AI usage limits, costs and privacy

RankKit SEO's AI runs on your own provider account, so you stay in control of two things: how much you spend, and what leaves your site. This page explains the daily request limit, the pause switch, exactly what an AI request sends, and how your API key is protected.

What AI costs

RankKit SEO charges nothing for AI: no credits, no markup, no RankKit SEO account. Your provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini or OpenRouter) bills you for the requests made with your key, at their prices. A local model through an OpenAI-compatible server such as Ollama or LM Studio costs nothing to run.

AI is optional. Every SEO feature works without a key.

The daily request limit

RankKit SEO → Settings → AI provider → Daily request limit caps how many AI requests RankKit SEO sends per day. The default is 200. "A safety cap on spend. 0 means no limit."

• Every AI request counts: suggestions in the editor, Explain with AI, alt text, briefs and drafts, the connection test, requests made by AI agents, and Pro features such as bulk AI and AI visibility checks.
• Some actions use more than one request. An article draft uses one request for the opening plus one for every three outline sections; bulk AI uses one per item.
• The count resets every day at midnight UTC.
• The Dashboard tile AI requests today shows how many you have used against the limit.

When the limit is reached, AI features show "Daily AI request limit reached. Raise it in settings or try tomorrow." and bulk runs stop, keeping the items already done. Raise the limit and save to continue the same day.

Tip To estimate spend, multiply your limit by your provider's price per request for your model. Requests send at most about 6,000 characters of page text, so most are small.

Pause all AI

Pause all AI (off by default) "Stops every AI request from RankKit SEO, including from agents, until you turn it back on." Use it if you see unexpected usage, or while you change keys. While paused, AI features report "AI is paused in RankKit SEO settings."

To switch AI off completely and hide it, turn off the AI assistant module in the Dashboard Modules card.

What each request sends

Requests go only to the provider you selected, and only when you, or an agent you authorized, start an AI action. Nothing is sent in the background unless you turn on a Pro option that runs on its own: Write missing metadata when a post is published, or the weekly automatic check in AI visibility tracking.

Action	What is sent
Titles, descriptions, keyword ideas, Explain with AI	Your API key, the post title, up to 6,000 characters of the post's text, the focus keyword, the site name and your Writing tone.
Content brief or draft	The topic and keyword you entered, your notes and audience, and the titles of related posts on your site.
Competitor comparison	Both pages' URLs, titles, descriptions, headings, word counts, schema types and up to 1,500 characters of their text.
Alt text	The image file, its file name and the title of the page it belongs to.

Where requests go:

Provider	Destination
Anthropic Claude	api.anthropic.com
OpenAI	api.openai.com
Google Gemini	generativelanguage.googleapis.com
OpenRouter	openrouter.ai (your site URL is also sent as the referrer)
OpenAI-compatible	The Base URL you entered, such as a local Ollama or LM Studio server
WordPress AI	The provider configured in WordPress under Settings → Connectors

Each provider's own terms and privacy policy apply to what you send. RankKit SEO has no servers in between and does not track your AI use.

How your API key is protected

• Stored on your site only. The key is saved in your WordPress database and only sent to the provider you selected.
• Hidden in the admin. After you save it, Settings → AI provider shows only the last four characters.
• Never exported. Tools → Export & import files and backups leave the key out. After moving to a new site, add the key again. See Backups, export and import settings.
• Never visible to agents. AI agents connected over MCP never receive the key; the settings they can read have it removed.
• Not changeable by agents. Agents cannot change the key or any other AI setting (provider, model, limit or pause). "Agent, AI and tracking settings can only be changed by a person in wp-admin." See Agent tokens, scopes and access levels.
• Only for the right roles. Only users with the Settings permission (administrators by default) can see or change the AI provider. Users with the AI tools permission can use AI without seeing the key. See Role manager.

FAQ

Does RankKit SEO send my content anywhere when I don't use AI?

No. Without an AI action, nothing goes to an AI provider. AI requests only start when you click an AI button, an agent you connected calls an AI tool, or a Pro option you turned on runs (automatic metadata on publish, weekly AI visibility checks).

Do AI agents use my AI key?

Only when the agent calls one of RankKit SEO's AI tools, such as suggesting a title. Those requests run on your site with your key, count toward your daily limit and stop when AI is paused. The agent itself never sees the key.

Is the limit per user or per site?

Per site. All users and agents share one daily count.

Can I use AI without sending anything to a third party?

Yes. Choose OpenAI-compatible (Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM, Azure) and point Base URL at a model running on your own server. Requests then stay on infrastructure you control.