Exceeding your monthly message limit

What happens when you go over your monthly message limit depends on your plan.

​

Starter and Lite plans

On Starter and Lite plans, exceeding your monthly message limit triggers a graduated service degradation:

1. First overage — an email is sent to all console super users warning that the limit has been exceeded and that service may be suspended unless the plan is upgraded.
2. Second billing run in overage — MailChannels begins rejecting 20% of SMTP connections with a temporary failure error. Your mail server will retry these connections automatically, so no email is permanently lost. Retried messages are not counted toward your total. A second warning email is sent.
3. Third billing run — 40% of SMTP connections are rejected.
4. Fourth billing run — 80% of SMTP connections are rejected.
5. Fifth billing run — the account is temporarily suspended. A warning email is sent at each stage.

​

Standard plan and above

On Standard plans and higher, mail continues to flow after you exceed your monthly allotment. Additional messages beyond your plan limit are billed at the corresponding rate per thousand messages. To avoid unexpected overage charges, consider upgrading your plan before you reach your limit. See Change your plan for instructions.