> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.9pic.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Fair Usage Policy
> What counts as fair use of 9Pic, how photo search is reviewed, and how to request higher limits for large events.
## Overview
9Pic is built for genuine event organisers who run real events for real participants. Our search limits and anti-abuse protections are designed around that use. This page explains what we consider fair use, how search activity is reviewed, and what to do if your event needs more headroom.
This is a product-side fair usage page. The full legal terms — including ownership, biometric consent, and account suspension grounds — live in the [9Pic Terms and Conditions](https://9pic.ai/terms-and-conditions/). Where this page and the terms disagree, the terms apply.
## Who This Applies To
This policy applies to every 9Pic plan:
| Plan | Where it lives | Fair use focus |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Trial** | `trial.9pic.ai` (shared, rate-limited) | Internal evaluation only — no real participant traffic. |
| **Pay As You Go** | `app.9pic.ai` | Normal production search and upload patterns. |
| **Pro** | `app.9pic.ai` or your custom subdomain | Annual plan, normal production limits. |
| **Enterprise** | `app.9pic.ai` or your custom subdomain | Custom limits agreed in your contract. |
If you are unsure which plan you are on, contact support with your organisation name and we can confirm the correct limits for your account.
## What Counts as Fair Use
You are using 9Pic within fair use when you:
* **Run real events you organise.** Upload photos from races, weddings, conferences, or similar events you have permission to photograph and distribute.
* **Let your participants search for their own photos.** Selfie search ([9Pic FaceFind](https://9pic.ai/products/9pic-facefind/)), BIB search ([9Pic BibTrack](https://9pic.ai/products/9pic-bibtrack/)), and gallery browsing at event-day volume are exactly what 9Pic is built for.
* **Share event links with the people who attended.** This includes posting the event URL in your post-event email, on your race results page, on participant WhatsApp groups, or social channels.
* **Create teammate accounts** through [Team](/dashboard-guide/team) instead of sharing one login.
* **Integrate via the [9Pic API](/api-reference)** with the recommended `request_id` reuse pattern, so a single selfie powers pagination, sharing, and follow-up calls without re-running face matching.
## Photo Search Fair Usage
9Pic does not charge organisers for participant searches. When a participant searches by selfie or BIB number on your public event page, that search does **not** create an additional charge.
Our fair-use expectation is based on normal event photography patterns:
| Example event pattern | What we expect |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **3,000 processed photos** | Around **1,000 participant face searches** is normal, assuming each participant appears in roughly **3 or more photos**. |
| **Higher photos per participant** | Even more search activity is usually expected and treated as normal event traffic. |
| **Lower photos per participant** | This can still be legitimate. We review the wider account history before taking action. |
**9Pic BibTrack does not use the face-search fair-use ratio.** There is no fixed BIB search limit for normal event-day traffic. Participants can keep searching by BIB number, and high BIB search activity on a genuine event is not a problem by itself.
This is an operational fair-use guideline, not a hard cutoff. Many real events average **4-5 or more photos per participant**, so genuine organisers rarely come close to looking abusive.
When search traffic looks unusual, our system reviews patterns across the account and the organisations connected to it. If we see repeated alerts that suggest abuse, we flag the organiser and work with them to understand the event, adjust the setup, or reduce automated traffic. In our operating history, we have not seen genuine organisers flagged by this check when they were running normal participant search for real events.
## Trial Domain Anti-Abuse
The trial domain (`trial.9pic.ai`) is a **shared evaluation surface**, not a per-organiser website. It is intentionally rate-limited.
**Do not share trial event links with real participants or customers.** They will be blocked by anti-abuse. The trial event link is for **internal evaluation only** — you, your teammates, and people inside your organisation.
When you upgrade to Pay As You Go, Pro, or Enterprise, your organisation moves from `trial.9pic.ai` to `app.9pic.ai` (or your custom subdomain) and the rate limits drop to normal production levels. From that moment, your event link is safe to share with real participants.
For the full trial domain rules, see [Trial Guide → What's Included](/trial-guide/whats-included) and [Trial Guide → Share with Team](/trial-guide/share-with-team).
## API Fair Use
If you integrate with the [9Pic API](/api-reference), the same fair use principles apply.
* **Reuse `request_id` for selfie searches.** Selfie-driven endpoints follow a POST-once / GET-many pattern. Reusing the `request_id` keeps your traffic on cached `GET` calls instead of repeated face-matching calls. See [Face Search](/api-reference/face-search) and [API Conventions](/api-reference/conventions) for the full pattern.
* **Cache event and photo listings on your side** when you can, instead of polling them at high frequency.
* **Stay on approved hosts.** Production API calls must come from hosts on the 9Pic allowlist. Talk to [support](/dashboard-guide/contact-support) if you need an additional host enabled.
* **Respect the documented page sizes.** Defaults and maximums are listed on each endpoint page (most listings cap at `100`).
For API integrations, search throughput is rate-limited so systems stay stable during large events. The lower FaceFind limit applies only when you start a **fresh face search** with a new selfie. Once you have a `request_id`, fetching cached results with `GET /faces/{request_id}` follows the same throughput class as BIB search.
| API search type | Rate limit | Per-minute equivalent |
| ---------------------------------------------- | --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| **Fresh Face Search / 9Pic FaceFind** | **50 requests per second** | Up to **3,000 fresh searches per minute** |
| **Cached Face Search results by `request_id`** | **200 requests per second** | Up to **12,000 result fetches per minute** |
| **BIB Search / 9Pic BibTrack** | **200 requests per second** | Up to **12,000 searches per minute** |
The fresh FaceFind limit is already enough to search about **3,000 users per minute**, so even customer events with **20,000+ participants** are easily managed at this scale. Pagination, sharing, and repeated result reads should use the returned `request_id`, which keeps those follow-up calls in the higher cached-results throughput class. BibTrack has the higher API allowance and is not subject to the face-search fair-use ratio described above. If you keep hitting these limits during legitimate integration work, [contact support](/dashboard-guide/contact-support) so we can help you size the event correctly.
## Things You Cannot Do
These uses fall outside fair use and are not allowed under either this policy or the [9Pic Terms and Conditions](https://9pic.ai/terms-and-conditions/) (Section 2.3 Acceptable Use):
* Violate any laws or regulations.
* Infringe on the rights of others.
* Upload malicious code or viruses.
* Attempt to gain unauthorised access to 9Pic systems or other organisations' data.
* Use 9Pic to harass, abuse, or harm others.
* Use facial recognition features to identify people without their consent.
* Run scrapers or automated bots against the participant gallery, event pages, or search endpoints to bulk-export photos belonging to other organisations.
* Resell or redistribute another organisation's event photos without their permission.
* Share trial event links with real participants or customers to bypass paid plans.
* Share a single 9Pic account between teammates instead of using [Team](/dashboard-guide/team) invitations.
## What Happens If Usage Goes Beyond Fair Use
If your usage looks abusive or significantly exceeds normal event traffic, our anti-abuse system steps in. We try to be helpful first.
| Stage | What you see |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **1. Alert review** | We compare the event activity with normal event patterns and the wider account history. |
| **2. Organiser flag** | If alerts repeat, the 9Pic team flags the organiser and explains what we are seeing. |
| **3. Mitigation** | We work with you to confirm the event context, adjust the setup, reduce automated traffic, or pre-provision capacity for a genuine large event. |
| **4. Temporary limits** | For repeated or clearly malicious activity, we may apply a temporary cap or suspend the affected feature, event, or organisation pending review. |
You can resolve a fair-use alert quickly by replying to the support email with the event ID and a short description of what you are running. For genuine large events we almost always lift the cap or pre-provision capacity.
## Need Higher Limits?
We size 9Pic generously for normal events and we don't publish hard per-plan ceilings, because real events vary a lot. If you are planning something out of the ordinary — a marathon with 50,000+ finishers, a multi-day sports festival, a corporate event with very fast post-event search demand, or a custom API integration with high read traffic — tell us **before** the event.
Click **Contact Support** in the dashboard sidebar. See the [Contact Support](/dashboard-guide/contact-support) guide.
Email [support@9pic.ai](mailto:support@9pic.ai) with the organisation name, event name or event ID, the event date, and an estimate of expected participants and photos.
Use **Book Demo Call** on the Contact Support page if you would like dedicated capacity, a custom domain, or an Enterprise plan.
## Common Questions
There is no published per-event photo cap on paid plans. 9Pic is built to handle large events at scale. If you are planning an event with more than **100,000 photos**, you do not need to contact us before uploading, but it can help: we can suggest the best upload setup and processing plan so the event finishes faster.
No. Participant searches by selfie or BIB number do not create additional charges for the organiser.
A normal event often has each participant appearing in 3 or more photos, so 3,000 processed photos would commonly support around 1,000 participant face searches. This is a guideline, not a hard limit. Some legitimate events have a lower photo-per-participant average, and we review account history before flagging anything.
No. 9Pic BibTrack is not measured against the face-search photo-to-participant guideline. Normal BIB search traffic is expected. API users still need to stay within the BIB Search throughput limit of 200 requests per second. Cached FaceFind result reads with `request_id` use the same throughput class.
On `app.9pic.ai` (Pay As You Go, Pro, Enterprise), search is sized for real event-day demand — large simultaneous traffic from your participants is exactly what the platform is built for. On `trial.9pic.ai`, search is intentionally rate-limited and real participant traffic will be blocked. See [Trial Guide → What's Included](/trial-guide/whats-included).
No. Trial events live on the shared `trial.9pic.ai` domain, which is rate-limited for anti-abuse. Real participant traffic gets blocked. Use the trial for internal evaluation only and [upgrade](/trial-guide/upgrade) before sharing with real participants.
That can still be legitimate. The 3-photo average is a practical guideline for normal event traffic, not a strict rule. We review the wider account history and talk to the organiser before treating unusual search patterns as abuse.
No, that violates fair use and the [9Pic Terms and Conditions](https://9pic.ai/terms-and-conditions/). Use [Download Original Photos](/api-reference/download-original-photos) for legitimate downloads from your own events. For bulk export of your own data, contact support.
Reply to the email with the organisation name, event ID, event date, and what you are running. Genuine event traffic is exactly what 9Pic is for; we will lift the cap or pre-provision capacity once we have the context.
## Related Guides
Email support, book a demo call, or open the documentation.
Review participant search settings for your event.
Why trial events live on a shared, rate-limited domain.
`request_id` reuse, host validation, and pagination rules for the 9Pic API.