Usage tracking
Monitor article generation, API calls, and resource consumption.
Usage tracking
The usage dashboard gives you a real-time view of how much of your plan's capacity you have consumed this billing cycle. Navigate to Settings → Usage to see your current numbers.
Tracked metrics
Each metric displays a progress bar showing current usage against your plan's monthly limit:
| Metric | What it tracks |
|---|---|
| Articles generated | Number of articles created this month via AI generation |
| API calls | Total API requests made this month (via API keys or frontend) |
| Images used | Stock photos pulled from Unsplash/Pexels this month |
| Team members | Current number of members in your organization |
| Sites | Number of active sites in your organization |
| Alerts | Number of active trend alerts configured |
Team members, sites, and alerts are counted as current totals rather than monthly consumption. Articles, API calls, and images reset to zero on your billing cycle date each month.
Usage warnings and limits
IANews notifies you as you approach your plan's limits:
- 80% threshold -- A warning banner appears on the dashboard indicating you are approaching a limit. This gives you time to adjust usage or upgrade your plan.
- 100% limit -- Requests that would exceed the limit are blocked with an HTTP
429 Too Many Requestsresponse. Existing content and access remain unaffected.
Check your usage dashboard weekly, especially if you are running automated briefs. A scheduled brief that generates 5 articles daily uses 150 articles per month -- enough to exceed the Pro plan's 100-article limit by mid-month.
Usage history
Scroll below the current month's metrics to view historical usage data. Past months show final consumption numbers, helping you identify patterns:
- Seasonal peaks -- Some months may have higher output due to industry events or news cycles.
- Growth trends -- Steadily increasing usage suggests it may be time to upgrade before hitting limits.
- Anomalies -- Unexpected spikes in API calls could indicate a misconfigured integration or unauthorized key usage.
Per-site breakdown
The usage dashboard includes a per-site breakdown showing which of your sites consumes the most resources. This is useful for:
- Identifying which sites drive the majority of your article generation
- Deciding which sites to prioritize when approaching limits
- Understanding API call distribution across different integrations
How usage is tracked
Usage counters are maintained automatically. Every API call, article generation, and image retrieval is counted in real time, ensuring accurate per-site, per-month tracking.
Usage data is available within seconds of any action. The dashboard reflects real-time counts, not delayed batch calculations.
Plan limits reference
For quick reference, here are the monthly limits by plan:
| Metric | Free | Pro | Business | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Articles | 10 | 100 | 500 | Unlimited |
| API calls | -- | 10,000 | 100,000 | Unlimited |
| Images | 50 | 500 | 2,000 | Unlimited |
| Team members | 1 | 5 | 20 | Unlimited |
| Sites | 1 | 3 | 10 | Unlimited |
| Alerts | 3 | 25 | 100 | Unlimited |
Reducing usage
If you are consistently approaching your plan's limits, consider these strategies:
- Consolidate briefs -- Combine multiple small briefs into fewer, broader ones to reduce total article count.
- Audit API integrations -- Check that external applications are not making unnecessary calls. Use separate API keys per integration to identify high-usage sources.
- Disable unused alerts -- Inactive alerts still count against your limit. Remove alerts you no longer monitor.
- Archive unused sites -- Each active site counts toward your limit. Delete sites that are no longer producing content.
Automated briefs can consume articles quickly. A daily brief generating 3 articles uses 90 articles per month. Factor scheduled automation into your capacity planning.
What's next?
- Plans -- Compare plan limits and find the right fit
- Manage subscription -- Upgrade your plan to increase limits