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

# What counts as an event

> Exactly what we meter, what we never meter, and what happens when you reach your limit.

Usage is measured in **events**, and only in events. There is no per-step, per-feature, or per-seat
charge, and no feature is locked behind a plan.

## An event is one capture, or one delivery

You are billed **one event** when either of these happens:

* **We capture a request.** Any request that reaches one of your endpoints and is stored.
* **We deliver an event to a destination.** Each destination you forward to is one event.

That's the whole rule. If you capture a webhook and forward it to one destination, that's **two
events**. Forward the same webhook to three destinations and it's **four** — one capture, three
deliveries.

We meter deliveries because delivering costs us real money, and we would rather charge for it
honestly than lock outbound delivery behind a paid tier. Every feature is available on every plan,
including the free one.

## Retries are never billed

If a destination is down and we retry, **you are not charged for the retries**. A delivery is billed
once, when we first dispatch it — however many attempts it takes.

<Note>
  Our retry schedule is our cost. A receiver's downtime is not your fault, and charging you eight
  times for one failed delivery is exactly the surprise this product exists to avoid.
</Note>

## What is never metered

* **Retries** of a delivery you were already billed for.
* **Duplicate requests** that deduplication collapses. A retry from a provider that we recognise as
  the same event never becomes a second billable event. See [Deduplication](/deduplication).
* **Verification handshakes.** A provider's `GET` challenge is a control message, not an event — it
  is never stored and never billed.
* **Reading your own data.** Listing events, inspecting payloads, and replaying from the dashboard,
  API, CLI, or MCP cost nothing. (A replay that *forwards* to a destination is a delivery, and that
  delivery is billed.)

<Warning>
  If you turn deduplication **off** for an endpoint, every retry a provider sends is a distinct
  captured request, and each one counts. That is the trade you are making when you disable it.
</Warning>

## Reaching your limit

Every plan includes a number of events. When you reach it, the default is to **pause, not bill**:

* We email you **before** you get there, not after.
* At the limit, capture **pauses**. You are never billed past your included volume by surprise.
* Nothing you already captured is lost. Resume by upgrading, or by raising your limit.

You can check where you stand at any time:

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash CLI theme={null}
  wbhk usage
  ```

  ```bash API theme={null}
  curl https://api.webhook.co/v1/usage \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $WEBHOOK_API_KEY"
  ```
</CodeGroup>

The dashboard shows the same number at [app.webhook.co/usage](https://app.webhook.co/usage).

## The free allowance is one-time

The free tier's included events are a **one-time allowance**, counted across the whole life of your
organisation. It does **not** reset each month.

<Warning>
  If you cancel a paid plan, you return to the free tier — and because the free allowance is
  one-time, it has already been spent. **Capture pauses until you resubscribe.** Your data stays
  where it is, and resubscribing resumes capture immediately.
</Warning>

That is deliberate: it makes the free tier a genuine trial rather than a perpetual free plan, and it
means we never quietly run up a bill you didn't agree to.