How add-ons work
Your subscription includes a monthly messaging allowance based on how many channels you subscribe to. If you exceed that allowance, Octopods automatically calculates how many add-on units are needed to cover the overage and bills for them at the end of the billing period.
Key facts:
Unit size: 25,000 messages per add-on unit.
Unit price: $100 per unit.
Calculation: Octopods counts messages above the base limit, divides by 25,000, and rounds up. Even 1 message over a unit boundary is counted as a full unit.
Billing timing: Add-ons are invoiced at the end of the calendar month, after usage for the month is finalized.
A worked example
Imagine you’re on a standard plan with 4 subscribed channels. Your included allowance is 40,000 messages (4 × 10,000).
If your account sends 92,000 messages in a given month:
Overage: 92,000 − 40,000 = 52,000 messages over the limit.
Add-on units required: 52,000 ÷ 25,000 = 2.08 → rounded up to 3 units.
Overage charge: 3 × $100 = $300, invoiced at the end of the month.
The Messaging Usage page shows a projected charge notice whenever your usage is over the limit, so you can see the forecast before the invoice is created.
Where to see your projected charge
Go to Messaging Usage in your Octopods account settings. If you’re over the limit, a red Projected Add-on Charge notice appears near the top of the page. It reads: Your current usage exceeds the base limit. A projected charge of $X.XX may apply at the end of this billing period.
The amount is recalculated as your usage grows, so the figure you see is a running estimate of what will be invoiced.
Usage notifications
Octopods sends email notifications at key points so overage charges are never a surprise. The notifications go to the account’s billing contact (or the first account admin if no billing contact is set):
When you first exceed the limit — An initial “Notice: You’ve exceeded your messaging limit for this month” email.
If you stay over the limit — A weekly reminder summarizing that an overage charge is due at the end of the month.
If your overage suddenly grows — A spike alert when your projected add-on units jump significantly since the last notice.
One day before month-end — A pre-invoice notice confirming the upcoming charge.
See Understanding Usage Notifications for the full list and what each one means.
End-of-month invoicing
At the end of the calendar month, Octopods finalizes your usage and creates an invoice for the required add-on units. The invoice is charged to the card on file and appears in the Invoices section of your Billing & Subscriptions page alongside your regular subscription invoices.
See Viewing Invoices for how to review and download invoices.
Reducing future overage
If you’re consistently hitting the limit, there are two ways to bring your usage back in line:
Subscribe to more channels — Each subscribed channel adds to your monthly allowance. See Upgrading or Adding Channels.
Identify heavy-traffic channels — Use the per-channel breakdown on the Messaging Usage page to find outliers, then tighten any automations sending unusually high volume.
Tip: Watching the Messaging Usage page in the first two weeks of each month is the easiest way to catch a spike before it turns into a large add-on invoice.
What’s next