Limits and costs
Limits keep research capacity fair and stop runaway agent loops. They apply per Instant Expert account, so every assistant you connect (the ChatGPT plugin included) draws from the same allowance. The numbers on this page are read from the code that enforces them.
Account limits
| Limit | Value | Applies |
|---|---|---|
| MCP requests | 120 per minute | Per account, shared by every connected assistant |
| Searches, imports and drafts started | 50 per rolling 24 hours | Per account, shared by every connected assistant |
| Per-action budgets | search: 5 per minute, 20 per hour, 50 per day; import: 5 per minute, 10 per hour, 30 per day; draft: 30 per minute, 200 per hour, 500 per day; plan: 5 per minute, 30 per hour, 100 per day | Per account, shared by the website and every connected assistant |
| Job stops if it makes no progress for | 15 minutes | Per job |
| Longest a job can run | 45 minutes | Per job |
| MCP request body | 128 KB | Per HTTP request |
| Website searches without an account | 1 per day | Per network (IP address) |
| Anonymous sandboxes per day | 500 per day | Per network (IP address) |
| Anonymous sandboxes per ip per hour | 5 per hour | Per network (IP address) |
| Anonymous search ip limits | 2 per minute, 6 per hour, 10 per day | Per network (IP address) |
When you go over the per-minute limit, the server answers with HTTP 429 and a Retry-After header. When you go over the daily limit, tools that start work return a daily_limit error saying how many seconds to wait. Searches, imports, drafts and outreach plans (plan_outreach) also each have per-minute, per-hour and per-day budgets, shared with the website; going over one returns a rate_limited error with the number of seconds to wait. Reading tools (get_job, get_search, list_requests and the like) don't count toward the daily limit, but they do count toward the per-minute one, so poll at poll_after_seconds rather than in a tight loop.
Per-call limits
These come straight from the tool schemas (see the tool reference).
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
Search request length (search_people) | 2,000 characters |
Contacts per import (import_people) | 100 people |
Recipients per draft (queue_requests) | 100 people |
Request message length (queue_requests) | 500 characters |
Minimum a person receives (offer_cents) | $5 |
Most a person receives (offer_cents) | $250,000 |
Largest spending cap (max_spend_cents) | $250,000 |
People per get_search page | 100 |
Requests per list_requests page | 50 |
People cards per show_people call (ChatGPT) | 8 |
idempotency_key length | 128 characters |
Costs
Searching, importing and preparing drafts don't cost money; they only count toward the limits above. You pay for requests people accept:
- Calls are charged when the person books a time.
- Written or voice answers are charged when the reply is completed.
- Requests nobody accepts cost nothing.
The offer is what each person receives, and Instant Expert's fee is added on top: a $100 offer costs you $125. The fee is 20% of what you pay. Checkout shows what each person receives and the fee separately. A promo code added under Settings can waive some or all of the fee on your first booked conversations: it applies to requests sent while the code has uses left and hasn't expired (some codes last a set time after you add them, shown next to the code in Settings), a booked call or paid reply uses one, and a refunded one gives it back. The discount only lowers what you pay; the person always receives the same amount. Assistants set prices as what each person receives (offer_cents), with the fee added on top. Offers run from $5 to $250,000 per person, and a total cap (max_spend_cents, or an Advisor plan's budget) can be up to $250,000; the website applies the same limits. Each person also has a minimum of their own, about a quarter of their suggested amount and never more than $32: queueing refuses a shared offer below it, and sending refuses any offer below it. When you send, one authorization hold is placed for the largest single offer, and each accepted request is then charged separately, up to your total cap, which must cover what you pay for your most expensive request after any promo. An Advisor plan sizes each batch's cap and checks its budget at what you pay after any promo, too. Cancellations, no-shows and refunds follow the Terms of Service; How it works explains them in plain terms.
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