Understanding Quotas and Usage
Every Blocx plan includes monthly quotas for each channel. The Quotas page shows where you stand against those limits in real time. Plan-level limits live at Billing → Plans.
What's metered
| Resource | Counted as |
|---|---|
| Outbound SMS | 160-char GSM-7 segments (per country) |
| Outbound MMS | Per-message (per country) |
| Inbound messages | Per-message |
| Outbound email | Per recipient |
| 2FA verifications | Per verification attempt |
| Active phone numbers | Per number, per day |
| Verified email domains | Per domain |
| API requests | Per request (very high default; usually not the binding constraint) |
A single text longer than 160 GSM-7 characters (or 70 UCS-2) counts as multiple segments. We always count segments, not "messages", because that's how carriers bill us.
Reading the Quotas page
For each quota you'll see:
- Used / Limit for the current billing period
- Percentage and progress bar — colored yellow at 80%, red at 95%
- Projected end-of-period usage based on the trailing 7 days
- Trend — last 6 periods sparkline
- Reset date for the current period
Click any quota to see the underlying messages or events.
What happens at the limit
When you exceed a quota, the API rejects further requests in that channel with a 4xx error pointing to the quota that was hit. Sends already accepted by the API are not affected. To unblock traffic you can raise the quota (see below) or wait for the period to reset.
Increasing a quota
Two options:
Upgrade your plan
Billing → Plans shows the included quotas for each tier. Upgrades are prorated and effective immediately.
Request an increase on the current plan
On the Quotas page, click Request increase next to any quota. Provide:
- Target volume
- Expected ramp timeline
- Use case description
Approval is typically same business day for routine increases. Larger raises (10x+) may require a brief call with our team to validate use case and capacity.
Reset cadence
Monthly quotas reset on your billing anniversary, not the start of the calendar month. The reset date is visible at the top of Quotas.
If you upgrade mid-cycle, the new (higher) limit applies immediately but does not reset usage. If you downgrade, usage above the new limit is grandfathered until the next reset.
Per-resource sub-limits
Some quotas have sub-limits worth knowing:
- SMS to international destinations — separate per-country sub-quotas because pricing varies hugely.
- MMS — typically a fraction of SMS quota; MMS to international destinations is often disabled.
- 2FA voice fallback — separately metered.
- Inbound email mailboxes — limit on number of mailboxes (separate from inbound mail volume).
Auditing usage
For finance reconciliation, Billing → Invoices breaks down per-channel usage on every invoice. For analytics, export raw events from Messaging → Reports and Email → Reports.
Tips
- Check Quotas regularly during ramp-ups so a single batch send doesn't move you from comfortable to over-limit overnight.
- Build retry-with-backoff into any client that sends high-volume traffic — a quota error is recoverable as soon as the period resets or the quota is raised.