Staters are ZeusSEO's prepaid AI credits. Each one is worth about $0.05, and they are spent only when a ZeusSEO AI engine does work for you, such as drafting a post or running a quality analysis. Reading your Google data, publishing posts that are already included in your plan, and anything you generate in your own AI chat never touch your Stater balance.
Here is the short version. ZeusSEO charges you for the AI it runs on its own servers, and nothing else. If your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription does the thinking, ZeusSEO does not bill you a Stater for it, and Google data is always free to read. That single rule explains almost every question about ZeusSEO billing.
Staters are the single prepaid credit currency inside ZeusSEO, priced at about $0.05 each. You spend them on finished AI output, for example a drafted Google Business Profile post, a review reply, or an executive report summary, and on premium third-party data lookups. The simplest action costs roughly one Stater, and heavier work costs a few more. Every plan includes a monthly Stater allowance that refreshes each billing cycle, and you can top up anytime.
What spends Staters
Staters are consumed by the actions that run ZeusSEO's own AI or pull premium third-party data. The exact cost of a job is shown before you confirm it, so nothing is a surprise. Typical examples:
- AI-generated Google Business Profile posts and review replies, roughly one Stater each.
- A content brief, about one to two Staters, and a full first-draft post, about three Staters, depending on length.
- An AI executive summary inside a Daedalus report, about two to three Staters per report.
- Skilled Agent tasks and the weekly brief, a few Staters each.
- Premium third-party data lookups from providers such as Ahrefs and Moz, which cost a few extra Staters.
- The ZeusSEO post quality engine, one Stater per post.
What never spends Staters
The whole point of the Stater model is that the routine, high-volume work stays free. You are never charged for:
- Reading your Google data: Google Business Profile, Search Console, GA4, Google Maps, and Tag Manager are always free to sync.
- Re-reading cached data within its window. Expensive data is fetched once and cached for about 30 days, so every re-read inside that window is free.
- Publishing and scheduling posts that are already included in your plan.
Content from your own AI chat is always free
This is the principle that matters most. Anything you create inside your own AI assistant, whether that is Claude or ChatGPT, is never charged by ZeusSEO. When your assistant drafts a post, critiques your listings, or summarizes your data, the thinking runs on the subscription you already pay for, so ZeusSEO has no model to bill you for. Staters are spent only when you ask ZeusSEO's own AI engines to do the work instead. Put simply, our AI costs Staters, your AI does not.
What each plan includes
Every plan comes with a monthly Stater allowance that refreshes each billing cycle. Solo includes 800 Staters a month, Growth includes 2,500, and Agency includes 7,000. Seats share one workspace pool, so adding teammates never inflates your credit cost. When a heavy month needs more, you can buy extra Staters as a one-time top-up starting from $25 per pack, or set a recurring scheduled top-up for predictable demand. You can compare the full allowances on the zeuseo.com/pricing page.
Do MCP actions consume Staters?
The ZeusSEO connector for Claude follows the exact same rule as the rest of the app.
Reads and plan-included publishing are free
Connecting it is free, on every plan and during the free trial, with no separate tier that unlocks it. Using it for reads, and for publishing or scheduling Google Business Profile posts, costs nothing extra today, because your own AI subscription does the work and ZeusSEO simply hands over the data and makes the Google call. During the free trial a fair-use limit of 100 API calls applies; paid plans have no such cap, only the normal rate limits.
Only ZeusSEO's own AI spends Staters
The only MCP actions that spend Staters are the ones that run ZeusSEO's own AI. Today that is the post quality engine, which runs ZeusSEO's server-side analysis at one Stater per post, up to ten posts per call, the same rate you would pay inside the app. It tells you the cost and asks you to confirm before it runs. Everything else your assistant does through the connector is free, and the free quality review that hands your posts to your own assistant costs nothing at all. For the full walkthrough, see the Google Business Profile MCP guide, and for how the connector reaches Google data without an API application of your own, see Google API vs MCP.
Every Stater is on the record
You never have to wonder where your allowance went. Open Credits, then History, inside ZeusSEO and you will see each action itemized: who ran it, what it was, when it happened, and how many Staters it cost, including the actions that cost zero. Free does not mean invisible. The record is always there, so you can audit your spend and, if a client ever asks, show exactly what was done in their account.
- Staters are ZeusSEO's prepaid AI credits, about $0.05 each, spent only when a ZeusSEO AI engine does the work.
- Google data reads, cached re-reads, and plan-included publishing never cost Staters.
- Content you generate in your own Claude or ChatGPT is never charged by ZeusSEO. Our AI costs Staters, your AI does not.
- Plans include a monthly allowance, Solo 800, Growth 2,500, Agency 7,000, and you can top up from $25 per pack.
- Through the connector, only ZeusSEO's own AI, such as the post quality engine, spends Staters, at the in-app rate.
- Every consuming action is itemized in Credits, then History, so your spend is always auditable.
Where to go next
- See the plans and allowances at zeuseo.com/pricing.
- Browse every walkthrough in the ZeusSEO guide hub.
- Learn how to post from your chat in the Google Business Profile MCP guide.
- Understand the connector versus the raw Google APIs in Google API vs MCP.
- Or start from the ZeusSEO home page to see the whole platform.