Edge requests

What it is. A count of requests handled at the edge. Billed per request rather than per byte, so a lot of small requests costs the same as a lot of large ones.

What counts — including the surprising ones.

• Every page view, and every asset on it.
• Redirects. A redirect is a request.
• 304 Not Modified responses. The browser sent a request; it counts.
• Middleware invocations, including on routes where the middleware does nothing.
• API polling from your own frontend.

That last group is why the number is often several times your page views.

How to reduce it.

1. Scope your middleware matcher. By default middleware may run on far more routes than you intend, including static assets. This is the most common avoidable cause.
2. Reduce client-side polling. A 5-second poll is 17,280 requests per user per day.
3. Longer cache lifetimes so browsers re-validate less often.
4. Collapse redirect chains — each hop is billable.