Monthly text allowance by plan, and when it runs out
By the end of this article you will know how many texts your plan sends for you each period, where to watch the count, and whether running out costs you money or messages.
What counts
Every text the app sends to a customer counts against one allowance: the appointment confirmation, each appointment reminder, “on the way” when the technician taps it, and “job finished” with its link — the four automatic texts under Settings › Company › Customer Messages › Automated Customer Messages. A test message from SMS Templates counts too, as does the text you can ask for when a customer’s recurring payment fails.
Two things do not count: the review request, which is an email, and the one-time code that verifies your business phone.
The allowance by plan
| Plan | Automatic texts per period | Past the allowance |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | 50 | Texts pause until the period resets |
| Pro | 200 | Keep sending at 3¢ per text |
| Business | 750 | Keep sending at 2¢ per text |
A completed job typically uses four texts — confirmation, reminder, on the way, finished — so 200 is roughly 50 jobs and 750 roughly 190. Receipts, confirmations and review requests go by email on every plan and are not limited.
The period is your billing period on Pro and Business, and the calendar month on Starter.
Where to see how many you have used
Settings › Company › Subscription opens with Usage this period: Customers, Team members, Text messages and — on Business — Marketing emails, each as used of included with a bar that turns amber at 80% and red at the limit. Under Text messages the card states what your plan does past the allowance and, once you are past it on Pro or Business, how many extra texts have gone out and what is pending.
The warnings
You do not have to watch the card. Every admin gets an in-app notification when the business reaches 80% of its texts — You have used 80% of this month’s text messages — and another at the limit. On Pro and Business a third one tells you that additional texts are now being billed. Each links back to the Subscription tab.
What happens past the allowance
- On Pro and Business, nothing changes for your customers: texts keep going out. The extra ones are added up at 3¢ or 2¢ each and charged to your card at the end of the period, on top of the plan. Amounts under 50¢ roll into the next period rather than being charged on their own.
- On Starter, the next text is not sent, and neither is any other until the period resets. Your customers still get the email version of each notice — the confirmation, the reminder, the completion email with photos. The one exception is “on the way”, which has no email version: while you are over the allowance, the customer is not told the technician is coming. The Upgrade button on the Plans tab is the way to keep texting mid-month.
Good to know
- Nothing sends until your phone is verified. Texting starts only after Text Message Verification on the Customer Messages tab shows Verified — the app texts a code to your business phone once. Until then the card reads Not sending texts and says why.
- Fewer texts, same service. Turning off the reminder under Automated Customer Messages — or choosing one reminder instead of two — is the quickest way to make an allowance last. The confirmation and “job finished” are the ones customers notice most.
- A customer who texted STOP gets nothing by text, and nothing is counted for them.
- Marketing emails have their own limit — 5,000 a month on Business, shown on the same card. A broadcast larger than what is left is refused rather than sent short.