Managing Quotas and Overage

The five metered metrics

TIPS bills against five things, each tracked independently:

Reading the Usage page

The Usage page is the single source of truth for where you stand. Each metric has its own card showing:

• Current usage for the period (or lifetime, for the storage-style metrics).
• Plan cap from your subscribed service.
• Percentage used as a progress bar — green under 50%, yellow 50–90%, red above 90% or when over the cap.
• Projected overage in dollars, computed live as (usage − cap) × overage rate. Shows $0.00 when under the cap.

Below the per-metric cards, a reference table lists the overage rates from your subscribed service. These rates are the dynamic source of truth — if Internovations changes a rate, you'll see the new number reflected on the next usage refresh.

How overage actually gets charged

Stripe doesn't do metered subscriptions in the architecture TIPS uses. Instead, the webhook posts one-time Invoice Items against your customer record at the end of each billing period, one item per metric that went over.

Guardrails before they bite

Pre-send over-quota modal

Before queuing a Survey Invitation batch, the Send Invitations page compares the planned send count against your remaining allocation. If the send would exceed your monthly cap, a modal pops up with:

• The number of recipients that would push you into overage.
• The projected dollar cost at the current overage rate.
• A "Send anyway" button you must explicitly click to proceed.

You can't accidentally queue a 50,000-recipient blast on a 10,000-cap plan. The modal exists specifically to make the economic decision conscious.

Profile cap notice on uploads

When uploading a Mailing List CSV that would push your total profile count over the cap, the upload still proceeds (we don't block your work), but a notice surfaces on the upload result page noting the projected overage in dollars.

Upgrade vs. absorb: the math

The right call depends on whether the overage is recurring or one-time.

Absorb when overage is a one-time spike

Example: you're on a $99/mo plan with a 5,000 email-send cap, and you have a single 8,000-send campaign for the corridor study you're running once. The next tier is $249/mo (25,000 cap). Math:

• Absorb: 3,000 overage × $0.005 = $15 one-time.
• Upgrade: ($249 − $99) = $150/mo permanent.

Absorbing the $15 overage is dramatically cheaper than the $150/mo permanent uplift. Stay on the current plan.

Upgrade when overage is recurring

Same plans, but now you're sending 8,000–10,000 invitations every month for an ongoing engagement program:

• Absorb: ~4,000 overage × $0.005 = ~$20/mo recurring.
• Upgrade: $150/mo recurring.

On those numbers absorb still wins. But the breakeven moves as volume grows — at 35,000 sends/mo:

• Absorb on $99 plan: 30,000 overage × $0.005 = $150/mo.
• Upgrade to $249 plan: $150/mo, with 25,000 sends in-cap and 10,000 overage at $0.003 = $30, total $279/mo. (Higher tiers usually have lower overage rates.)

Above ~35K sends, the upgrade starts winning on per-send economics even before you count headroom for spikes. The same arithmetic applies to completions and profiles — check the per-tier rates on the Usage page reference table.

Other reasons to upgrade beyond strict math

• Cap headroom for unpredictable spikes. Public-input campaigns can produce sharp completion spikes when a news story or social-media post takes off. Headroom means you don't have to think about the cap mid-campaign.
• Quarterly billing predictability. Some agencies have procurement rules that prefer flat monthly spend over variable invoices. Upgrade once, never explain an overage line to procurement.
• Higher User cap for your team. Profile count and completion count don't change, but the next tier usually adds Client User seats for your team.

Switching plans

The Switch Plan section on the Billing page shows every plan available to your account, including your current one. Click a different plan to start the switch.

• Upgrades take effect immediately, prorate the unused portion of the current plan, and bill the difference on the next invoice.
• Downgrades take effect at the next billing period and don't auto-credit the unused portion of the current period. For mid-cycle downgrade credits, contact Internovations support.

What happens if you cancel

Cancellation enters a data retention window rather than immediately deleting anything. During retention (typically 90 days but defined in your service plan), your surveys, responses, Mailing Lists, and Traveler Profiles are preserved. Re-subscribe before the window expires and you pick up right where you left off — same data, same surveys, same public URLs.

After the retention window, we will hard-delete everything for your canceled account. The Client Portal shows a countdown banner in the final 30 days of retention so you have explicit warning before any data leaves the system.

Common questions about quotas and overage

What counts toward my monthly quota?

Five metrics: completed survey responses, Traveler Profiles, email invitations sent, Client Users on your account, and active survey definitions. Each plan has its own caps for each metric, listed in the services table behind the Plan & Billing page and surfaced on /client/usage.

What happens when I exceed a quota?

You don't get blocked; you get charged overage at the rates listed on /client/usage. TIPS posts one-time Invoice Items to Stripe at the end of each billing period for each metric that exceeded its cap. The next invoice rolls those overage items in alongside your base subscription.

How is overage calculated?

Per metric, per billing period. For each metric where actual usage exceeded the cap, TIPS charges (actual - cap) × overage rate. Example: 12,000 email sends on a plan with a 10,000 cap at $0.005 per send overage = 2,000 × $0.005 = $10.00 added to the next invoice.

Where do I see overage costs before they post?

The /client/usage page shows projected overage in real time as your usage grows. Each metric card displays current usage, cap, percentage used, and (if over) the projected overage in dollars at the current rate.

Will I be warned before sending an invitation that exceeds my quota?

Yes. The Send Invitations page checks your projected post-send total against the maxEmailSends cap. If the send would exceed it, a modal shows the overage count and dollar cost and requires explicit confirmation before queuing.

When should I upgrade my plan vs. absorb the overage?

Rough rule: if your projected overage exceeds the difference between your current plan and the next tier, upgrade. If overage is a one-time spike (a single large outreach campaign), absorbing it is often cheaper than a permanent upgrade.

How do I switch plans?

On /client/billing, click the plan you want in the Switch Plan section. Upgrades take effect immediately and prorate the unused portion of the current plan; downgrades take effect at the next billing period. Manual credit may be issued for mid-cycle downgrades — contact support.

What happens to my data if I cancel?

Your account enters a retention window (configurable per plan, typically 90 days from cancellation). During retention, your data is preserved and you can re-subscribe to restore service without re-uploading anything. After the retention window expires, the nightly purge job hard-deletes all responses, profiles, lists, and surveys.