Questions about API request limits and payment for a project using NextJS in production.
I understand your concern about the quota situation! Let me address your questions, though I need to be transparent that I couldn't find specific documentation about some of the exact policies you're asking about.
What I can tell you based on available information:
Sanity operates on a pay-as-you-go model for usage beyond the free tier. When you exceed your free tier limits, you're billed for the overage rather than being immediately blocked. The Growth Plan explicitly mentions "pay-as-you-go for higher usage," which suggests the platform is designed to scale with your needs rather than hard-stop your service.
Regarding your specific questions:
When will you be blocked? - I wasn't able to find specific documentation about the exact timeline for when API access gets blocked due to unpaid overages. This is something you should contact Sanity support about directly for an accurate answer, as it likely involves their billing policies.
When do counters reset? - While monthly billing cycles are standard for SaaS platforms, I couldn't find official documentation confirming the exact reset date for Sanity's API request counters. This is another detail worth confirming with support.
Can you pay month-to-month? - Yes! The pay-as-you-go model means you're only charged for what you actually use in a given month. If you fix your revalidation config and stay within free tier limits next month, you shouldn't have charges. There's no requirement to maintain a paid subscription continuously.
For your Next.js revalidation issue:
Since you identified the problem as revalidation frequency, consider using Sanity Functions to trigger on-demand revalidation only when content actually changes. This is much more efficient than time-based revalidation and is the modern recommended approach. Functions can listen to document changes and call your Next.js revalidation endpoint only when needed, dramatically reducing unnecessary API requests.
My recommendation: Contact Sanity support directly through your project dashboard or at support@sanity.io to get definitive answers about your specific billing situation and timeline. They'll be able to see your account status and give you exact dates and policies that I couldn't verify in the documentation.
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