation fees are:

| Operation | Price                               |
| --------- | ----------------------------------- |
| `visit`   | \$1.00 per 1,000 visits             |
| `crawl`   | \$1.00 per 1,000 crawl operations   |
| `extract` | \$1.00 per 1,000 extract operations |
| `captcha` | \$1.00 per 1,000 solves             |

FetchFox also applies a surcharge equal to **20% of AI usage cost**.

<CostsTable />

A [scrape call](/scrape-equals-crawl-extract) does not have its own charge, but it will incur costs from all the underlying operations.

## Underlying cost

There are two sources of underlying cost for each call to FetchFox: network traffic and AI usage.

### Network costs

Network traffic is billed per byte and depends on proxy tier. Costs vary significantly by tier.

| Proxy tier               | Cost per GB |
| ------------------------ | ----------- |
| `none`                   | \$0.025     |
| `datacenter`             | \$0.05      |
| `datacenter_shared`      | \$0.80      |
| `datacenter_dedicated`   | \$0.05      |
| `isp_dedicated`          | \$0.05      |
| `residential`            | \$8.10      |
| `residential_cdp`        | \$8.20      |
| `residential_cdp_assets` | \$8.50      |
| `unblock`                | \$2.00      |

Read more about proxies:

* [Why proxies are required to access some sites](/proxy-basics)
* [Use automatic proxy selection](/auto-proxy)

### AI costs

AI usage is billed by token usage. Larger context means higher AI cost.

Two practical ways to control AI cost:

1. Use a lower-cost model.
2. Let repeated extractions get boosted over time.

Read more about boosted extraction behavior:

* [How boosted extractions work](/boosted-extractions)