> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bizzyco.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Understanding Limits
> Learn how Bizzy enforces usage limits and what happens when you exceed them
Bizzy enforces three types of limits: resource limits (for creating objects),
consumable limits (for metered usage), and rate limits (for API and MCP
requests). This page explains how each type of limit works and what to expect as
you approach or exceed them.
## Types of Limits
### Resource Limits
Resource limits control how many of each resource type you can create:
* Businesses
* Seats (team members)
* Agents
* MCP Servers
* Automations
**Resource limits are hard limits.** When you reach the limit, you cannot create
additional resources until you upgrade your tier or delete existing resources.
### Consumable Limits
Consumable limits control your monthly usage of:
* LLM Tokens
* Email Sends
* SMS
* Voice Minutes
* Storage
**Consumable limits have flexible enforcement** with warning thresholds and a
grace period for paid tiers. Free tier has a hard cutoff at 100%.
### Rate Limits
Rate limits control how many API and MCP requests you can make **per minute**.
They are not monthly allowances: nothing accrues, nothing runs out, and
requests are never billed per call. See
[API and MCP Rate Limits](#api-and-mcp-rate-limits) below.
## Warning Thresholds
Bizzy monitors your consumable usage and sends notifications at key thresholds:
| Threshold | Level | What Happens |
| --------- | -------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| **90%** | Warning | Email and in-app banner alerting you to high usage |
| **100%** | Critical | Email and in-app modal; overage billing begins (paid tiers) |
| **110%** | Cutoff | Service paused until next billing cycle or upgrade |
Each threshold for a resource is evaluated as usage for that resource is
reported, so a warning arrives with the activity that crosses the threshold.
Each threshold notifies you once per billing period.
### Free Tier Warnings
When you approach your limits on the Free tier:
* **At 90%:** "You've used 90% of your monthly allowance. Upgrade to continue."
* **At 100%:** "You've reached your limit. Upgrade to Starter for more
capacity."
The Free tier has a **hard cutoff at 100%**. There is no grace period or
overage billing. Service is paused until your next billing cycle or you
upgrade.
### Paid Tier Warnings
When you approach your limits on paid tiers (Starter, Professional, Enterprise):
* **At 90%:** "You've used 90% of your monthly allowance. Overage billing will
apply beyond 100%."
* **At 100%:** "You've exceeded your allowance. Overage charges: \$X.XX. Consider
upgrading."
* **At 110%:** "You've reached the maximum overage limit. Service paused until
next billing cycle or upgrade."
Paid tiers have a **soft limit with a 10% overage allowance**. You can
continue using the service up to 110% of your monthly allowance, with
overage charges applying for usage between 100% and 110%. At 110%, service
is paused until you purchase more credits or your billing cycle resets.
## Viewing Your Usage
You can monitor your usage at any time from the usage dashboard in your account
settings. The dashboard shows:
* Current usage for all consumables
* API and MCP request counts for the period, alongside your rate limits
* Remaining allowance for the billing period
* Progress bars indicating usage percentage
* Days until your allowances reset
* Historical usage trends
To access your usage dashboard:
1. Go to your account settings
2. Select **Usage** from the sidebar
3. View your current period usage and resource capacity
## What Happens When Limits Are Exceeded
### Resource Limits
When you reach a resource limit:
* You cannot create new resources of that type
* Existing resources continue to work normally
* You see an error message explaining the limit
* You're prompted to upgrade or delete existing resources
### Consumable Limits (Free Tier)
When you reach 100% on the Free tier:
* The affected service is paused immediately
* Existing data is preserved
* You can still access your account and view data
* AI features (agents, automations) that consume tokens are disabled
* API and MCP requests keep working — they are rate limited, not metered
### Consumable Limits (Paid Tiers)
When you exceed your allowance on paid tiers:
1. **100% - 110%:** Overage billing applies, service continues
2. **At 110%:** Service is paused
3. You receive email notifications at each threshold
4. Service resumes when:
* You purchase additional credits
* Your billing cycle resets
* You upgrade to a higher tier
## Managing High Usage
Check your usage dashboard regularly, especially during high-activity periods. Set up internal alerts when you approach 80% of your limits.
If you anticipate high usage, purchase credits in advance. Credits can be
used immediately and carry over between billing cycles.
Review your agents and automations for opportunities to reduce token
consumption. Shorter prompts and more efficient workflows can significantly
reduce usage.
If you consistently exceed your limits, upgrading to a higher tier is often more cost-effective than paying overage charges. Compare the cost of overages against the higher tier pricing.
## Limit Reset
* **Monthly allowances** reset on your billing cycle anniversary date
* **Resource limits** do not reset; they are permanent caps
* **Credit balances** do not expire and carry over between periods
Your billing cycle anniversary is the day you started your subscription. For
example, if you subscribed on the 15th, your allowances reset on the 15th of
each month.
## Upgrading to Increase Limits
When you upgrade your subscription:
* New resource limits take effect immediately
* New consumable allowances are prorated for the current period
* You're charged a prorated amount for the upgrade
* Any existing overage usage is resolved with the new higher limits
## API and MCP Rate Limits
Rate limits work differently from consumable limits. Consumable limits track
your total monthly usage; rate limits control how many requests you can make per
minute. API and MCP access is included on every tier, including Free, and what
scales with your tier is the request rate.
| Service | Free | Starter | Professional | Enterprise |
| ---------------- | ---- | ------- | ------------ | ---------- |
| **API requests** | 10 | 60 | 300 | 1,000 |
| **MCP requests** | 10 | 30 | 100 | 300 |
Rates are per minute. API and MCP have independent allowances, so heavy API
traffic never consumes your MCP capacity.
### How Rate Limits Work
* **Continuous refill:** Your allowance refills steadily rather than resetting
on a fixed minute boundary. A Free-tier account regains roughly one request
every six seconds; a Professional one regains five per second
* **429 responses:** When you exceed your API rate limit, requests return a
`429 Too Many Requests` error; MCP tool calls return a JSON-RPC rate-limit
error
* **No metering, no overage billing:** Requests are not counted against a
monthly allowance, and exceeding a rate limit never incurs a charge or draws
on credits. Your request rate is set by your tier — there is no top-up that
raises it, so upgrade the tier instead
* **Automatic recovery:** Wait for the allowance to refill and your requests
succeed again — there is nothing to purchase or reset
Your current rate limits are shown on the billing page under **Request Rate
Limits**. If your integration needs a higher request rate, upgrade your tier
or contact support to discuss your use case.
## Downgrade Behavior
When you downgrade to a tier with lower limits, your existing resources are
preserved but anything over the new caps is **soft-disabled** — paused, not
deleted.
### What Happens to Excess Resources
* **Nothing is deleted:** Your existing agents, automations, and other resources
remain intact with all their configuration
* **Newest first:** The most recently created items are disabled first; the
organization owner is never disabled
* **Creation blocked:** You cannot create new resources of that type until
you're under the limit
* **One-click re-activation:** Upgrade again (or remove other items to get under
the cap) and you can re-activate a disabled item from its page — Bizzy
verifies you're within the limit before re-enabling it
### Examples
| Scenario | Result |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Professional (50 agents) → Starter (10 agents) with 25 agents | The 15 newest agents are paused until re-activated |
| Professional (100 automations) → Starter (25) with 40 automations | The 15 newest automations are paused |
| Starter (3 seats) → Free (1 seat) with 3 members | The 2 newest non-owner members are disabled until you're back under the cap |
### Consumable Allowances on Downgrade
* New consumable limits take effect at the start of your next billing cycle
* Current period usage is not affected
* If you've already exceeded the new tier's limit, overage billing continues
until cycle reset
Plan your downgrade carefully. Decide in advance which agents and
automations matter most — the newest ones are paused first.
Compare tier features and limits
View pricing and consumable allowances