Cost research · Protocol boundary
SEO API cost benchmark: same workload, observable cost
Results not published yet: the comparable three-provider production workload has not been executed. This page defines the commercial question without inventing a cost winner.
What will be measured
For the locked Benchmark #1 workload we retain provider-reported or directly observable request cost, successful and limited calls, missing fields and runner latency. Subscription price alone is not treated as cost per comparable result.
What we already know
A prior SE Ranking frozen run had a direct monetary cost of $0 under the available account and an observed API-unit delta of 1,020. That run was not SDB-B01 and therefore cannot be used as an apples-to-apples cost result against DataForSEO or Mangools.
Why the result is pending
DataForSEO comparable workload cost and Mangools authenticated API entitlement/cost remain unresolved in our evidence. We preserve those gaps instead of filling them from unrelated plan prices.