Confused about where your gigabytes went? Read this to understand our billing logic and how to debug high usage.
How We Count Data
- Download + Upload: We count both incoming and outgoing traffic.
- Headers: HTTP headers count toward data usage (usually negligible, but non-zero).
- Failed Requests: If the request reaches our server and we attempt to fetch it, data is counted, even if the destination site returns a 404 or 500.
🕵️♂️ “Why did my data disappear?”
We often hear: “I just bought 20GB and it’s gone in 2 hours, but I didn’t scrape anything!”
Here are the most common culprits for “Ghost Usage”:
1. Browser Background Processes
If you are running a full browser (Chrome/Firefox) via Selenium/Puppeteer:
- Auto-Updates: Chrome might silently download a 200MB update.
- Syncing: Browser sync, extensions updating, and telemetry can consume massive data.
- Images & Video: Loading
instagram.com can consume 5-10MB per page load if you don’t block images/video.
Save MoneyDisable Image Loading and Video Autoplay in your bot settings. This can save up to 80% of your data usage.
2. The “While True” Loop
A common coding error is a retry loop without a delay.
- Code:
while error: retry()
- Result: Your script fires 10,000 requests per second for an hour, burning 10GB of data on error pages alone.
3. Compromised Credentials
If you shared your user_ID:password with a team member or pasted it in a public GitHub repo, someone else might be using your traffic.
- Fix: Change your proxy password immediately in the Dashboard.
The Rollover Rule 🔄
Does unused data roll over? Yes, but there is a rule.
You must renew your subscription within 7 days of its expiration date to keep your rolled-over data.
| Scenario | Result |
|---|
| Plan expires today. You renew tomorrow. | ✅ Unused data rolls over. |
| Plan expires today. You renew in 8 days. | ❌ Unused data is lost forever. |
”Top-up” vs. “Renew”
It is crucial to understand the difference between these two buttons in your dashboard:
1. Top-up (Add Data) 🔋
- What it does: Adds GBs to your current plan.
- Expiration: Does NOT extend your expiration date.
- Use case: You ran out of data but still have 15 days left on your subscription.
2. Renew (Extend Time) 🗓
- What it does: Resets your cycle and extends your access time.
- Expiration: Adds 30 days (or your plan duration) to the expiration date.
- Use case: Your plan is about to expire (or has expired).
The “Active but Blocked” ScenarioYou need BOTH an Active Subscription (Time) AND Data Allowance (GB) to connect.
- If you have 100GB but your time is expired → Connection Refused.
- If you have active time but 0GB → Connection Refused.
