Product
Pay for the data your agent uses
How to compare subscriptions with per-call pricing for an agent workflow.
Glasser3 min read
An agent researching a market may need company records today, search results tomorrow and nothing next week. The work determines which data it needs. A separate subscription for each provider can make a small research task a purchasing decision before it becomes a useful result.
Glasser gives your agent access to paid data through one key, with no monthly commitment. You pay according to the pricing rule of the endpoint you use. To decide whether that fits your work, start with the requests you expect to make.
Count the work, not the people
The number of people on your team does not tell you how much data an agent will retrieve. A single research task can involve an initial search, several narrower searches and detailed records for a few promising matches. Another task may need just one lookup.
Write those steps down before comparing plans. For each step, record the expected number of requests, the number of results you need and whether it must be repeated. Separate a one-time project from a recurring workflow: they can have very different economics.
Compare the same workload
For a subscription, check the monthly payment, the included usage and any overage charges. For per-call access, check the price of each endpoint and what its billable unit means. A price per request and a price per returned record describe different things.
Multiply the expected usage by the applicable prices, then compare that amount with the subscription total for the same period. Use a range if you do not yet know how many searches the agent will need. A high-volume, steady workload can justify a direct subscription; an occasional task may not use enough of the allowance to justify the commitment.
Make price part of the next step
In Glasser, your agent can search the data sources and inspect an endpoint before it runs it. The inspection includes the input contract and pricing information. That lets the agent connect a proposed action to the data it expects to receive and the amount it may spend.
Give the agent a concrete scope: the companies, region, period and fields that matter. Ask it to explain the planned calls before starting a large batch. This is an instruction for the workflow, not a substitute for an enforced spending limit.
Start with one useful result
Try a task with a clear finish line, such as a shortlist of companies in one market. Check whether the returned records contain the fields you need before expanding the search. A low price is useful only when the data helps you make the decision.
Once the workflow produces a useful result, use its actual usage to estimate the next run. You now have a basis for choosing between occasional access and a larger commitment, without assuming how often an agent will work.