What are overage charges?
Overage charges are extra fees a software vendor bills when you use more than your plan includes, such as more contacts, messages or conversations than the monthly limit. They're added to your invoice on top of the plan price.
Also called: overage fees, overages, usage overage.
By Santhul Joseph, AI EngineerUpdated
How overages work
- Your plan includes a limit, for example 2,500 active contacts or a set number of AI conversations a month.
- Past the limit the tool keeps running, and each extra unit is billed at an overage rate.
- The overage shows up on the next invoice, often after the month is over.
- Some vendors let you set a cap. Without one, there's no upper limit to the bill.
Why they matter
Overages are how a plan that looks fixed becomes variable. ManyChat, for example, keeps your automations running past your contact limit and charges each extra active contact, $0.05 on Pro with monthly billing. Overages from before the end of a billing period are still charged after you cancel.
Overages aren't wrong in themselves: they keep things running in a busy month. But they make the bill hard to predict, so find out the rate and whether you can cap it before you sign up.
No overages in SimplyBoost
- There are no overage charges on any SimplyBoost plan.
- You get an email when you've used 80% of your monthly AI replies, and another at 100%.
- At the limit, the agent pauses its replies until the allowance resets, and visitors see a short notice.
- You can upgrade at any time, for example from Starter's 500 AI replies at €39 to Growth's 2,000 at €89.
Questions people ask
What happens when I use all my AI replies on SimplyBoost?
The agent pauses its replies until your allowance resets, and visitors see a short notice. There's no extra charge, and you can upgrade at any time.
How do I avoid overage charges on other tools?
Check whether you can set a usage cap, and turn on usage alerts. If there's no cap, estimate your busiest month, not your average one, and pick the plan that covers it.
Are overage charges the same as add-ons?
No. An overage is billed for using more than your plan's limit. An add-on is a feature or bundle you choose to buy on top of your plan.