March is a big one. We rebuilt how SheetMagic tracks your usage from scratch. And we added web search to Claude, so your AI formulas can pull live info from the internet. Here's what changed and why you'll care.
License-based quota management: your numbers finally make sense
Before this update, SheetMagic tracked all your usage in one big bucket. If you had two licenses (say, one for your agency and one for a client project), everything got mixed together. Seat users saw totals that didn't match what they could actually use. It was confusing. And honestly, it wasn't fair to you.
We fixed that. Usage is now tracked per license.
What changed
If you have multiple licenses, each one now has its own separate quota pool. Got a Team plan and a Solo plan? Each license tracks its own AI tokens and integration credits. They don't mix. You can see exactly how much is left on each one.
If you're a seat user, you now see the quota for the specific license you're on. Not some big combined number from across the whole organization. Just the tokens that are actually available to you.
Quota resets happen independently for each license based on its own billing cycle. A Team plan renewing on the 15th won't affect a Solo plan renewing on the 1st.
Why this matters
The old system caused real problems. A team lead with two licenses might see "25 million tokens remaining." But maybe one license had 20 million left and the other had 5 million. A seat user on that second license would see the same 25 million number and think they had way more capacity than they really did. That led to bad decisions about purchasing credit packs or changing plans.
Per-license tracking fixes all of that. Every number you see now matches what's actually available on the license you're using.
What you'll notice
In the Google Sheets add-on: The usage display shows the quota for your specific license. If you're a seat user, you see your assigned license's remaining balance. If you own multiple licenses, you see the one tied to the current sheet.
In the dashboard: The usage overview at dashboard.sheetmagic.ai shows a per-license breakdown when you have more than one. Each license shows its own remaining AI tokens and integration credits, plus usage trends over time.
If you're a seat user and your usage numbers look different from before, that's expected. You're now seeing your actual available quota on your assigned license. Not a combined total from across all licenses in the organization.
Credit packs
One-time credit packs still work the same way. When you buy extra tokens or integration credits from the dashboard, they get added to your account. They're used after your license's monthly quota runs out. Credit packs are good for 365 days from purchase and get used oldest-first.
Technical details for power users
The migration is fully backward-compatible. All your existing quota balances carried over accurately. The main database change: remaining_ai_tokens and remaining_integration_credits now live on the license record instead of the user subscription record. All quota checks and usage recording resolve to the correct license automatically. That includes seat users who inherit their owner's license.
If you're using the SheetMagic API or building automations around usage data, nothing changes on your end. The system figures out the right license internally.
Claude web search: live internet data in your AI formulas
SheetMagic's AI formulas (=AITEXT(), =AILIST(), =AIIMAGE(), and others) are great for generating, analyzing, and transforming text. But until now, they only knew what the AI model was trained on. Ask about a company's latest funding round or a product that launched last week, and the model could only guess.
Claude web search changes that. When you turn it on, Claude searches the internet in real time and brings current, sourced information into your formulas.
How it works
Pass TRUE as the third argument to =AITEXT(). The AI model will search the web, read the results, and include that info in its response.
For example:
=AITEXT("What is the current market cap of Apple Inc?", , TRUE)
Without TRUE, you'd get an outdated figure based on the model's training data. With web search on, Claude looks it up and gives you a current answer. Web search works with Claude, OpenAI, and Perplexity models.
Practical use cases
Market research. Pull current pricing, company info, or competitive data right into your spreadsheet. Ask about recent product launches, funding rounds, or leadership changes and get answers based on what's on the web right now.
=AITEXT("Who is the current CEO of " & A2 & " and when did they start?", , TRUE)
Content enrichment. Got a list of companies, products, or topics in column A? Use AI formulas with web search to fill in each row with live data. Things like descriptions, founding dates, headquarters, and recent news.
=AITEXT("List the 3 most recent funding rounds for " & A2 & ". Format each as: Date | Amount | Lead Investor. One round per line.")
Fact checking. Cross-reference claims, statistics, or quotes against current web sources. Great for journalism, research, and due diligence work.
SEO and content workflows. Get current search trends, check what's ranking for specific queries, or research topics with up-to-date information instead of stale training data.
What web search costs
Web search queries use AI tokens just like any other formula call. The token cost is a bit higher than a normal query because the model processes search results on top of generating the response. There's no separate charge for the search itself. It's included in your normal token usage.
Claude web search is available on all plans that include platform AI keys: Free (within the 1K token starter allowance), Solo, Team, and Business. BYOK users on paid plans can also use web search with their own Claude API key. Visit pricing for plan details.
Tips for getting the best results
Be specific about what "current" means. Instead of "latest news about Tesla," try "Tesla news from March 2026." That helps the model find the right timeframe.
Combine with cell references for bulk enrichment. The real magic is using web search across hundreds of rows. A formula like =AITEXT("What does " & A2 & " do and how many employees do they have?", , TRUE) dragged down a column of company names will search and return current data for each one.
Use pipe-separated output for structured web data. When you want multiple fields from a web search, ask the AI to format results with | separators. Then use =SPLIT() to break them into clean columns.
What we're working on next
More AI model options. We're testing additional models for specific use cases. Faster models for simple extraction tasks, more capable models for complex analysis. The goal is to let you pick the right tool for the job.
Deeper formula capabilities. More control over output formatting, better handling of large datasets, and clearer error messages when formulas hit edge cases.
Better usage analytics. More detailed breakdowns of how your tokens and credits are being used. By formula type, by sheet, by time period. So you can see where everything goes and make smarter choices.
Try the new features today
If you're on any SheetMagic plan, these updates are live right now. The license-based quota system is already active. Check your dashboard to see the per-license breakdown. Claude web search is on and ready to use in any AI formula.
You can try all of this on the free tier. No credit card needed. Use =AITEXT() with a question that needs current info and see the difference. When you want more capacity, paid plans start at $19/month. Visit pricing for details.
If you're new to SheetMagic, start with the getting started guide to install the add-on and run your first formula in under two minutes.