What happens when I exceed my chat quota?
When your chat volume exceeds the plan limit
Short version: your account is never locked and there are no extra charges. Once the AI quota is used up, the bot pauses and your team takes over. Once the conversation quota is used up, new visitors see a contact form instead of the chat.
Two AI limits, not one
Your plan names a number of AI conversations per month. Because a single conversation can run arbitrarily long, a fair-use budget also caps the total volume. The bot pauses as soon as either limit is reached — which one comes first depends on how long your conversations run.
| Limit | What it counts | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| AI conversations | distinct conversations with a bot reply | with very many short conversations |
| Fair use | total AI usage in the month | with few, very long conversations |
The fair-use budget is sized so that it does not apply to conversations of typical length. Importing your knowledge base also counts towards it, not only the chats. The rule is in section 4(4) of our terms.
Thresholds + behaviour
| Usage | What happens |
|---|---|
| 80% | Notice under Analytics → Usage, email to the workspace owner |
| 100% | Bot pauses, every conversation goes straight to agents, second email |
| new month | Bot switches back on automatically |
Both AI limits share these thresholds. The email says which of the two applies.
What keeps running while the AI pauses
- Live chat between visitor and agent: yes, as long as the conversation quota lasts (see below)
- Email channel: yes
- Tickets: yes
- Knowledge base: yes
- Webhooks: yes
- AI chatbot: no — paused until upgrade or the next billing period
The conversation quota
Independent of the AI, your plan caps the number of conversations per month — with or without the bot. Once it is used up:
| Who | What happens |
|---|---|
| new visitors | see a contact form instead of the chat; the request reaches you by email and uses no quota |
| visitors with an ongoing conversation | keep writing as usual — messages in existing conversations do not count |
| new month | new visitors can chat again |
There is no advance email warning for the conversation quota.
Upgrade any time
Settings → Billing → "Change plan". Prorated, takes effect immediately. You can also upgrade temporarily and step back down later.