Geo-grid pin credits explained: what a 7x7 weekly scan really costs
Geo-grid tools charge one credit per pin. Here is the arithmetic for pins, keywords and schedules, so you can size a plan before you pay.
Most geo-grid tools, including this one, charge one credit per pin searched. That is fair, because every pin is a real search. The part people miss is how quickly pins add up once you track several keywords on a schedule. You can see the public plans side by side on our comparison pages.
The arithmetic
Credits used = pins in the grid x keywords x scans per month. A 7x7 grid has 49 pins and a 9x9 grid has 81. Weekly means about 4.3 scans a month, every 3 days about 10, daily about 30.
Take an agency with 5 clients, 10 keywords each, scanning a 7x7 grid weekly: 5 x 10 x 49 x 4.3 is about 10,500 credits a month. On a tool that bundles 7,500 credits for about $25 you are over the limit before the end of the month.
- 7x7 weekly, 50 keywords: about 10,500 credits a month
- 9x9 weekly, 50 keywords: about 17,400 credits a month
- 9x9 every 3 days, 50 keywords: about 40,500 credits a month
- 15x15 once, one keyword: 225 credits
How to spend fewer credits
- Pick the smallest grid that covers your service area. A 7x7 grid is usually plenty, and 15x15 costs more than four times as much.
- Keep the radius to the area customers really come from. Wide grids waste pins on places you do not serve.
- Schedule your most important keywords weekly and scan the rest by hand when you need them.
- Look at competitor heatmaps from the same scan instead of running more scans: they use the data you already paid for.
What we include
Starter has 7,500 credits a month, Growth 13,500 and Agency 29,000 (see the current pricing). You see the credit cost before every scan, failed pins are not charged, and the full top 20 at every pin, competitor heatmaps and shareable reports are on every plan.