"A page is a simple billing unit that measures how much content you add to your knowledge base. For PDFs, one page equals one real PDF page. For other document types like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files, pages are automatically estimated based on the file. Every file uses at least 1 page.",
"When uploading documents, you can choose between two processing modes. Basic mode uses standard extraction and costs 1 page credit per page, great for most documents. Premium processing mode uses advanced extraction optimized for complex financial, medical, and legal documents with intricate tables, layouts, and formatting. It costs 10 page credits per page and does not use your premium AI credits.",
"There's no monthly subscription. When you need more pages, simply purchase 1,000-page packs at $1 each. Purchased pages are added to your account immediately so you can keep indexing right away. You only pay when you actually need more.",
},
{
question:"What happens if I run out of pages?",
answer:
"SurfSense checks your remaining pages before processing each file. If you don't have enough, the upload is paused and you'll be notified. You can purchase additional page packs at any time to continue. For cloud connector syncs, a small overage may be allowed so your sync doesn't partially fail.",
},
{
question:"If I delete a document, do I get my pages back?",
answer:
"No. Deleting a document removes it from your knowledge base, but the pages it used are not refunded. Pages track your total usage over time, not how much is currently stored. So be mindful of what you index. Once pages are spent, they're spent even if you later remove the document.",
},
],
},
{
title:"File Types & Connectors",
items:[
{
question:"Which file types count toward my page limit?",
answer:
"Page limits only apply to document files that need processing, including PDFs, Word documents (DOC, DOCX, ODT, RTF), presentations (PPT, PPTX, ODP), spreadsheets (XLS, XLSX, ODS), ebooks (EPUB), and images (JPG, PNG, TIFF, WebP, BMP). Plain text files, code files, Markdown, CSV, TSV, HTML, audio, and video files do not consume any pages.",
"Pages are deducted whenever a document file is successfully indexed into your knowledge base, whether through direct uploads or file-based connector syncs (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Local Folder). In Basic mode, each page costs 1 page credit; in Premium mode, each page costs 10 page credits. SurfSense checks your remaining credits before processing and only charges you after the file is indexed. Duplicate documents are automatically detected and won't cost you extra pages.",
question:"Do connectors like Slack, Notion, or Gmail use pages?",
answer:
"No. Connectors that work with structured text data like Slack, Discord, Notion, Confluence, Jira, Linear, ClickUp, GitHub, Gmail, Google Calendar, Microsoft Teams, Airtable, Elasticsearch, Web Crawler, BookStack, Obsidian, and Luma do not use pages at all. Page limits only apply to file-based connectors that need document processing, such as Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, and Local Folder syncs.",
"Premium credits are your USD balance for paid AI usage in SurfSense, including premium AI models like GPT-5.4, Claude Sonnet 4.6, and Gemini 2.5 Pro, plus premium AI features such as image generation, podcasts, and video presentations when they use paid models. Each request debits the actual USD provider cost, so cheaper and more expensive models bill proportionally.",
"Every registered SurfSense account starts with $5 in premium credits at no cost. Anonymous users (no login) get 500,000 free tokens across free models before creating an account. Once your included premium credits run out, you can top up at any time.",
"Premium credit top-ups are pay as you go, with no subscription. $1 buys $1 of credit, and your balance is spent at provider cost. Purchased credit is added to your account immediately. You can buy up to $100 at a time.",
"No. Page credits pay for document indexing and file-based connector processing. Premium credits pay for paid AI usage, such as premium model chats and premium AI generation features. Premium document processing mode sounds similar, but it consumes page credits, not premium credits.",
},
{
question:"What happens if I run out of premium credits?",
answer:
"When your premium credit balance runs low, you'll see a warning. Once you run out, paid model requests and premium AI features are paused until you top up. You can still use non-premium models and features that do not consume premium credits.",
"Yes! When self-hosting, you have full control over your page and premium credit limits. The default self-hosted setup gives you effectively unlimited pages and premium credits, so you can index as much data and use as many AI queries as your infrastructure supports.",