# Keeping an eye on usage and limits

Imagine you have been running "Cozy Closet," an online clothing store, for a few months now, and products and photos keep piling up. One day you go to create one more new *Content Type*, but a notice pops up saying you have exceeded your limit, and creation is blocked. Or on a day when visitors suddenly flood in, you find yourself wondering, "How much data went back and forth today?" The place that answers questions like these is the usage screen.

The usage screen shows, all in one place, what this *Space* is using and how much. You can see how many things like products and photos you have made, how much of your transfer volume you have used against the included allowance your plan provides, and how much data has gone back and forth to visitors. It lets you notice this ahead of time, before you reach a limit, and if you need to, clean up what you are not using or move up to a higher plan.

Let me draw one boundary here. This screen is where you see "how much you have used right now." The exact rules for "what each plan's limit is" and "what happens when you go over a limit" are set by [Pricing](/pricing/pricing.md).

## Opening the usage screen {#opening-usage}

1. In the left menu, under "Monitoring," click **Usage**.

The usage screen is divided into three parts from top to bottom. Under **Resources** sit the count cards, and under **Network** sit the gauges and graphs.

- **Resources**: Shows the number of things you have made so far in this *Space* as cards by type. Covered in detail below in [Resource counts: what you have made and how many](#resource-counts).
- **Usage vs allowance**: Shows with a gauge how much of your transfer volume you have used against the included allowance. Covered below in [Usage against your included allowance: how much is left](#allowance-gauges).
- **Traffic trend**: Shows with a line graph how much data has gone back and forth over time. Covered below in [Traffic trend: the data that flowed to visitors](#traffic-trend).

![The full usage screen. From top to bottom you can see the resource count cards, the usage-against-allowance gauges under Network, and the traffic-trend graph](/_img/en-US/operations/workspace/images/watching-usage-01-overview.webp)

## Resource counts: what you have made and how many {#resource-counts}

In the **Resources** area at the top of the screen, the number of things you have made so far in this *Space* is shown as cards by type. The resources this *Space* handles appear as cards by type: *Content*, *Content Type*, *Media*, *Locale*, members, and *Web Hosting*, as well as *Role*, *Tag*, comments, and users (*ServiceUser*). You read them like this, for example.

| Card | What it counts |
|---|---|
| *Content* | Each individual piece of content, such as a product or review you have registered |
| *Content Type* | Form templates such as Product, Brand, and Review |
| *Media* | Photos and files you have uploaded |
| *Locale* | The languages your service supports |
| Members | The people who work together in this *Space* |
| *Web Hosting* | The websites you have deployed |

Each card also shows its current count. For example, if you have registered several products and reviews and uploaded one photo, the number of content items you registered shows up on the *Content* card, and the number of photos on the *Media* card, exactly as they are.

Clicking a card takes you straight to that resource's list screen. If a count is not what you expected, you can click the card to open the list and check what has piled up, using the methods in [Finding the content you need](/operations/content/finding-content.md).

## Usage against your included allowance: how much is left {#allowance-gauges}

Below the resource cards, the **Network** area has a **Usage vs allowance** part that shows with a gauge how much of your transfer volume you have used. Here, "included allowance" is the amount your plan provides by default.

Each item appears in the form "amount used / included allowance." For example, it looks like this.

- 2.09 KiB / 1.00 GiB: means you have used 2.09 KiB out of your 1.00 GiB included allowance. The gauge is almost empty.
- 0 B / 10.00 GiB: an item you have not used at all yet.

The number on the left is how much you have used so far, and the number on the right is the included allowance your plan provides. The fuller the gauge gets, the closer you are to the limit, so watch whether the left number is creeping up toward the right one. The items include things like *Webhook*, API, Origin, and CDN (the delivery network that quickly gets files to visitors).

The included-allowance number on the right differs by plan. To see how much each item is given on your plan, check [Pricing](/pricing/pricing.md).

## Traffic trend: the data that flowed to visitors {#traffic-trend}

At the bottom, **Traffic trend** shows with a line graph how much data has gone back and forth over time. Think of it as the amount of data exchanged as content is delivered to visitors. You use it when you want to see for yourself whether traffic spiked on a day when a summer sale drew a rush of visits, and how much you use on an ordinary day.

At the top of the graph, you can choose from two ways of viewing it.

- Period: choose among **1H**, **3H**, **12H**, **1D**, **3D**, and **1W**, or set your own period with **Custom**. The first six mean the last 1 hour, 3 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 3 days, and 1 week, respectively. The flow over the period you chose is drawn on the graph, along with the **Selected period total** for that period.
- Break it down: **By channel** breaks traffic down by delivery path, and **By resource** breaks it down by which resource (for example, *Content* or *Media*) the traffic came from.

![A close-up of the traffic-trend area. It shows the by-channel and by-resource switch, the 1H to 1W and custom period toggles, the selected-period total, and the line graph](/_img/en-US/operations/workspace/images/watching-usage-02-traffic.webp)

## What happens when you reach a limit {#hitting-limits}

The reason you keep an eye on the usage screen is to respond ahead of time, before you run into a limit. What happens when you reach a limit depends on whether it is a count or a volume.

### When you reach a resource-count limit {#count-limit}

For each resource, there is a maximum number you can create, set per plan. Once you have made that many, when you try to create a new one of the same kind, a notice saying you have exceeded the limit appears and creation is blocked. Here are some example situations.

- If you have made *Content Type*s up to the maximum number, you cannot make any more form templates.
- If you have invited members up to the maximum, you cannot invite any more members.
- If you have made *SpaceRole*s up to the maximum number, you cannot make any more *SpaceRole*s.

The maximum number differs by plan, and the scope over which a limit is counted can vary by resource. To see your plan's limits and each resource's applicable scope, check [Pricing](/pricing/pricing.md).

When you are blocked, you resolve it in one of two ways: free up space by clearing away what you are not using (for example, deleting old content by following the steps in [Publishing Operations](/operations/content/publishing-operations.md)), or move up to a higher plan.

For example, if a member invitation runs into a limit, then after you run the invitation, the "Invitation Results" notice marks it as a failure, like "0 of 1 invited." Below the email that had the problem, along with what hit the limit, a notice reads, "…has exceeded the maximum allowed limit. Please upgrade your subscription plan or try again later." This notice appears the same way not only for member invitations but also whenever you hit a limit while creating any other resource.

![The "Invitation Results" dialog after a member invitation failed on hitting the organization limit. It shows "0 of 1 invited," the email that had the problem, and below it the limit-exceeded notice text](/_img/en-US/operations/workspace/images/watching-usage-03-limit-error.webp)

### When your transfer volume exceeds the included allowance {#traffic-limit}

Rather than being cut off cleanly like a count, transfer volume gets throttled according to your plan once it goes past the included allowance. Exactly what happens differs by plan, so check [Pricing](/pricing/pricing.md).

That is why it is good to check ahead of time, before the [Usage against your included allowance](#allowance-gauges) gauges fill up. If a gauge is getting close to the right end, it is time to look into what is driving the traffic, or to consider moving up your plan.

## Getting an email before you reach a limit {#usage-alerts}

You cannot open the usage screen every day. So you can set it up to send you an email once usage reaches a percentage you decide. If you set it so an email arrives when product photos fill 80% of your storage, you find out ahead of time, before you can no longer upload photos.

Let me draw one boundary here. The usage screen you have seen so far shows how much this *Space* is using. Alerts, by contrast, are based on the limit for the whole *Organization*. That is why you set them on the *Organization* screen rather than in a *Space*, and only an *Owner* of the *Organization* can do it.

### Setting up an alert {#setting-up-alerts}

1. Click the *Organization* name at the top left of the content studio to enter the *Organization* screen.
2. In the left menu, under "Usage management," click **Usage alerts**.
3. Find the item you want alerts for in the list.
4. Choose a percentage in the select box to the right of that item.

It is saved the moment you choose it. There is no separate save button. To turn an alert off, choose **No alert** in the same place.

![The Usage alerts screen of an Organization. It shows the four groups (Resources, Network, Storage, Execution count), each item's limit, and the percentage select box on the right, with Content set to alert at 80%](/_img/en-US/operations/workspace/images/watching-usage-04-usage-alerts.webp)

### Items you can set alerts on {#alert-items}

The items fall into four groups. Every item is the total across all *Space*s in this *Organization*, not a single *Space*. Each item also shows your current plan's limit underneath.

| Group | Item | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Resources | Content | The number of *Content* items you have now |
| Resources | Media | The number of *Media* items you have now |
| Resources | Service user | The number of users signed up now |
| Resources | Comment | The number of comments posted now |
| Network | API data transfer | The amount of data sent this month in API responses for *Content*, *Content Type*, and *Media* reads |
| Network | External API calls | The amount of data sent this month in calls to external services |
| Network | Origin bandwidth | The amount of data pulled from the origin this month because it was not in the CDN cache |
| Network | CDN bandwidth | The amount of data sent from the CDN to visitors this month |
| Storage | Media storage | The volume of *Media* stored right now |
| Storage | Web hosting storage | The volume of website files you have deployed |
| Execution count | Script execution | The number of times a *Script* ran this month |

All four network items measure **only the data WEEGLOO sends out**. Incoming data is not measured. Take external calls: the request WEEGLOO sends is measured, but the response the external service returns is not. The data exchanged while you upload a file is not counted as network either. Instead, the *Media* you upload counts toward Media storage, and the website files you deploy count toward Web Hosting storage.

For API data transfer, responses to Advanced Search queries count as five times their size.

External API calls includes all the data sent when a *Webhook* calls an external address, when a *Script* calls an external service, and when a *Script* sends mail.

Script execution measures not only the *Script*s you run directly but also the *Script*s a *Webhook* runs.

Origin bandwidth and CDN bandwidth measure the same file at two different points. What goes out to visitors is CDN bandwidth, and the part of it pulled fresh from the origin because the CDN had no copy is Origin bandwidth. Even when many people download the same file, Origin bandwidth does not grow while the CDN still has a copy.

### How the email arrives {#how-mail-arrives}

- Usage is checked every hour. When it reaches the percentage you chose, the email goes out at that check.
- The email goes to every *Owner* of that *Organization*.
- For the same item, the email comes only once a month. Once it has reached the mark, the same email does not repeat for the rest of that month even if usage stays there.
- If you raise the percentage after already getting the email that month, you can get one more email at the new percentage. For example, if you had it set at 80%, got the email, and then raised it to 95%, the email comes again when usage reaches 95%.

### When no email arrives {#no-mail-cases}

- **Items with no limit**: shown as "No limit" under the item. There is no basis for measuring a percentage, so no email is sent. The percentage you chose is saved as is, so it applies from the moment you move to a plan that has a limit.
- **Plans with no limit**: if your current plan has no usage limits, no email is sent for any item.
- **When you have turned mail off**: if you have turned "Usage alerts" off in your account's **Mail Preferences**, no email comes to you even if alerts are set on individual items. A notice appears at the top of the screen in this case too.

## What to do next {#what-to-do-next}

- [Pricing](/pricing/pricing.md): Covers each plan's resource limits and included allowances, and the rules for when you go over a limit.
- [Publishing Operations](/operations/content/publishing-operations.md): Covers how to manage publishing states and the steps for tidying up accumulated *Content* by archiving or deleting what you no longer use.
- [Changing forms on a live service](/operations/workspace/changing-content-types.md): Covers how to reshape your service's structure by tidying up *Content Type*s and *Field*s.