Usage Policy

Usage Policy Explained

Understanding internal use, redistribution, and fair usage.

Whether you're building an internal trading system, a customer-facing application, or a commercial data platform, it's important to understand how CoinAPI data can be used.

Find practical explanations of common licensing and usage questions. For legally binding terms, refer to the Customer Agreement and Acceptable Usage Policy.

Planning a customer-facing product? Discuss your use case with our team before launch.

Read the Customer Agreement

Internal use guidance

Redistribution licensing

Fair and acceptable usage

Clear subscription limits

Internal Use vs Redistribution

One of the most common questions we receive is whether an application qualifies as internal use or redistribution.

In general, internal use means CoinAPI data is used within your own organization or application to support your business operations.

Redistribution means CoinAPI data is made available to third parties, whether directly or indirectly.

What Is Internal Use?

Internal use generally means your organization uses CoinAPI data to operate its own systems without making the underlying market data available to external users.

Common examples include:

Internal trading platforms
Portfolio management systems
Market surveillance
Quantitative research
Machine learning and AI models
Risk management
Internal dashboards and reporting
Analytics platforms used only within your organization

These types of applications typically consume CoinAPI data to support internal decision-making rather than redistributing the data itself.

What Is Redistribution?

Redistribution generally means making CoinAPI data available to anyone outside your own organization.

Examples may include:

Customer-facing dashboards
Public APIs
Trading terminals
White-label platforms
Market data widgets
Selling or licensing datasets
Reselling API access
Data distribution services

If your customers or users can directly access CoinAPI market data, a redistribution agreement may be required.

What Is Usually Allowed?

Common internal-use scenarios.

These examples typically consume CoinAPI data to support internal decision-making rather than redistributing the data itself.

Example	Typical internal use
Internal trading systems	Allowed
Quantitative research	Allowed
Portfolio management	Allowed
Risk management	Allowed

Example	Typical internal use
Internal dashboards	Allowed
AI and machine learning	Allowed
Market surveillance	Allowed
Business intelligence and reporting	Allowed

What Is Not Usually Allowed?

Activities that require additional licensing or authorization.

If you're planning a customer-facing product, marketplace, exchange, or commercial data platform, discuss the project with our team before launch.

Example	Typical outcome
Selling CoinAPI market data	Not permitted
Operating a public market data API	Not permitted
Redistributing raw or normalized market data	Not permitted
Reselling CoinAPI services	Not permitted without authorization
Sharing API keys between organizations	Not permitted
Using CoinAPI as the backend for another commercial data service	Contact Sales

Fair & Acceptable Usage

Use the platform for legitimate production workloads.

CoinAPI is designed for legitimate production workloads across trading, analytics, AI, financial services, and enterprise applications.

Most customers will never encounter usage issues. However, to maintain reliable service for everyone, some activities are not considered acceptable use.

Do not resell CoinAPI services without authorization.
Do not use the platform for purposes unrelated to legitimate application development or operation.
Do not attempt to disrupt, abuse, or interfere with CoinAPI services.
Do not share credentials or API keys.
Do not circumvent subscription limits or technical restrictions.
Do not run workloads clearly inconsistent with normal usage for the subscribed plan.

If unusual or excessive usage is detected, our team will typically contact you first to understand the workload and recommend the appropriate solution.

Usage Limits

Scale with limits appropriate for your subscription.

Every CoinAPI subscription includes usage limits appropriate for the selected plan. Depending on the product, these may include API requests, data transfer, concurrent connections, or other service-specific limits.

API requestsRequest limits appropriate for your plan.

Data transferTransfer capacity for your workload.

ConnectionsConcurrent connection limits by product.

If your application consistently exceeds its limits, we'll contact you to discuss a plan better suited to your workload. Our goal is to help customers scale successfully while maintaining reliable service for everyone.

What Happens if I Exceed My Plan?

In most situations, exceeding your subscription limits does not immediately result in service suspension.

1We identify unusual or excessive usage.
2We contact you to better understand your workload.
3We recommend configuration changes or a more appropriate subscription where necessary.
4If excessive or unauthorized usage continues after notification, access may be limited or suspended under the Customer Agreement and Acceptable Usage Policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I build an internal trading platform?

Yes. Internal trading systems are generally considered internal use.

Can I train AI or machine learning models using CoinAPI data?

Internal AI, analytics, and research workflows are generally considered internal use. If your AI product redistributes market data to third parties, additional licensing may be required.

Can I display cryptocurrency prices to my customers?

It depends. Displaying CoinAPI market data to external users may be considered redistribution. If your application is customer-facing, contact us to discuss the appropriate licensing model.

Can I resell CoinAPI data?

Not under a standard subscription. Reselling or redistributing CoinAPI market data generally requires a separate agreement.

What if I'm not sure whether my application is internal use or redistribution?

Ask us. We're happy to review your use case and help determine the appropriate licensing model before you launch.

Still Unsure?

Every application is different. If you're building a trading platform, customer-facing application, AI service, analytics product, exchange, or data platform and you're unsure how the licensing applies, we're happy to help.

Our team can review your use case, explain the available licensing options, and help you choose the agreement that best fits your application before you go live.