Types of Limits
Resource Limits
Resource limits control how many of each resource type you can create:- Organizations
- Seats (team members)
- MCP Servers
- Agents
- Automations
Consumable Limits
Consumable limits control your monthly usage of:- LLM Tokens
- API Calls
- MCP Calls
Warning Thresholds
ShingleAI 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 |
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, Pro, 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
- Remaining allowance for the billing period
- Progress bars indicating usage percentage
- Days until your allowances reset
- Historical usage trends
- Go to your account settings
- Select Usage from the sidebar
- 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 calls return a 429 error with upgrade instructions
Consumable Limits (Paid Tiers)
When you exceed your allowance on paid tiers:- 100% - 110%: Overage billing applies, service continues
- At 110%: Service is paused
- You receive email notifications at each threshold
- Service resumes when:
- You purchase additional credits
- Your billing cycle resets
- You upgrade to a higher tier
Managing High Usage
Monitor usage proactively
Monitor usage proactively
Check your usage dashboard regularly, especially during high-activity periods. Set up internal alerts when you approach 80% of your limits.
Purchase credits before hitting limits
Purchase credits before hitting limits
If you anticipate high usage, purchase credits in advance. Credits can be used immediately and carry over between billing cycles.
Optimize agent and automation efficiency
Optimize agent and automation efficiency
Review your agents and automations for opportunities to reduce token consumption. Shorter prompts and more efficient workflows can significantly reduce usage.
Consider upgrading your tier
Consider upgrading your tier
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 Rate Limit Enforcement
API rate limits work differently from consumable limits. While consumable limits track your total monthly usage, rate limits control how many requests you can make per minute.| Tier | Requests per Minute |
|---|---|
| Free | 10 |
| Starter | 30 |
| Pro | 100 |
| Enterprise | Custom |
How Rate Limits Work
- Per-minute window: Rate limits reset every minute
- 429 responses: When you exceed your rate limit, API requests return a
429 Too Many Requestserror - No overage billing: Unlike consumable limits, exceeding rate limits does not incur additional charges
- Automatic recovery: Simply wait for the next minute window and your requests will succeed again
If you consistently hit rate limits, consider upgrading to a higher tier for increased capacity. Enterprise tier offers custom rate limits tailored to your needs.
Downgrade Behavior
When you downgrade to a tier with lower limits, your existing resources are preserved but may become restricted.What Happens to Excess Resources
- Resources are not deleted: Your existing organizations, agents, automations, and other resources remain intact
- Read-only access: Excess resources become read-only - you can view and use them but cannot modify them
- Creation blocked: You cannot create new resources of that type until you’re under the limit
- Deletion required: To regain full access, delete excess resources until you’re within your new tier’s limits
Examples
| Scenario | Result |
|---|---|
| Pro (10 orgs) → Starter (3 orgs) with 5 orgs | 2 orgs become read-only until you delete them |
| Pro (50 agents) → Starter (10 agents) with 25 agents | 15 agents become read-only |
| Starter → Free with 5 seats | 2 seats must be removed before adding new members |
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. Consider archiving or exporting data from resources you’ll need to delete.