Choose the delay you can usefully act on.
A check interval is the time you ask PageFluxer to leave between checks. It is not an alert delivery deadline. A check must reach the page, capture the selected content, match the rule and send the result through your notification settings.
Start with two questions: how long might the change remain visible, and when would you act on it? A daily review of a durable announcement can use a slower interval than a brief registration opening. If a page changes and returns to its earlier state between successful checks, the intermediate version may never be captured.
| Decision | A starting schedule | What to review |
|---|---|---|
| Read an organization's weekly announcements | Daily | Does each announcement stay in the selected list long enough to be captured? |
| Review a public policy paragraph | Every 6–24 hours | Do your review obligations require another source or a different process? |
| Compare a permitted product offer against a budget | Hourly | Is the exact offer stable, and would you act when the email arrives? |
| Follow a short-lived opening | A shorter permitted interval, where supported | Does the publisher offer an official notification? Could the opening disappear between checks anyway? |
Respect the source’s access conditions and rate limits. A plan’s minimum interval does not override the publisher’s requirements or guarantee suitability for urgent decisions.
Turn the schedule into a check budget.
For pages using the same interval, estimate one month as page count × round up(month days × 1,440 ÷ interval minutes). For different intervals, calculate each group separately and add the results. This assumes uninterrupted scheduling for a full month; it is not your current remaining allowance.
| Interval | 28-day month | 30-day month | 31-day month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly | 2,016 | 2,160 | 2,232 |
| Every 6 hours | 336 | 360 | 372 |
| Daily | 84 | 90 | 93 |
Free includes 2,500 HTML / PDF checks per calendar month, with 3 Cloud slots and a minimum HTML interval of 60 minutes. Three hourly pages in a 31-day month leave 268 checks before retries and other usage. You do not need to use that entire budget: daily monitoring may already answer the question.
Try the Free check-budget calculator, then compare the estimate with your actual workspace usage. Failed scheduled attempts and retries count. Pauses, source backoff, capacity limits and late checks can reduce completed checks. At a Cloud allowance limit, checks wait for a reset or an eligible upgrade.
Cloud usage resets on the first of the calendar month at 00:00 UTC. Unused checks do not roll over, and a plan change does not erase usage. Previews, email and retained storage have separate limits.
Keep Cloud HTML, Browser and Local separate.
Cloud HTML and PDF share a check allowance. A PDF monitor follows readable document text and has its own active-monitor limit. Cloud Browser uses a separate allowance; visual checks and recorded page preparation use Browser capacity. Free’s one-time Browser trial is not a recurring monthly allocation.
Local runs in your Chrome profile and does not use Cloud check credits. The extension checks pages one at a time while Chrome runs on an awake desktop. Upload, saved-monitor and browser limits still apply; status updates for unchanged pages do not consume the capture-upload allowance. Do not compare the Local upload cap with a count of every scheduled browser check.
Use the usage reference for Cloud and Local documentation for browser limits. The computer-off explanation helps you choose where the checks should run.
Separate check frequency from interruptions.
An hourly email digest does not make your monitor check hourly. A daily digest can group changes found by more frequent checks. Choose the check interval around what you need to capture, then choose an available email schedule around when you want to read it.
Snoozing change alerts keeps checks and history running, so it does not save check credits. It resumes without a catch-up burst. Pausing stops new scheduled monitoring; an in-flight check may already have started. Neither action recovers changes that were never captured.
Review the schedule after real checks.
Confirm the capture and baseline.
Use the method that will run the monitor. Check that the value, list or passage you need appears in the saved capture.
Choose a supported interval.
Set it during setup or edit the monitor. Owners and admins can change Cloud intervals in bulk. Edit Local frequency in the connected Chrome extension.
Review successful checks and useful alerts.
After several runs, compare the last successful capture, actual usage and whether the updates led to action. An active status alone is not evidence of a fresh capture.
Adjust one thing at a time.
Change the interval when the timing needs change. A bulk Cloud frequency edit preserves the currently scheduled next check; the new interval applies after that check finishes. Keep the rule unchanged while assessing timing.