Multi-queries cannot be attributed to a single index. As a result they are not visible as Search Requests in the index-specific stats section of your Algolia dashboard.
They are counted in Search Operations.
How the two counters apply
A Search Request is the network call. A Search Operation is an individual sub-query within that call. Because one request can contain operations targeting several different indices, you cannot sum per-index operations to arrive at your total number of requests.
For example, consider a multi-query containing three sub-queries:
-
2 sub-queries targeting the
productsindex -
1 sub-query targeting the
categoriesindex
This counts as one Search Request but includes three Search Operations, two for products and one for categories.
Which number am I charged for?
On plans sold since March 2023, including Grow, you are billed for the one search request, not the three operations.
This is why bundling queries into a single multi-query call reduces cost: three separate calls would be billed as three requests, whereas bundling them is billed as one. The inverse also holds, and catches people out: reducing the number of sub-queries inside an existing bundle lowers your operation count but not your request count, so on its own it won't reduce your bill.
Some legacy plans are billed on operations instead, in which case each sub-query does count. See How Algolia counts search requests, operations, and records to identify which applies to your plan.
Where to see multi-query traffic
Because multi-queries can't be attributed to one index, look at them at the application level rather than the index level:
- Dashboard: API Monitoring > Usage aggregates across all indices, so multi-query requests are included in the Search requests figure there.
-
Usage API:
total_search_requestsfor the billable count,total_search_operationsfor the sub-query count. See the Usage API reference. -
Browser developer tools: in the Network tab, a call to
queriesis a bundled multi-query request; a call toquerytargets a single index.