> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.draftable.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# API Self-Hosted v3 – Usage, limits and entitlements

> What the usage figures on your instance mean, which limits are actually enforced on a self-hosted deployment, and what your licence does and does not control.

<Note>
  This article applies to **API Self-Hosted v3**. It explains the usage figures shown in your instance's admin dashboard and account page, and which of them your deployment actually enforces.
</Note>

## The short answer

API Self-Hosted does not cap the number of comparisons you can run.

Your instance runs entirely on your own infrastructure, and comparison volume, comparison views, stored comparisons and API calls are **not metered, not capped and not billed**. Throughput is governed by the compare and converter workers you provision, which you scale yourself.

<Warning>
  Your instance may display usage figures such as **2,000** against comparison views or stored comparisons, on an annual period. On a self-hosted deployment these are **reporting figures, not enforced entitlements**. They are inherited from the shared codebase behind Draftable's cloud API. Nothing in your deployment blocks, throttles, degrades or charges for activity that passes them.
</Warning>

## What is and is not enforced

| Figure                      | Enforced on your instance? | What it means                                                                           |
| --------------------------- | -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Comparisons created         | No                         | Reporting counter only. There is no annual or monthly cap.                              |
| Comparison views            | No                         | Reporting counter only.                                                                 |
| Stored comparisons          | No                         | Reporting counter only. Your real constraint is your own storage and database capacity. |
| API calls                   | No                         | API usage is not metered, rate limited into rejections, or billed.                      |
| **File size limit**         | **Yes**                    | The maximum size of a single file an account can submit. Set per account.               |
| **File page limit**         | **Yes**                    | The maximum number of pages in a single file an account can submit. Set per account.    |
| **Licence validity period** | **Yes**                    | Comparisons stop when the licence period ends.                                          |

The two file limits are configured per account in the admin dashboard. See [User and viewer settings reference](/hc/en-us/articles/API-Self-Hosted-v3-User-and-Viewer-Settings) for how to change them.

## How each usage counter is measured

Understanding what each figure counts makes your usage reports much easier to read.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Comparisons created">
    Incremented once when a comparison is submitted to the API. One submission is one comparison, regardless of file size or page count.

    Comparisons that **fail are still counted as created**, because the counter increments at submission rather than at completion. Successful and failed comparisons are also tracked as their own separate counters, so you can see the split in your usage reports.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Comparison views">
    Incremented every time a **completed** comparison is retrieved. That includes a person opening it in the comparison viewer, and your application retrieving it through the API.

    Two consequences worth knowing:

    * Reopening or re-fetching an existing comparison **does** increment this counter.
    * Because a single comparison can be retrieved many times, this figure can legitimately be much higher than the number of comparisons created.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Stored comparisons">
    A live count of the comparisons currently retained on your instance, not a running total. It falls when comparisons are deleted or expire.

    A comparison is retained until you delete it through the API, or until the expiry time you set when creating it passes. **If you do not set an expiry, the comparison is retained indefinitely.** See [How to delete comparisons](/hc/en-us/articles/How-to-delete-comparisons-in-Draftable-API).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Pages and documents compared">
    Instance-level reporting counters covering the pages compared and the document types processed. They are informational and are not tied to any entitlement.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Processed content versus stored content

These are genuinely different things, and it is worth separating them when you plan capacity.

* **Processed and viewed** content is comparison activity. It consumes worker capacity while it runs and is reflected in the created and view counters.
* **Stored** content is comparison results retained on your infrastructure after processing finishes. It consumes storage and database capacity until deleted or expired.

Neither has an enforced limit. If you want results cleared automatically, set an expiry when creating each comparison. Otherwise, delete them on your own schedule.

## Throttling and burst behaviour

Your instance does not reject or rate limit comparison requests, and there are no overage charges, because there is no usage-based billing component in the self-hosted product.

Your instance does apply internal **queue prioritisation**, so that a single account submitting a very large burst of comparisons does not monopolise the processing workers. On a single-tenant deployment all workers are yours, so this affects only the ordering of your own work during a burst, never whether it runs.

If burst throughput matters to you, scale the number of compare and converter workers.

<Note>
  Standard security rate limits apply to administrative and login endpoints. These protect your instance against credential attacks and are unrelated to usage entitlements.
</Note>

## What your licence controls

Your product key governs two things:

1. **The validity period of your licence.** When it ends, comparisons stop until the licence is renewed.
2. **Which comparison capabilities are enabled** for your deployment.

It does not carry comparison volume, storage or API call entitlements, and there is no mechanism in the product for it to do so.

### Migrating from v2 to v3

There is no change to the licensing model for existing customers moving to v3. Your existing product key is carried across and reactivated as part of the migration. See [Migrating from API Self-Hosted V2 to V3](/hc/en-us/articles/52985002658841-Migrating-from-API-Self-Hosted-V2-to-V3).

## Plan names in the admin dashboard

The plan record attached to each account carries a **Name** field, which may show a default value such as `On Premises Plan`. This is an editable label for your own reference. It is not a product tier or a subscription SKU, and changing it does not change how your instance behaves.

## Commercial entitlements

This article describes what the **software** enforces. Your commercial entitlements, including any volume commitments, renewal terms and the scope of your subscription, sit in your agreement with Draftable rather than in anything the product displays.

If the usage figures shown in your instance appear to conflict with your understanding of your agreement, contact your account manager, or reach us at [sales@draftable.com](mailto:sales@draftable.com), and we will confirm your entitlements in writing.

## Related articles

* [User and viewer settings reference](/hc/en-us/articles/API-Self-Hosted-v3-User-and-Viewer-Settings)
* [Retrieve export logs from API Self-Hosted v3](/hc/en-us/articles/51117494938777-Retrieve-export-logs-from-API-Self-Hosted-v3)
* [How to delete comparisons in Draftable API](/hc/en-us/articles/How-to-delete-comparisons-in-Draftable-API)