This is a closer look at one design problem in our own product, written plainly. It has no customer results in it, because we would rather publish those when we can attribute them.
The problem
DataflowSEO runs on prepaid credit instead of monthly plans. That suits research that happens in bursts, but it creates a worry: if every lookup costs credit, what stops a scheduled check from quietly spending more than you meant to?
Rank tracking and similar jobs run on a timer, often while nobody is watching. For pay-as-you-go to feel safe, spending has to stay under the user's control even when the user is away.
What we built
We added several layers of protection, each aimed at a different way spend could surprise you.
Charge on completion. A lookup is charged when it completes, not when you click. Requests that fail, or that cannot start, are not charged.
Check the balance first. Paid lookups check your credit before they run, so a request never starts that your balance cannot cover.
Schedules are opt-in. Scheduled checks only run if you switch them on. Nothing starts recurring work on your behalf.
A spending limit per run. Each scheduled check respects a limit you set. If a run would go over, it is skipped and the schedule pauses instead of carrying on.
Credit that does not expire. Because the balance stays yours, there is no pressure to spend it before a deadline, and results you have already paid for reopen for free.
Decisions we made, and why
Pause, do not continue. When a scheduled run would exceed the limit, we stop the schedule rather than run a smaller version. A silent partial result is harder to trust than a visible pause.
Fail closed. If the system is unsure whether a lookup is affordable, it does not run. The cost of an unneeded pause is small, and the cost of an unexpected charge is not.
Say when data is an estimate. Keyword, domain, backlink and ranking figures come from a third-party data provider. We label them as estimates rather than imply certainty.
Where it stands
DataflowSEO serves customers in India today, with payments through Razorpay, and we are working towards availability worldwide.
Want to see it?
Explore DataflowSEO, read how we built the product in our first case study, or contact us to talk about how it would fit your work.
Questions about this?
We read every message and reply within one business day.