Your spending cap
Your spending cap is the most Callify can bill you in overage in one billing period. It’s on top of your monthly plan price, not including it.
You’ll find it in Settings → Spending cap.
What it protects you from
Section titled “What it protects you from”A bad month. A viral post, a shipping problem that has everyone calling at once, a mistake that generates hundreds of texts — the cap means none of them can turn into a bill you weren’t expecting.
Without one, usage-based billing is an open tap. The cap is the ceiling.
The defaults
Section titled “The defaults”Roughly twice your plan’s monthly price:
| Plan | Monthly | Default cap | Worst case per period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $19 | $40 | $59 |
| Growth | $49 | $100 | $149 |
| Business | $129 | $250 | $379 |
The right-hand column is the absolute maximum Callify can charge you in a period on the default cap — plan price plus the full cap.
What happens when you reach it
Section titled “What happens when you reach it”Your line keeps working. Calls ring, voicemails record, texts send and arrive. Nothing is switched off.
You stop being billed for further usage in that period. Overage past the cap isn’t charged.
The estimate stops rising. Once your usage has reached the cap, the Estimated overage figure in Plan and usage sits at the cap, because that’s genuinely the most you can be charged. You’ll see a note saying so.
At the start of the next period, the cap resets along with your allowances.
Changing it
Section titled “Changing it”Settings → Spending cap, enter an amount, Update cap.
The range you can choose depends on your plan — from one month’s subscription at the low end up to twenty months’ at the high end:
| Plan | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $19 | $380 |
| Growth | $49 | $980 |
| Business | $129 | $2,580 |
Two things to know:
Shopify has to approve it. Changing the cap changes what you’ve authorised Shopify to bill, so you’ll be sent to Shopify to approve the new amount. Until you do, the old cap stands.
It applies from your next charge, not retroactively. The current period keeps the cap it started with; the page tells you when that period ends.
Choosing a number
Section titled “Choosing a number”Lower it if you want a hard ceiling on surprises and you’d rather stop being billed than pay for a spike. The floor is one month’s subscription, which more than halves the default exposure.
Raise it if you’re regularly hitting the cap — that’s usage you’re getting for free, but it’s also a sign the cap is doing something you may not intend. The question worth asking is whether you should be on a bigger plan instead.
Consistently exceeding your allowance usually means the next plan up is cheaper. Growth includes 600 minutes for $49; buying 350 extra minutes on Starter at $0.060 costs $21 on top of $19 — so a Starter merchant using 600 minutes a month is paying $40 for what Growth gives them for $49 with 2.4× the texts. Run the numbers against your own usage in Plan and usage.
Errors you might see
Section titled “Errors you might see”“Enter an amount between [min] and [max].” — outside your plan’s range. The bounds are shown under the field.
“That is already your spending cap.” — no change to make.
“Enter an amount, for example 75 or 75.50.” — the amount wasn’t readable. Digits and at most two decimal places.
“Your subscription has no usage charges to cap.” — you don’t have a plan with usage billing on it. Choose a plan first.