---
title: Traffic
description: Traffic measures the data Storyblok sends to your applications and visitors. Learn what counts toward your plan’s quota and how to reduce it.
url: https://www.storyblok.com/docs/concepts/traffic
---

# Traffic

Traffic measures the volume of data Storyblok sends out, counted in bytes. A single large response consumes more traffic than multiple small ones, so payload size matters as much as request volume.

## What counts as traffic

The following outgoing data counts toward a plan’s traffic quota:

-   [Content Delivery API](/docs/api/content-delivery/v2) responses (cached or not).
-   [Management API](/docs/api/management) responses.
-   [Asset](/docs/concepts/assets) delivery, including every variation that the [Image Service](/docs/api/image-service) generates (cached or not).
-   [GraphQL API](/docs/api/graphql) responses.
-   [Webhook](/docs/concepts/webhooks) payloads.

To check a space’s actual consumption, open the [space dashboard](/docs/manuals/space-dashboard#consumption-metrics).

## How to reduce traffic

Reducing payload size lowers traffic and improves page performance at the same time:

-   Request only the fields you render. Use the stories endpoint’s `excluding_fields` to omit content fields and `excluding_story_fields` to omit top-level story properties.
-   Request only the stories you need. Fetch relevant stories with [filter queries](/docs/api/content-delivery/v2/filter-queries) instead of filtering the response in the frontend.
-   Serve large static files, such as videos, from your own host, where bandwidth may cost less.
-   Follow the [caching concept](/docs/concepts/caching) and optimize content fetching. Pass the `cv` value the API returns instead of a `Date.now()`. A timestamp bypasses the CDN cache and sends every request to the backend.
-   Serve optimized assets with the [Image Service](/docs/api/image-service/). Append `/m/` to an image URL to deliver it in WebP format, specify the explicit dimensions, and apply other transformations.

## Related resources

[Developer Concept: Caching](/docs/concepts/caching)

[Technical Limits](https://www.storyblok.com/pricing/technical-limits)

## Pagination

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