FastAF answers
Frequently asked questions
Short answers about public web-data access, accounts and billing. For request parameters and examples, read the documentation or the complete text reference.
What is FastAF?
FastAF provides 23 public web-data endpoints for search, commerce, public profiles, transcripts, page scraping, structured extraction and screenshots. Applications can use REST or MCP, and x402 clients can pay for data calls without an account.
What does the free tier include?
Every account gets 500 free credits every month after email verification, shared across its API keys and REST/MCP access and spent at the normal credit price (a Google search is 5 credits, so about 100 searches). They reset to 500 at 00:00 UTC on the 1st of each month, unused free credits do not carry over, and they are used before any paid credits. They are not valid on x402.
Do I need a card to try FastAF?
No card is required for the monthly free credits or the free browser tools. An x402 data call instead requires a wallet with the funds specified in its live payment challenge.
How do I receive my first API key?
The signup email contains your first API key and an email-confirmation link. Save the key securely: it is stored only as a hash and cannot be recovered or resent.
Can I create or revoke API keys?
Yes, the dashboard can create additional or replacement API keys and revoke existing ones. A newly created key is shown only once.
Can I sign up with a personal email address?
Yes, personal email addresses are accepted. Email verification and abuse-prevention checks still apply.
Which credit packs are available?
Starter $10 for 20,000 credits; Growth $29 for 75,000 credits; Scale $99 for 300,000 credits; Pro $299 for 1,000,000 credits; Business $799 for 3,000,000 credits. These optional prepaid credit packs are one-time purchases, without expiry, rather than subscriptions.
When do purchased credits expire?
Paid credits never expire, including credits from earlier purchases. Only free credits reset on the 1st of each month; paid credits are unaffected.
How much does a Google search cost?
A default Google search uses 5 prepaid credits; advanced search uses 10. The independent x402 price is $0.003 per successful standard search, with the live challenge authoritative.
How much does a page scrape cost?
A basic scrape uses 1 prepaid credit and JavaScript rendering uses 5. Other options can increase the cost, so check the endpoint reference before making the request.
Are failed data requests charged?
Failed data requests do not consume free or prepaid credits; any credit reservation is released. An unsuccessful x402 data request does not settle a payment.
Does an API error refund a credit-pack purchase?
No: restoring a failed request’s reserved credits is different from refunding a credit-pack purchase. Purchase refund conditions are described in the terms.
What is x402 access?
x402 lets a client request data, receive an HTTP 402 payment challenge and retry with a signed payment. Prices start at $0.003 per call. Prices start at $0.003 per call. FastAF uses USDC on Base for production data calls and settles only successful results.
Does x402 require an account or API key?
Per-call x402 data endpoints do not require a FastAF account or API key. Buying a credit pack through the separate /x402/topup endpoint does require an existing API key.
Can every REST option be used over x402?
No: x402 endpoints have fixed prices and reject options that exceed what that price covers with options_need_api_key. Use API-key billing for those higher-cost variants.
How do I authenticate a REST data request?
Send Authorization: Bearer with your API key, or use the X-API-Key header. Dashboard session cookies and MCP OAuth tokens cannot authorize REST data calls.
How does MCP authentication work?
MCP discovery is public, while tool calls require an API key or an OAuth connection authorized with an existing FastAF key. MCP does not accept x402 payments.
What is the concurrency limit?
Account concurrency is 2 on the free tier, 5 with a paid pack and 25 at the Business threshold. The allowance is shared across keys and REST/MCP activity, and burst limits also apply.
Can FastAF access private or login-only pages?
No, FastAF is for public web data, not content behind an account or paywall. Private-network targets and login paths are blocked.
Does FastAF store scraped page content?
FastAF does not persist scraped payloads. Request and billing metadata can be recorded for usage, reliability and account history.
Can FastAF crawl a whole website?
The scrape endpoint processes one public URL per call. FastAF does not provide a recursive whole-site crawl or map endpoint.
What are the free browser tool limits?
The SERP checker and Page to Markdown each allow three attempts per network per UTC day, sharing IPv4 /24 and IPv6 /64 allowances. A combined 300-attempt daily capacity limit also applies, and these tools do not spend account credits.
How should I handle rate limits?
For HTTP 429, wait for the Retry-After interval before retrying and reduce concurrent requests. For the free browser tools, daily allowances reset at midnight UTC.
See pricing, purchase terms and the free tools.
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