Usage, caps, and overages

Your plan includes a monthly click allowance and a link cap. Understanding how both are counted — and what happens when you hit them — saves surprises on your invoice.

What counts as a click#

Every redirect through an Elido short URL counts as one click. This includes:

• A human visiting the link in a browser.
• A bot or crawler following the URL (we filter known bots from analytics display, but they still count toward your billing quota).
• Redirects triggered by your own testing.

Clicks are counted per calendar month (UTC). The counter resets on the first of each month regardless of your billing cycle. Your current click count is visible in real time at Settings → Billing → Usage.

What counts as a link#

A link is any active short URL in your workspace. Archived or deleted links don't count. Links you share across workspaces (if that feature is on your plan) count once in the workspace that owns them.

Hard cap vs soft cap (charge mode)#

Plans have one of two behaviours when you hit your click limit:

Hard cap (block mode) — clicks beyond the limit still redirect, but they're not recorded in analytics and don't appear in your usage count. The link keeps working; you just lose the data. Free and entry-level plans use this mode.

Charge mode — you can opt in to paying for usage beyond your included allowance. When enabled, clicks over the limit are billed at the plan's overage rate at the end of the month. You must explicitly consent to charge mode in Settings → Billing → Overage settings — we don't charge overages without your permission.

The overage calculator in your billing dashboard lets you estimate costs before enabling charge mode: enter expected extra clicks and it shows the projected charge.

Overage pricing#

Overage is billed in blocks. For example, on a plan with click overage at €0.50 per 1,000 clicks:

• 999 extra clicks = 1 block = €0.50
• 1,000 extra clicks = 1 block = €0.50
• 1,001 extra clicks = 2 blocks = €1.00

Blocks always round up. Overage charges appear as a separate line item on your end-of-month invoice alongside your base subscription.

Link overages (creating links beyond your plan's cap) follow the same block billing model, billed per 100 links.

Monitoring your usage#

The Usage widget on your billing page shows:

• Clicks used this month vs. your included allowance.
• Links used vs. your plan cap.
• Seats and custom domains used vs. limits.

A progress bar turns amber at 80% and red at 100%. You'll also get an email notification at 80% and 100% of your click allowance if email alerts are enabled in Settings → Notifications.

What to do when you're close to the cap#

Options, roughly in order of effort:

1. Enable charge mode if you occasionally spike over your limit and don't want to miss data.
2. Upgrade your plan if you consistently use 80%+ of your allowance.
3. Clean up unused links to bring your link count down, if that's what's near the cap.
4. Check for unexpected traffic — a viral share or a scraper hitting your links can burn through clicks fast. The analytics page shows unusual spikes.

Troubleshooting#

My click counter jumped overnight. Check Analytics → Click events for a breakdown by referrer and device. A spike from a single referrer usually means a link was shared somewhere high-traffic. A spike with no referrer and bot-like user agents often means a crawler.

I hit the link cap but I don't see that many links. Links that are disabled or have expired still count toward your cap. Go to Links, filter by status, and archive or delete links you no longer need.

Charge mode is greyed out. Charge mode is only available on paid plans. Free workspaces always use hard cap.

I got an overage charge I didn't expect. Check the Overage consent toggle in Settings → Billing. If it shows as enabled, overage charges are active. The toggle shows the date consent was given. If you didn't consent, contact support with your invoice number.