Credits & Pricing

How Surf credits work, what each API call costs, and how credits convert to USD.

One API key, two products

Your Surf API key unlocks both products, and credits are shared across them:

Data API — the Surf Skill for AI agents: 100+ crypto data commands across 14 domains (prices, on-chain data, DeFi, prediction markets, and more).
Chat API — the AI Research endpoint: a single OpenAI-compatible REST endpoint that answers natural-language research questions.

Every call deducts credits from the same balance. The exact amount spent is returned on each response under meta.credits_used, and you can check your remaining balance with GET /v1/me/credit-balance or in the Dashboard.

ℹ️ Info

No sign-up required to try it — every IP gets 30 free credits per day, resetting at 00:00 UTC. Generate an API key from the Dashboard for full access.

Data API — cost per call

Data API endpoints are priced in three tiers by how expensive the underlying query is:

Tier	Endpoints	Credits / call	Price / call
Light	Social / News / Fund / Exchange / DEX / Search (partial) / Web	1	$0.006
Standard	Market / Token (partial) / Wallet / Project DeFi / Onchain (partial)	2	$0.012
Heavy	Onchain SQL / Token DEX / Wallet Search / Hyperliquid / Signal / Polymarket / Kalshi	4	$0.024

Prices shown at the $0.006/credit list rate; volume discounts lower them.

3-minute window. Calling the same endpoint again within 3 minutes costs 0 credits, regardless of parameters. Cached re-calls are free — only the first call in each 3-minute window is billed.

Chat API — cost per call

The Chat API (POST /v1/responses) is billed per call by model and, for surf-2.0, by reasoning.effort:

Model	Reasoning effort	Credits / call	Price / call
`surf-2.0-instant`	any	20	$0.12
`surf-2.0`	omitted / `none`	20	$0.12
`surf-2.0`	`minimal`	30	$0.18
`surf-2.0`	`low`	50	$0.30
`surf-2.0`	`medium`	120	$0.72
`surf-2.0`	`high`	150	$0.90
`surf-2.0`	`xhigh`	200	$1.20

Prices shown at the $0.006/credit list rate; volume discounts lower them.

What a credit costs

Credits are purchased up front and priced in USD. The standard pay-as-you-go rate is:

	Rate
List price	$0.006 per credit (≈ 1,660 credits per $10)
Minimum top-up	$10

Top up with credit/debit card, USDC, or crypto (Coinbase Commerce) from the Dashboard.

Volume discounts

Larger commitments lower the per-credit price. Business plans are arranged through sales:

Plan	Per-credit price	Applies when buying
Starter	$0.005	over 100,000 credits
Pro	$0.004	over 500,000 credits
Growth	$0.003	over 1,500,000 credits
Custom	$0.002	over 4,000,000 credits

To set up a Business plan or a custom contract, contact us.

Worked examples

A surf-2.0 medium-effort research call costs 120 credits → 120 × $0.006 = $0.72 at list price.
A surf-2.0 xhigh-effort research call costs 200 credits → 200 × $0.006 = $1.20 at list price.
A Heavy Data API call (e.g. Onchain SQL) costs 4 credits → $0.024 at list price; a repeat of the same call within 3 minutes is free.
$10 at list price buys ~1,660 credits → roughly 1,660 Light calls, 415 Heavy calls, 13 surf-2.0 medium calls, or 8 surf-2.0 xhigh calls.