Fair Usage Policy
How processing speed works on the Unlimited plan.
The Unlimited plan is built for serious, high-volume contributors. To keep it fast, affordable, and sustainable for everyone, speed is governed by a fair-use policy. The short version: the first 10,000 files each month run at full priority speed, and you can comfortably process up to roughly 50,000 files a month — far more than almost anyone needs. Beyond that, speed is heavily reduced rather than cut off.
How speed works
Each billing cycle your processing speed depends on how many files you've run that month:
| Files this month | Speed | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 10,000 | Priority (~1.3s / file) | Full speed. Fastest in the industry. |
| 10,000 – 20,000 | ~5s / file | Still fast for most workflows. |
| 20,000 – 30,000 | ~10s / file | Reduced speed. |
| 30,000 – 40,000 | ~20s / file | Slow. |
| 40,000 – 50,000 | ~30s / file | Very slow — fair-use limit approaching. |
| 50,000+ | Minimal (10+ min / file, escalating) | Heavily deprioritized. No hard block — but practically reserved for priority credits. |
What you'll see as you go
We never slow you down silently. Each time you cross into a new speed band, a message appears telling you exactly what happened and why:
- What changed — your new per-file speed, shown clearly.
- Why — you've processed a high volume this cycle, and we adjust speed at scale so every contributor keeps fast access instead of a few heavy accounts slowing it down for everyone.
- The fix — add priority credits to instantly return to full speed.
Your work is never blocked or lost — processing simply continues at the current speed until you top up or the cycle resets.
Why it works this way
Every file processed costs us real money in AI compute. On the Unlimited plan we heavily subsidize that cost so your day-to-day work stays fast and affordable. The graduated speed keeps the service sustainable and protects fast access for the whole community — instead of a few extreme accounts slowing things down for everyone.
There is no hard cap: processing never gets blocked. Past the fair-use limit it simply becomes very slow.
Need full speed beyond fair use?
Priority credits (top-ups) always run at full priority speed — even after you pass your monthly fair-use limit. They never expire, and they stack on top of your subscription. If you regularly process very large volumes, topping up is the fastest path.
- Always full priority speed (~1.3s / file)
- Never expire — buy once, use whenever
- Stack on top of your Unlimited plan
Monthly reset
Your fair-use counter resets at the start of every billing cycle, so each month begins again at full priority speed.
API behavior
The same policy applies to API requests. When you pass the fair-use limit, API responses indicate a reduced speed tier and suggest topping up priority credits for full-speed processing.
Questions about fair use? Contact support@cyberstock.lol.