Why We Charge by Active Monitor, Not API Calls

The old model: pay per call

When we launched V1.0, our pricing was simple: $29/month for 5,000 API calls. Like Twilio. Like AWS. Familiar, predictable, but also deeply wrong for our use case.

What went wrong

• Cost: each 'call' to track a container triggers 1-3 carrier API requests. Heavy users burned through quotas instantly.
• Abuse: scrapers would make 1 call per container per minute, exhausting free tiers within hours.
• Misaligned incentives: customers who genuinely needed continuous monitoring paid the same as those making one-off lookups.

The new model: active monitor

Starting V1.5, MariMetric charges by active monitor. An active monitor is a container you want us to track continuously — we refresh it on a schedule (6h on Free, 30min on Starter, 5min on Business). One-off homepage lookups don't count.

Why this is better

• Customers pay for value: continuous monitoring, not API noise
• Our costs are predictable: each monitor has a known refresh schedule and cost ceiling
• Abuse is impossible: no monitor = no automated refresh = no scrapers
• Upgrades feel natural: shippers with growing fleets naturally need more monitors

Edge cases

Power users who only need on-demand lookups (not continuous monitoring) use the homepage or the REST API directly. We also offer PAYG ($2/active monitor) for spiky or seasonal usage. For AI agents, we sell MCP call packs that never expire (1K/5K/20K).