Tracking your usage

Summary#

Metric Vault shows your credit consumption in two places that are always current: the credit indicator in the dashboard header, and the Usage tile on the Account screen. Both read the same server-side counter, so they never disagree. This article shows you where to look, explains what does and does not add to the total, and pins down the exact moment the counter resets.

Purpose#

Credits are the one thing on a paid plan you can run out of, so knowing where you stand should never require a support ticket. Usage is also the number people most often misread: a total that looks higher than expected almost always has a simple explanation, and this page gives you the means to check it yourself rather than guess.

Before this will make sense, read How credits work. It explains what a credit is and which tools spend one.

Requirements#

• A Metric Vault account, signed in. See Create your account.
• Nothing else. Usage is visible on every plan, including Free.

Permissions#

You see the usage recorded against your own account. There is no workspace-wide usage roll-up in the product: each signed-in account has its own monthly counter, so a teammate's runs do not appear on your screen and yours do not appear on theirs. See Team and workspace billing for how metering works across a team.

If you need a figure you cannot see yourself — a historical month, or a per-tool breakdown — contact support. See Contacting support.

Navigation Path#

Dashboard → user menu (top right) → Account

The credit indicator in the dashboard header is visible from every screen and needs no navigation.

Step-by-Step Guide#

Read the header indicator

1. Look at the top bar of the dashboard, to the right of the search box.
2. It reads <used> / <quota> reports followed by your plan name, for example 137 / 500 reports with a PRO badge.
3. On an internal unlimited account it reads Unlimited reports instead.

The indicator refreshes when you sign in and again after every premium run, so it reflects your most recent run without a page reload.

Read the Account screen

1. Click your avatar in the top right of the dashboard.
2. Choose Account.
3. The four tiles at the top of Account Settings show Plan, Usage, Security and Member Since.
4. The Usage tile shows <used> / <quota> with the caption credits this month. The Plan tile shows the plan the server has on record for you.
5. If either tile shows a dash, the usage lookup did not complete. Reload the page.

Read the per-run confirmation

After a run that costs credits, a short confirmation appears in the bottom-right corner reading Used 1 report · domain overview. It does not appear for zero-credit tools, because nothing was spent. Treat it as a receipt for the run, not as the authoritative balance. The header indicator and the Usage tile are the figures that come from the server.

What counts towards the total#

Both AI generations and data-tool runs feed the same single total. There is no separate "AI budget" and "tools budget" to reconcile.

When the counter resets#

The counter is keyed to the calendar month in UTC. At 00:00 UTC on the 1st a new month begins and your usage starts again at zero. Nothing has to run for this to happen and there is no delay.

Two consequences worth knowing:

• The reset is not your billing anniversary. If you subscribe on the 20th, you still get a full fresh allowance on the 1st.
• Nothing carries over. Unused credits expire at the boundary.

Metric Vault tells you the reset date whenever it blocks a run for quota: the message names the date and how many days away it is.

Why your usage can exceed your quota#

This is expected behavior, not a fault. Light tools are not blocked by the monthly quota on a paid plan — they keep running after your credits are spent — but their cost is still added to the same counter that premium reports are measured against. So the indicator can legitimately read 620 / 500 reports while your keyword and SERP research continues to work normally.

What that state means in practice: premium reports are paused until the reset, and everything else carries on. The full rules are in Quotas and rate limits.

Examples#

Screenshots#

Tips#

• Check the indicator before starting a batch of premium research, not after.
• The header indicator updates itself after each premium run. If it has not moved, the run probably did not complete.
• Save the results you will refer to again. Reopening a saved run costs nothing, so a well-kept Saved Work library is the cheapest way to revisit research.

Best Practices#

• Do the expensive research in one pass. Batch the Domain Overviews and Backlink Profiles at the start of an engagement, then work from the saved results.
• Watch the number in the last week of the month. Credits do not roll over, so an unspent allowance is lost at the boundary.
• On a team, agree who runs what. Each account is metered separately, so one person cannot see another's spend from inside the product.

Common Mistakes#

• Reading the run confirmation as a balance. The bottom-right toast reports the cost of that one run. The header indicator is the balance.
• Expecting the reset on your subscription date. It is the 1st of the calendar month, in UTC.
• Assuming a high total means something is broken. Light-tool usage adds to the same counter and can push it past the quota while everything still works.

Limitations#

• The product does not show a per-tool breakdown of where your credits went, and it does not show previous months. Support can retrieve both.
• There is no usage export and no usage alert email.
• There is no per-seat or per-workspace usage roll-up.

Troubleshooting#

FAQs#

Where do I see how many credits I have left? Subtract the first number from the second in the header indicator. The Usage tile on the Account screen shows the same pair.

Does the counter reset on the day I subscribed? No. It resets at the start of each calendar month, in UTC.

Do unused credits roll over? No.

Can I see which tools used my credits? Not in the product today. Support can pull a per-tool breakdown for the current month.

Does reopening a saved report cost credits? No. Only a fresh run does.

My teammate ran a big report. Will it show on my usage? No. Each signed-in account has its own counter. See Team and workspace billing.

Can I get a usage alert before I run out? There is no usage alert email today. The header indicator is the live signal.