Usage & limits.
Mama has quotas. Most are soft (warn + keep working). Some are hard (refuse + ask you to upgrade). This page is the full reference for what's capped, where the limits are, and what happens when you hit them.
TL;DR
Soft limits warn you and keep working (e.g., approaching brief cap = banner appears). Hard limits refuse (e.g., past brief cap = brief button disabled). Burst allowance on Pro+: 1.5× soft limit for 14 days/year without auto-upgrading. Usage page shows trend lines + projections — review monthly.
01Hard limits vs soft limits
Two limit shapes:
| Hard limits | Soft limits |
|---|---|
| Briefs / month | Orbit slots |
| Seats | Saved searches |
| Custom bot count | API calls (rate-limited via 429) |
| Saved-search count (over hard cap) | Bulk-save daily prospect count |
Hard = refuse + prompt to upgrade. Soft = warn + keep working but flag the overage.
02Per-tier limit reference
| Resource | Free | Pro | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Briefs / month | 10 (hard) | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Seats | 1 (hard) | Up to 25 (hard per tier) | Unlimited |
| Saved searches | 3 (hard) | 25 (hard) | Unlimited |
| Custom bots | 0 (hard) | 5 (hard) | Unlimited |
| Orbit slots | 50 (soft) | 500 / seat (soft) | Unlimited |
| Bulk-save / day | 200 (soft) | 1,000 (soft) | Unlimited |
| API req / min | — | 60 (hard via 429) | 600 (hard via 429) |
03Burst allowance
Pro and Company get a burst allowance: 1.5× the soft limit for up to 14 days per rolling year without triggering auto-upgrade prompts.
Use case: a busy week where you bulk-save 1,800 prospects (vs. the 1,000 soft limit). Mama lets it through, flags the burst in your usage page, and resets the counter when the day rolls over.
Beyond 14 burst-days/year, Mama prompts to upgrade.
04Warning before overage
When you hit 80% of any hard limit, Mama:
- Shows an in-app banner on the affected feature
- Sends an email to workspace admins
- Updates the usage page with a projected overage date
At 100% (the cap), the feature is disabled until you upgrade or the period rolls over.
05When you hit a hard limit
Click the disabled button → upgrade modal opens with the relevant plan suggestion → confirm → feature re-enables immediately (prorated billing for the rest of the period).
If you don't want to upgrade, wait for the period to reset (month boundary for monthly caps).
06Reading the usage page
Settings → Billing → Usage. Shows:
- Trend lines per resource (briefs, seats, Orbit, bots) over the last 6 months
- Current usage with progress bar against the cap
- Projection — at current rate, when will you hit the cap?
- Burst days used this year (Pro+)
Review monthly. If projection shows overage in the next 60 days, plan an upgrade or adjust workflows.