Check Intervals

The check interval controls how often FreshGuard runs a rule against your database. Shorter intervals mean faster detection but more frequent queries.

Available Intervals

Interval	Free	Starter	Professional	Enterprise
Every 5 minutes	—	—	—	Yes
Every 10 minutes	—	—	Yes	Yes
Every 15 minutes	—	—	Yes	Yes
Every 30 minutes	—	—	Yes	Yes
Every hour	—	Yes	Yes	Yes
Every 2 hours	—	Yes	Yes	Yes
Every 6 hours	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Every 12 hours	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Daily	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

How Intervals Are Gated

In the rule creation form, all interval options are visible regardless of your plan. Options that require a higher tier are disabled and display a badge showing which plan unlocks them (e.g. “Starter”, “Professional”).

This lets you see what’s available as you grow, without hiding options behind a paywall.

Choosing the Right Interval

Match the interval to your pipeline’s update frequency and your tolerance for detection delay:

• Real-time streams — 5–10 minute intervals (Professional/Enterprise) paired with a short freshness tolerance.
• Hourly pipelines — 1-hour interval (Starter+) is usually sufficient.
• Daily batch loads — 6-hour or 12-hour intervals (Free) work well since there’s no benefit to checking more often than the data loads.

Rule of Thumb

Set the check interval to roughly half your freshness tolerance. If your tolerance is 2 hours, a 1-hour check interval ensures you detect staleness within one interval after it starts.

Daily Check Budget

Each plan includes a daily check budget shared across all your rules:

Plan	Checks per Day
Free	500
Starter	3,000
Professional	15,000
Enterprise	Unlimited

Each time a rule runs a check, it counts as one check against your daily budget. If you exhaust your budget, checks will resume the next day.