> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.senderz.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Contact limits

> What counts as a marketable contact, the warning at 90 percent, automatic upgrades, and what parking means when you pass your tier.

Your plan is sized by contacts. This page explains which contacts count, what happens as you approach the limit, and what Senderz does when you pass it.

The short version: **passing your limit never freezes your workspace and never stops a campaign that is already running.** Only the newest contacts above the limit are held back from marketing.

## Marketable contacts, not total contacts

You will see two different contact numbers in Senderz, and they are meant to be different.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Contacts in your workspace" icon="address-book">
    Every contact you have stored. Storing them is free and there is no cap on
    it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Marketable contacts" icon="bullseye">
    The ones your plan is priced on. A contact is marketable when they are
    subscribed on **at least one** of email, SMS or web push.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

These do **not** count toward your plan:

* Contacts who never opted in to any channel.
* Contacts who unsubscribed from every channel.
* Deleted contacts.

<Info>
  A large gap between the two numbers is normal, not a bug. A store sync
  imports every customer, but only marks the ones whose marketing consent the
  store actually recorded. Ending up with tens of thousands of contacts and a
  few thousand marketable ones is an ordinary result of connecting a store.
</Info>

A contact who is subscribed on only one channel counts exactly the same as one subscribed on all three. There is no separate email limit and SMS limit.

## Where to see your usage

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="The account menu">
    Open your account menu in the sidebar. The meter shows **Contacts
    remaining**, a progress bar, and a line reading how many of your allowance
    are used. It turns red once you are over.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Settings → Plans & Billing">
    The current plan card shows marketable contacts against your limit, with a
    progress bar.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Your dashboard">
    The plan usage card lists contacts, email sends and SMS credits together.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A bar at the top of the app">
    Appears only once you are approaching or over the limit, with a link
    straight to the plan picker.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

Usage is rechecked automatically. Adding, changing or removing contacts queues a recheck that runs within about a minute, and a full sweep of every workspace runs hourly. You do not have to refresh anything.

## The three states

<Steps>
  <Step title="Within limit">
    Nothing is shown beyond the normal usage meter.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Approaching limit">
    Starts at **90% of your contact limit**, rounded up. A warning bar appears
    at the top of the app, and workspace owners and admins get an in-app notice
    plus an email telling them what will happen when the limit is passed.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Over limit">
    Senderz either upgrades you or parks the overflow, depending on the setting
    below. Owners and admins get a notice and an email either way.
  </Step>
</Steps>

The warning wording changes to match what will actually happen to you, so read it rather than assuming. It says one of three things: your plan will upgrade automatically, the next tier will need your approval, or overflow contacts will be parked because automatic upgrades are off.

## Automatic upgrades

Automatic upgrades let Senderz move you to the smallest tier that fits, the moment you pass your limit, so nothing is interrupted.

**The setting lives on Settings → Plans & Billing**, in the *Automatic contact-tier upgrades* card. It only appears once the workspace has an active plan.

### What you agree to

Turning it on requires ticking a terms checkbox. It is deliberately specific, and it is worth reading before you accept:

* Senderz may upgrade the workspace to the **smallest contact tier that fits**, never higher.
* The upgrade is **charged immediately with proration**.
* Plans **never** downgrade automatically.

<Note>
  The same checkbox is required to buy a plan at all, so a workspace that has
  completed checkout starts with automatic upgrades **on**. You can switch it
  off at any time from the same card. Switching it off is not gated by a
  terms acceptance.
</Note>

Only owners and admins can change it.

### What happens at the limit

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="On, billed by card">
    Senderz moves you to the smallest tier that covers your marketable
    contacts. It happens immediately, the difference is prorated, and active
    campaigns and automations keep sending without a pause. You get a
    confirmation notice naming the new plan and price.

    A single import can skip several tiers at once. Senderz jumps straight to
    the tier that fits, not to the next one up.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="On, billed by your store">
    A store-billed workspace cannot be charged silently. Instead of upgrading,
    Senderz raises an approval request: you get a notice and an email asking
    you to approve the next plan in your store.

    Nothing is charged until you approve it. **In the meantime, overflow
    contacts are parked.**
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Off, or the upgrade failed">
    Overflow contacts are parked. Senderz tells you which case it is, and the
    notice for a failed upgrade asks you to review your billing.

    A workspace already above the largest self-service tier is also handled as
    an approval request, because Enterprise is contact sales.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Parking

Parking is what Senderz does instead of cutting you off.

When you are over the limit, Senderz sorts your marketable contacts **oldest first** and parks everything past the cap. So on a 10,000 tier with 10,400 marketable contacts, your 400 **newest** contacts are parked and the other 10,000 are untouched.

### What parking does

* Parked contacts are **excluded from campaign and automation audiences**.
* If a message for a parked contact is already queued, it is **skipped**, not failed. It shows as **Contact limit reached** on the campaign's recipient list and on that contact's activity feed.

### What parking does not do

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="It does not delete anything" icon="shield-halved">
    Parked contacts stay in your workspace with their consent, history,
    properties and list membership intact.
  </Card>

  <Card title="It does not stop syncing" icon="rotate">
    Your store keeps syncing customers in. Orders, events and profile updates
    all keep landing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="It does not pause the workspace" icon="circle-play">
    Campaigns and automations keep running for every contact inside the limit.
    Nothing is cancelled and nothing has to be rescheduled.
  </Card>

  <Card title="It does not touch transactional mail" icon="receipt">
    Order confirmations, password resets, login codes and two-factor codes are
    never affected by parking.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Warning>
  A parked contact is silently skipped rather than reported as a failure, so
  the effect is easy to miss. If a campaign reaches fewer people than you
  expected and the top bar is showing a contact limit warning, this is why.
</Warning>

### Getting contacts unparked

Parking is recalculated on every recheck, so it corrects itself as soon as the numbers change. Any of these clears it:

* **Upgrade** to a tier that covers your marketable contacts. This is the fastest route, because the change is applied straight away.
* **Approve the pending upgrade**, if your store bills you.
* **Turn automatic upgrades on.** The upgrade then runs at the next usage check rather than instantly.
* **Reduce your marketable contacts**, for example by cleaning contacts who have never engaged.

Once you are back inside the limit, every contact becomes eligible for marketing again and owners and admins get a **You're back within your contact limit** notice.

## Plans never downgrade automatically

Deleting contacts, cleaning a list or a wave of unsubscribes will **never** move you to a cheaper plan on its own. Automatic movement is one-directional and upward only.

If your list has shrunk and you want to pay less, change the plan yourself on **Settings → Plans & Billing**. Downgrades are immediate and prorated. You cannot drop below your current marketable contact count.

## Frequently asked

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Do contacts stored without consent cost me anything?">
    No. Only contacts subscribed on at least one channel count toward your
    plan. Everyone else is stored free.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does an unsubscribe free up capacity straight away?">
    Effectively yes. The change queues a recheck that runs within about a
    minute, and parking is recalculated then.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I be charged twice for the same upgrade?">
    No. An upgrade is claimed before it is attempted, so two rechecks running
    at the same time cannot both charge you.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Will my scheduled campaign fail if I go over the limit while it is waiting?">
    The campaign itself does not fail. It sends to every recipient inside your
    limit and skips the parked ones.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I am over the limit but I cannot see the plan buttons">
    Only owners and admins can change billing. Every member can see the usage
    meter, but the upgrade has to come from an owner or admin.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Plans and billing" icon="credit-card" href="/en/account/plans-and-billing">
    The tiers, what they include, and how to change or cancel a plan.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Consent" icon="clipboard-check" href="/en/audience/consent">
    What makes a contact subscribed, and how consent is recorded.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>