How the Credit System Works
3,200 free credits per day, 10,000 on sign-up. Understand what each action costs and when you might need to buy more.
How the Credit System Works
ElasticDomain uses a credit-based system. Credits are consumed when the platform does real work - making network requests to WHOIS servers, checking SSL certificates, querying DNS, or running blacklist lookups.
Your Starting Balance
| Credit Source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sign-up bonus | 10,000 credits |
| Daily refresh (automatic, every day at midnight UTC) | 3,200 credits |
The daily refresh runs automatically for every account, paid or free. You don't need to do anything - credits appear in your balance each morning.
How Credits Are Consumed
Credits are deducted when a scan job starts. If a scan fails partway through (network timeout, domain unreachable), the credits for the completed steps are consumed; steps that didn't run are not charged.
Scan Costs
| Scan Type | Credits | What Runs |
|---|---|---|
| Full scan | 250 | WHOIS + SSL + DNS + Security + Uptime + Tech detection |
| SEO scan | 1,500 | Technical SEO audit across 8 dimensions |
| Port scan | 600 | TCP port scanning + service banner grab |
| Screenshot capture | 300 | Full-page screenshot |
| CT log scan | 800 | Certificate Transparency impersonation check |
| Quick scan | 2 | WHOIS + SSL only |
| Security scan | 2 | HTTP headers + blacklist queries |
| SSL check | 1 | SSL certificate only |
| WHOIS lookup | 1 | Domain registration + expiry data |
| DNS lookup | 1 | DNS record resolution |
Other Actions
| Action | Credits |
|---|---|
| PDF report export | 2 |
| Local rank scan | varies |
Estimating Your Usage
10 domains, all on daily full scans: 10 × 250 credits × 30 days = 75,000 credits/month
Your 3,200 daily credits give you 3,200 × 30 = 96,000 credits/month for free. That covers daily full scans for up to 12 domains per day within the free daily allowance, or hundreds of quick scans.
For larger portfolios: Weekly scans on low-priority domains dramatically reduce credit usage. A domain on weekly full scans costs 250 × 4 = 1,000 credits/month, and with 3,200 free credits/day you can run weekly full scans for up to 96 domains entirely within the free tier.
Buying Additional Credits
If you need more than the daily allowance, credit packs are available on the billing page. Purchased credits never expire and roll over indefinitely - unlike the daily refresh which resets each day.
Checking Your Balance
Your current credit balance is visible in the dashboard header. Click it to see the full credit history - every debit and the scan that triggered it.
Tips for Getting the Most from Free Credits
- Use weekly scan intervals for watchlist and competitor domains you don't need to monitor daily
- Use quick scans (2 credits) for regular checks on domains where you only care about WHOIS and SSL expiry
- Schedule port scans and subdomain discovery manually, not on automatic schedules - run them once when you add a domain, then on-demand