🗂️ Overview
When you grow your agency and onboard new clients inside Search Atlas, it's important to understand exactly what gets charged and when. This article breaks down the costs associated with adding new clients, activating OTTO SEO, and running Site Audits — so there are no surprises on your bill.
👤 Adding a New Client
Adding a new client to your Search Atlas account is free. There is no per-client seat fee simply for creating a client profile. Costs are tied to the specific tools and slots you activate for that client, not the client record itself.
🤖 OTTO SEO Slots — How Pricing Works
OTTO SEO is Search Atlas's AI-powered on-page automation engine, accessible from the left sidebar under OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation). Each website you want OTTO to manage requires its own OTTO slot. Here is how slot pricing works:
- Slots are plan-based. Your subscription plan includes a set number of OTTO slots. The number of included slots varies depending on which plan tier you are on.
- Adding extra slots. If you need more OTTO slots than your plan includes, you can purchase additional slots as an add-on. Each extra slot is billed at a flat monthly rate on top of your existing plan cost.
- One slot per domain. A single OTTO slot covers one domain. Activating OTTO for a second domain for the same client requires a second slot.
- Deactivating a slot. If you deactivate OTTO for a site, that slot becomes available to assign to another domain, so you are never locked into a specific site.
To check how many OTTO slots are included in your current plan, or to purchase additional slots, go to your account billing settings.
🔍 Site Audit — Quota and Pricing
Site Audit and OTTO SEO use separate quota systems. Running a Site Audit does not consume an OTTO slot, and activating OTTO does not run a Site Audit automatically. Here is what you need to know about Site Audit quotas:
- Crawl credits are plan-based. Your plan includes a monthly allowance of pages that can be crawled across all client sites combined.
- Quota resets monthly. Crawl credits refresh at the start of each billing cycle, so unused credits do not carry over.
- Large sites use more credits. A site audit on a 10,000-page website will consume significantly more crawl credits than one on a 200-page site. Plan your audits accordingly.
- Upgrading your crawl quota. If you consistently run out of crawl credits before the month ends, upgrading your plan or purchasing a crawl credit add-on is the most cost-effective solution.
📊 Quick Comparison: OTTO Slots vs. Site Audit Credits
- OTTO Slots: Required to activate OTTO SEO automation on a domain. Fixed number per plan; additional slots available as paid add-ons. Rolls over month-to-month as long as your subscription is active.
- Site Audit Credits: Consumed each time you crawl pages. Resets monthly. Shared across all clients on your account.
- Client Profiles: Free to create. No charge for adding a client record alone.
💡 Tips to Manage Costs Effectively
- Audit which domains genuinely need OTTO activated. Deactivate OTTO on sites that no longer require automation to free up slots for new clients.
- Schedule large site audits near the start of your billing cycle so you have the full monthly credit allowance available.
- Review your plan's included slots and crawl credits before onboarding a batch of new clients to avoid unexpected overage charges.
- Use the account billing page to monitor real-time usage of both OTTO slots and crawl credits throughout the month.
🛠️ Need Further Help?
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.