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SMS limits

Every plan includes a monthly SMS quota. Once you've sent that many alert messages, non-critical alerts pause for the rest of the calendar month — but life-safety warnings still get through.

Why is there a limit?​

Each SMS we send has a real per-message cost from our carrier. Tier-based monthly caps keep our pricing predictable and prevent runaway charges if a busy weather day generates a flood of alerts.

Your current usage is shown on the Billing page and on Delivery Channels.

What counts toward the limit?​

  • Every alert SMS, including life-safety alerts that bypass the limit. Bypass means "we'll deliver it anyway" — it doesn't mean the message is free.
  • Acknowledgement updates and re-confirmations also count.

Verification codes (the SMS we send when you add a new phone number) do not count toward your quota.

What happens when I hit the limit?​

  1. Non-critical alerts pause for the rest of the calendar month. Forecast-derived alerts (heat risk, snowfall thresholds, SPC outlooks) and operational-impact warnings (winter storm, freeze, flood, heat) will not send by SMS until your quota resets. Email and Slack are unaffected.
  2. Life-safety warnings still send. A curated list of imminent threats — the 26 event types below, plus SPC HIGH-risk convective outlooks — bypasses the quota. Each of these messages includes a one-line notice explaining that other alerts are paused.
  3. You'll get one notification SMS confirming you've hit the limit, with a link to your billing page. We send this once per billing period to your account owner's primary phone.

Warnings that bypass the limit​

These send by SMS even after your quota is spent. They still count toward next month's usage — bypass means "we'll deliver it anyway", not "this one is free".

Storms and flooding​

  • Tornado Warning
  • Severe Thunderstorm Warning
  • Flash Flood Warning
  • Extreme Wind Warning
  • Snow Squall Warning
  • Dust Storm Warning

Tropical​

  • Hurricane Warning
  • Typhoon Warning
  • Tropical Storm Warning
  • Storm Surge Warning

Marine​

  • Special Marine Warning

Geophysical and volcanic​

  • Tsunami Warning
  • Tsunami Advisory
  • Earthquake Warning
  • Volcano Warning
  • Ashfall Warning
  • Avalanche Warning

Heat and fire​

  • Extreme Heat Warning
  • Fire Warning

Civil and emergency alerts​

  • Evacuation Immediate
  • Shelter In Place Warning
  • Civil Danger Warning
  • Hazardous Materials Warning
  • Radiological Hazard Warning
  • Nuclear Power Plant Warning
  • Law Enforcement Warning

Watches, advisories, and forecast-derived alerts are not on this list and pause until your quota resets.

This is a larger set than the warnings that break through quiet hours — the two settings answer different questions. Bypassing the quota spends money your plan already covers; breaking quiet hours spends someone's sleep, so that list is deliberately shorter.

When does it reset?​

The quota resets at midnight UTC on the 1st of each calendar month. Your usage counter goes back to zero, and the at-limit notification flag clears so you'll be re-notified if you hit the limit again the following month.

Need more SMS?​

Upgrade your plan — the higher tiers raise the monthly cap substantially. Enterprise customers should contact support to discuss higher caps tailored to your org's volume.

If you think you're hitting the limit because of a configuration issue (e.g. a noisy rule, duplicate channels), the support team can help you audit your delivery history before you commit to an upgrade.