When your usage exceeds your plan's allowance, what happens next depends on the metric and the plan. This article explains how overage works on Pulse and Hub, how usage above commitment is handled on the Embed plans, and the exact bands and rates that apply.

When your usage exceeds your plan's allowance, what happens next depends on the metric and the plan. This article explains how overage works on Pulse and Hub, how usage above commitment is handled on the Embed plans, and the exact bands and rates that apply.

## What overage means

Each Coassemble plan includes a monthly allowance for Identified Recipients (IRs), Anonymous Recipients (ARs), narration tokens, and AI image generation events. "Overage" is what happens when your usage in a billing period exceeds the allowance you're paying for.

Coassemble handles overage differently depending on the metric and the plan:

* **On Pulse and Hub**, IR overage is billed automatically using a tiered rate ladder.
* **On the Embed plans (Embed Core, Embed Automate, Embed Partner)**, IR usage above your committed tier is tracked and surfaced commercially. Whether overage is billed depends on your contract, and your account manager will communicate this to you.
* **All other metrics** (Anonymous Recipients, narration tokens, AI image generation events) are not billed for overage at the platform level. Pulse and Hub hard-cap them; the Embed plans surface usage above the cap to your dedicated account manager.

## IR overage on Pulse and Hub

If you go over your monthly IR allowance on Pulse or Hub, the additional IRs are billed automatically at the end of the calendar month. There's no hard stop on IRs: sharing keeps working, and the overage shows up on your invoice.

### The rate ladder

The same rate ladder applies to Pulse and Hub. Rates are shown per Identified Recipient, in your subscription currency:

| IRs above your monthly allowance | Per-IR rate |
|:---|:---|
| 1 to 500 | 2.00 |
| 501 to 2,000 | 1.50 |
| 2,001 to 5,000 | 1.00 |
| 5,001 and above | 0.75 |

The rate gets cheaper the further into overage you go. The bands are cumulative within a single calendar month: the first 500 IRs above allowance are billed at the 2.00 rate, the next 1,500 at the 1.50 rate, and so on.

### Annual subscribers

If you're on an annual plan, your IR allowance is a 14-month pool: your monthly allowance multiplied by 14. Overage doesn't start until that whole pool is consumed.

For example, on Hub annual the IR allowance is 200 per month, so the 14-month pool is 2,800 IRs available across the year. A month where you use 250 IRs draws from the pool but doesn't trigger overage. Overage kicks in once you've used 2,800 IRs in the subscription year, and is calculated from that point on using the same rate ladder.

### When you'll see the charge

Overage accumulated within a calendar month is billed once, at the end of that month.

* **Monthly subscribers** see overage on the same invoice as their platform fee.
* **Annual subscribers** receive a separate monthly overage charge during the 12-month subscription term.

The actual transaction happens through Stripe, the same payment processor that handles your subscription.

### What doesn't trigger overage

* Customers whose IR allowance has been manually set to "unlimited" never accrue overage, regardless of how much usage they generate.
* Flow has no IR allowance because it's anonymous-only. Flow users only have AR usage, which is hard-capped.
* AR, narration token, and AI image generation usage don't accrue overage. They pause when you hit the cap, and resume the following billing period.

## IR usage above commitment on the Embed plans

The Embed plans (Embed Core, Embed Automate, Embed Partner) work differently. You commit to an IR volume as part of your contract, and your billing reflects that commitment:

| Plan | Committed IRs per year |
|:---|:---|
| Embed Core | 500 |
| Embed Automate | 2,000 |
| Embed Partner | 10,000 (or as negotiated) |

Usage above your committed tier doesn't block anything. Embed customers don't see a hard cap on IRs, ARs, narration, or image generation. Sharing keeps working, and AI generation keeps running. The overage is recorded against your account, and your account manager will be in touch to discuss adjusting your commitment.

Whether that conversation turns into an automatic billing arrangement depends on your contract. Embed plans support optional automatic overage billing, which can be activated on a per-customer basis once the customer has been notified. When automatic billing is active, IR usage above the committed tier is charged monthly at a blended rate derived from your committed tier and platform fee. The blended rate is calculated as: platform fee divided by committed IRs, divided by 12.

For Embed Partner customers, the exact rates and commitment numbers live in your Order Form rather than this article, since they vary per contract.

## Anonymous Recipients, narration tokens, and AI image generation

These metrics don't accrue overage on any plan. The behaviour at the cap depends on whether you're on a self-service plan or an Embed plan.

**On Pulse and Hub (and Flow for AR/AI metrics):** when you hit 100% of an allowance, that specific feature pauses for the rest of the billing period. Everything else in your workspace keeps working, and the allowance resumes at the start of the next billing period. For narration tokens and AI image generation events, your account manager can apply a one-month top-up if you need to keep generating before the next reset.

**On the Embed plans:** caps are soft. If you go over 100%, the feature keeps working. The overage is recorded against your account and your account manager will be in touch.

## How to check your usage

Open **Settings** and select **Usage limits**. Each metric (IRs, ARs, narration tokens, AI image generation events) is shown with a progress bar and percentage used.

## Common questions

### Does overage apply per workspace or per account?

Per customer account. If your account has multiple workspaces sharing one subscription, allowances are pooled and overage is calculated across the whole account.

### What happens if I downgrade my monthly subscription mid-month?

The allowance applicable to your new plan takes effect immediately. Overage calculation for that month is based on the allowance that was active at the time each IR was counted. If you cancel your subscription, you can keep using the product through your paid period and keep accruing overage right up to the end. At the end of the billing period you'll receive a standalone, overage-only invoice.

### Can I prepay or top up my IR allowance?

For IRs on Pulse and Hub, overage is billed at the end of the month based on actual usage, so there's no upfront top-up to buy. If you're consistently in overage, talk to support about moving to a plan with a higher allowance, or to an Embed plan with a committed IR tier that suits your real volume. For narration tokens and AI image generation events on Pulse and Hub, your account manager can apply a one-month top-up if you'd run out before the next reset.

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