FAQs

Frequently asked questions about Dune’s pricing, credits, billing, plans, and more

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to common questions about Dune’s pricing, credits, billing cycles, and subscription plans.

General Questions

Where can I see my billing history?

Your billing history can be found under “Billing” in your Subscription Settings. Follow the steps below for a complete view:

1. Go to dune.com
2. Sign in to your Dune account
3. Click your avatar in the middle of the top bar where your user or team badge is
4. Click the Settings icon and then “Subscription”

How are upgrades and downgrades handled?

Upgrading to a new paid tier resets your billing cycle start date. On the date of your upgrade, you will be billed the full new plan price and refunded a prorated amount corresponding to the number of unused days of your current plan. If you upgrade from Analyst to Plus on day 15 of your billing cycle, you will be billed a month of Plus minus 15 days of Analyst (roughly half the monthly Analyst cost).

Downgrades to lower tiers are applied at the end of your billing cycle. Benefits from your current tier remain until the end of your billing cycle. At the end of your billing cycle, you will automatically be downgraded to the lower tier of your choice.

How do I upgrade, downgrade, or cancel my team's subscription?

Only administrators of teams with paid plans can change team subscriptions. To change your team’s subscription:

1. Go to dune.com
2. Sign in to your Dune account
3. Click your avatar in the middle of the top bar where your team badge is
4. Click the Settings icon and then “Subscription”
5. Click the plan you want to upgrade or downgrade to

To cancel your subscription, follow these steps:

1. Go to dune.com
2. Sign in to your Dune account
3. Click your avatar in the middle of the top bar where your user or team badge is
4. Click the Settings icon and then “Subscription”
5. Change your plan to Free

Your paid subscription remains active until the end of your current billing cycle. After the downgrade, Free access is view-only: your queries and dashboards stay saved, but running queries requires a paid plan.

Do you offer paid plans for individuals?

Yes. All accounts use teams, including teams with one member. You can upgrade your team to a paid plan in Settings, under Subscription.

What if I have more questions?

For general info on how to use Dune, please see our docs. If you have other issues or questions not listed on this page, please contact [e-mail].

Credits and Spending

What is a credit?

Credits are the measurement unit for usage on Dune. They provide flexibility across query performance, programmatic executions, and API exports. Credits are consumed proportionally to the actual compute resources your queries use—simple queries cost fewer credits while complex ones use more.

Can I view my credit usage and balance?

To view your credit usage and balance go to Settings and select Subscription; here you will see used and remaining credits.

How do credits and billing cycles work with annual plans?

Annual billing enables customers to pay for their plan yearly at a reduced rate. Customers on this plan will still have their credits reset on a monthly basis, as well as receive monthly charges for any potential extra credits incurred.

How do I calculate my potential monthly credit usage?

Credit usage is determined by the actual compute resources your queries consume. Your credit consumption directly reflects each query’s complexity and resource requirements.

Query Execution (App & API)

• Credits reflect the compute resources each query uses, including processing power (CPU), data scanned, and the time your query occupies the query engine.
• High-frequency, lightweight queries, such as metadata lookups and the repeated calls generated by dbt or other automated workflows, also occupy the engine and are reflected in your credit usage.
• Simple, efficient queries use fewer credits
• Complex queries with large data scans require more credits
• Queries cost the same whether executed manually or programmatically

API Export

• Analyst: 1 credit = 1,000 data points
• Plus: 1 credit = 5,000 data points
• Legacy Premium: 1 credit = 25,000 data points (no longer available)

How can I manage and reduce my credit usage?

There are several ways to control and optimize your credit consumption:

Monitor Your Usage

• Check the usage tab regularly to track your credit consumption patterns
• Review which queries and users consume the most credits
• Set extra credit limits to control how many additional credits can be purchased beyond your plan’s included amount

Control Spending

• Set query cost caps in Settings to limit the maximum credits any single query can consume
• Configure team-level caps to prevent accidental high-usage queries
• Use these caps while testing new queries or during development

Optimize Your Queries

• Write efficient SQL to dramatically reduce credit consumption
• Review our query optimization guide for specific techniques

What happens if my credit quota runs out?

During a free trial, using all 2,500 trial credits ends the trial and moves your account to view-only access. Upgrade to a paid plan to continue running queries and using the API. Free accounts and trials cannot buy extra credits.

On paid plans, usage beyond your included monthly credits is billed at your plan’s extra credit rate, up to your configured extra credit limit:

• Analyst: $1.875 per 100 credits (monthly) /$1.625 per 100 credits (annual)
• Plus: $1.596 per 100 credits (monthly) /$1.396 per 100 credits (annual)
• Legacy Premium: $0.999 per 100 credits (no longer available)
• Enterprise: Custom pricing per your agreement

You can set query cost caps in Settings to control your credit usage and prevent unexpected charges.

Can I purchase extra credits in bulk?

No. On paid plans, extra credits are billed as you use them, up to your configured extra credit limit. Free accounts and trials cannot buy extra credits.

If I have leftover credits at the end of the billing cycle can I use them later?

Remaining credits at the end of a billing cycle do not rollover to the next month.

Can I 'pay as I go' without upgrading?

No. Free access is view-only and does not include monthly credits or pay-as-you-go usage. New accounts receive a 14-day trial with Plus plan features and 2,500 total credits. The trial ends after 14 days or when the credits run out, whichever comes first. Upgrade to a paid plan to continue running queries and using the API. Paid plans support additional usage up to your configured extra credit limit.

How can I limit my spending?

To limit monthly spend, go to your subscription page in Settings and set the limit to the desired amount. Setting your limit to $0 will prevent additional usage billing.

What if I lower my spend limit below my current spend level?

If you lower your spend limit below your current spending level, you will not be charged any additional fees beyond your new spend limit. However, any usage that has accrued does not rollover and will still be billed based on the previous spend limit.

Query Engines & Executions

How is my query execution usage counted?

When you manually trigger an execution by pressing Run in the Query Editor, dashboard, or via the API, we accrue that usage to the user or team account. To ensure you are accruing usage in the correct account, view your selected account in the account switcher located in the middle of the top navigation bar on Dune.

What are the differences between query engine sizes?

We have three different query engine sizes that you can use on Dune, each consuming credits based on actual compute resources used:

Small Engine

• Requires an active trial or a paid plan
• Credits consumed from your trial or paid-plan allowance based on actual usage
• 2-minute timeout limit
• Maximum of three (3) concurrent executions
• No performance guarantees

Medium Engine

• Run queries with a larger timeout, manually or programmatically
• Credits consumed based on actual compute resources used
• No limit on concurrent executions
• Suitable for most standard queries and dashboards

Large Engine

• Optimized for complex workloads requiring more computational power
• Credits consumed based on actual compute resources used (more compute and resource than Medium for the same query)
• Best for data-intensive queries and complex analytics

The Large engine provides approximately 2x the computational capacity of the Medium engine. While both Medium and Large engines charge based on actual usage, the Large engine will typically consume more credits for the same query due to the additional resources allocated, but will complete faster. The Small engine is limited in capacity and has stricter timeout constraints.

Note: Exact credit consumption varies based on query complexity, data volume scanned, processing required, and the time the query occupies the engine rather than being a fixed rate per execution.

What is a programmatic execution?

Programmatic executions are query executions done through the Dune API, scheduled executions, materialized view refreshes, or dashboard runs. Programmatic executions consume credits based on actual compute resources used, just like manual queries. Both manual and programmatic executions are charged based on the complexity and resources required by your query, ensuring consistent and fair pricing across all execution methods. Automated workloads (scheduled queries, materialized view refreshes, and dbt or similar pipelines) consume engine time like any other query and are metered the same way.

What are the limitations of the Free query engine size?

Free access is now view-only and does not include query execution on any engine. You can browse existing queries and dashboards, and your saved work remains available. Running queries requires an active trial with remaining credits or a paid plan. See how credits work.

Features

Can I add a private query to a public dashboard?

If you add a private query to a public dashboard, other Dune users will be able to see the visualization in the public dashboard, but won’t see your code when they click the query. The results table, other visualizations you might have, and the underlying query are all private.

Do archived private queries count towards my limit?

No, you can archive private queries that you no longer need to increase your existing private queries quota. Archived queries are not accessible by anyone else and cannot be run. You can unarchive them later if you change your mind.

Can I embed private queries on other websites?

Yes, anyone visiting the website with the embed can see the visualization you chose to embed and nothing else.

As an Enterprise team, what will happen to watermarks?

When logged in to the team on Dune, work you’ve created will not have watermarks. Public dashboards URLs always have watermarks.

Teams

What is an Editor seat?

Owners of editor seats can create and edit content owned by their team, but they cannot access team management features; those are reserved for admins. Viewers have read-only access to the team’s content and can still benefit from their team plan features and quotas.

Do my team's benefits apply to all content on Dune?

Yes, team benefits apply to all Dune content, as long as your team is in the correctly selected account which is viewable in the middle of the top navigation bar on Dune.

How is a team's usage or feature quota applied?

Quotas are applied to all team usage.

Can I invite unlimited collaborators?

Yes, you can invite as many people as you need into your Dune team at no additional cost. All team members will need a Dune account to collaborate with you.

Can I create unlimited Free teams?

You can create 1 Free team on Dune.

API

What is a datapoint?

A datapoint can, in most cases, be thought of as rows * columns with an additional limit of 100 average bytes per cell in a set of results. This can be expressed as:

datapoints = max(rows * columns, ceil(total_bytes / 100))

Do I get charged data points for every time I read a result?

Yes, we accrue the resulting datapoints returned from every request to your credit quota.

How do query executions work in the API?

Query executions are identical to those triggered on dune.com. Please note: free executions are not supported via the API.

Can my team use the API?

API access is available during an active trial and on paid plans, subject to the plan’s features, credits, and usage limits. Free access after the trial is view-only and does not include API access. See API billing and rate limits.

Should I link back to the source when using the API?

We strongly believe Dune analysts should be credited for their work’s impact. We encourage you to credit the analyst, or perhaps to link to the original query. Linking to transparent data sources like Dune is a great way of building trust.