FAQ

Product

Does MicroAuth sit in front of my API?

No. There is no proxy and no extra hop. The SDK runs inside your API and checks each request against a cached snapshot. Your traffic never passes through MicroAuth. See How MicroAuth works.

What happens if MicroAuth is down?

Keys already in the snapshot keep working, and usage is queued and sent once MicroAuth is back. With the default settings, the SDK serves known keys from a stale snapshot for up to 15 minutes before it answers 503. The FastAPI SDK guide explains how to tune that.

Which languages are supported?

There is an official SDK for FastAPI. Any other language can call the SDK API directly: three HTTP endpoints, documented in the HTTP API guide.

Can I use my own domain for the portal?

Yes, on the Growth and Scale plans. Add a CNAME and a TXT record, and the certificate is issued for you. See custom domains.

Can I remove the MicroAuth branding?

The portal always shows your name, logo and color. The small "Powered by MicroAuth" line goes away on the Scale plan. See branding.

Billing

How do I get paid?

Connect your Stripe account on the Payments tab. Customers pay you through Stripe Checkout, and MicroAuth adds their credit or starts their plan. The money goes straight to your Stripe account, and MicroAuth takes no cut.

Do I have to use Stripe?

No. Free APIs need no payment setup at all. If you bill another way, add credit from the customer's page or from your own system through the credits endpoint.

Why are prices in micro-USD?

Per request prices are often a fraction of a cent. Whole numbers of millionths of a dollar (1,000,000 is $1.00) keep every charge exact, with no rounding drift. The dashboard and portal show normal dollar amounts.

Which responses cost my customers money?

Responses with a billable status code, 200 to 206 by default. Change the list on the Pricing tab. Errors such as 404 or 500 count toward quotas but are never charged unless you add them.

What does MicroAuth cost?

Each API is on its own MicroAuth plan. Free covers 1,000,000 requests a month and up to 25 customers, and paid plans start at $49 a month. See microauth.com/pricing.

Customers

Is a customer a person or a company?

A customer is always a team. A solo developer is a team of one, and on the Scale plan a company can add teammates with their own roles. The balance, plan and usage belong to the team.

Can customers sign up on their own?

Yes, by default anyone can. Switch to Approval or Invite only on the Portal tab if you want to choose who gets in. See sign up modes.

Can I give one customer special terms?

Yes. Set a custom rate limit, price or monthly quota for that customer, or put them on a private plan. See customers and limits.

Can I try my API without signing up as a customer?

Yes. Every API has a test customer with a key on the Connect tab. It pays with test credit and doesn't count as a customer.

Security

What do you store about API keys?

Only a SHA-256 hash and a short prefix for display. Keys are shown once, when they are created. See Security and data.

Can I protect my account with two step verification?

Yes. Turn it on from Account. See two step verification.