> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.hoopai.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Usage-based billing, add-ons, and overage charges
HoopAI uses a combination of flat-rate plan pricing and usage-based billing. This page provides a detailed breakdown of every add-on, usage type, and overage policy so you always know what you are paying for.
## Complete add-on catalog
### Communication add-ons
Connect your WhatsApp Business account to HoopAI for two-way messaging, automated responses, and campaign broadcasts.
**Pricing model:** Per conversation (24-hour window)
Conversations are categorized by type, with pricing varying by region:
| Conversation type | Description | US/Canada | Europe | Latin America | Rest of world |
| ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- | --------- | ------- | ------------- | ------------- |
| **Marketing** | Promotional messages, offers, announcements | \$0.025 | \$0.040 | \$0.035 | $0.020–$0.080 |
| **Utility** | Order updates, account alerts, appointment reminders | \$0.015 | \$0.025 | \$0.020 | $0.010–$0.050 |
| **Authentication** | OTP codes, verification messages | \$0.013 | \$0.020 | \$0.018 | $0.008–$0.040 |
| **Service** | Customer-initiated conversations (inbound) | \$0.008 | \$0.012 | \$0.010 | $0.005–$0.025 |
A conversation window lasts 24 hours from the first message. All messages within that window are covered by a single conversation charge. A new conversation is billed if you send a message after the window expires.
**How to enable:**
1. Go to **Settings → Integrations → WhatsApp**
2. Connect your Meta Business account
3. Verify your WhatsApp Business phone number
4. Enable the WhatsApp channel in your messaging settings
**Requirements:** A verified Meta Business Manager account and a dedicated phone number for WhatsApp.
Dedicated email sending infrastructure for improved deliverability and sending reputation.
| Item | Details |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Monthly fee** | \$10/mo |
| **What's included** | Dedicated email sending domain, DKIM/SPF/DMARC setup, sending reputation isolation |
| **Email volume** | Uses your plan's included email limit; overage rates apply beyond that |
| **Warm-up period** | New LC Email accounts go through a 2–4 week warm-up period with gradually increasing send limits |
**When to use LC Email:**
* You send high-volume email campaigns (10,000+ per month)
* You want your sending reputation isolated from shared infrastructure
* You need maximum deliverability for transactional emails
**How to enable:** Go to **Settings → Email Services → LC Email** and click **Enable**.
Enhanced VOIP phone system with call tracking, recording, and advanced routing.
| Item | Details |
| ---------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| **Monthly base fee** | \$6/mo |
| **Outbound calls (US/Canada)** | \$0.014/min |
| **Inbound calls (US/Canada)** | \$0.0085/min |
| **Outbound calls (International)** | $0.02–$1.50/min (varies by country) |
| **Inbound calls (International)** | $0.01–$0.50/min (varies by country) |
| **Voicemail drops** | \$0.015/drop |
| **Call recording** | Included (no additional charge) |
| **Call transcription** | \$0.05/min (AI-powered) |
**Included features:** Call tracking, call recording, IVR/phone trees, ring groups, call whisper, call forwarding, voicemail.
**How to enable:** Go to **Settings → Phone Numbers → LC Phone** and click **Enable**.
### AI add-ons
AI-powered content generation for emails, social posts, blog articles, website copy, and more.
| Item | Details |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Pricing** | $0.03–$0.09 per 1,000 words generated |
| **Plan inclusions** | Starter: 100 credits/mo, Pro: 500 credits/mo, Enterprise: 2,000 credits/mo |
| **Overage** | Charged per additional credit used beyond plan inclusion |
| **Use cases** | Email subject lines, blog drafts, social captions, landing page copy, ad copy |
One credit equals approximately 1,000 words of generated content. Shorter generations (e.g., a subject line) still consume a minimum of 0.1 credits.
AI chatbot that engages leads, answers questions, and qualifies prospects in real time across SMS, web chat, and messaging channels.
| Item | Details |
| ---------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Pricing** | $0.02–$0.05 per message exchange |
| **Availability** | Pro and Enterprise plans |
| **Channels** | Web chat, SMS, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM, WhatsApp |
| **Features** | Lead qualification, FAQ responses, appointment booking, custom training |
| **Training** | Upload your knowledge base, FAQs, and brand guidelines to customize responses |
Train your Conversation AI on your specific business content for dramatically better response quality. Go to **Settings → AI → Conversation AI → Training Data**.
Automatically generate and post responses to online reviews across Google, Facebook, and other review platforms.
| Item | Details |
| ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Pricing** | $0.08–$0.15 per AI-generated response |
| **Availability** | Pro and Enterprise plans |
| **Platforms** | Google Business Profile, Facebook, Yelp, and other connected review sites |
| **Features** | Sentiment analysis, tone matching, brand voice customization, auto-posting (with approval workflow option) |
| **Approval modes** | Auto-post immediately, queue for manual review, or suggest-only |
Add AI-powered decision-making and content generation steps directly into your workflows.
| Item | Details |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Pricing** | $0.03–$0.10 per AI step execution |
| **Availability** | Pro and Enterprise plans |
| **Step types** | AI text generation, AI decision/branching, AI summarization, AI sentiment analysis, AI data extraction |
| **Use cases** | Automatically categorize leads, generate personalized follow-ups, summarize call transcripts, route conversations based on intent |
Each time a workflow runs and hits an AI step, one execution is billed. If a workflow contains three AI steps and runs once, that counts as three AI step executions.
### Capacity add-ons
| Add-on | Cost | Billing | Description |
| ----------------------------- | --------------------- | -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Additional users** | $15–$45/user/mo | Per user per month | Add team members beyond your plan's included seats. Cost varies by plan tier (Starter: $45, Pro: $30, Enterprise: \$15). |
| **Additional phone numbers** | $1.50–$3.00/number/mo | Per number per month | Local numbers: $1.50/mo. Toll-free numbers: $2.00/mo. International numbers: \$3.00+/mo. |
| **Additional custom domains** | $10–$20/domain/mo | Per domain per month | Add custom domains for websites, funnels, and landing pages beyond your plan's included domains. |
| **Additional file storage** | $2–$5/GB/mo | Per GB per month | Expand your media storage beyond the plan-included limit. |
### Premium add-ons
| Add-on | Cost | Billing | Description |
| ------------------------ | ------------------- | ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Premium Actions** | $0.01–$0.05/action | Per execution | Advanced workflow actions including AI steps, premium integrations, and multi-channel triggers. Pricing varies by action complexity. |
| **SEO tools** | $30–$70/location/mo | Per location per month | Business listing management across 60+ directories, keyword tracking, SEO audit reports, citation building. |
| **Dedicated IP (email)** | $50–$100/mo | Flat monthly fee | A dedicated IP address for email sending. Recommended for accounts sending 100,000+ emails/month. Includes IP warm-up support. |
## Usage tracking dashboard
Monitor your real-time usage from **Settings → Billing → Usage Dashboard**. The dashboard shows:
| Metric | What's displayed |
| -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Email sends** | Sent this cycle vs. plan limit, with daily trend chart |
| **SMS/MMS** | Messages sent, segments used, cost to date |
| **Phone minutes** | Inbound and outbound minutes used, cost to date |
| **Workflow executions** | Executions this cycle vs. plan limit |
| **AI usage** | Credits or interactions consumed per AI feature |
| **Storage** | Current storage used vs. plan limit |
| **API calls** | Calls made today vs. daily limit |
| **WhatsApp conversations** | Conversations by type, cost to date |
Bookmark the Usage Dashboard for quick access. If you manage costs closely, check it weekly to avoid surprise overages.
### Usage breakdown by account
If you manage multiple accounts, the Usage Dashboard can display usage per account. Toggle the **Per account** view to see which accounts are consuming the most resources.
## How usage resets
Usage counters reset on your **billing anchor date** each month:
| Usage type | Reset behavior |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Emails** | Counter resets to 0 on your billing date |
| **SMS/MMS** | No reset — pure pay-per-use with no monthly allowance |
| **Phone minutes** | No reset — pure pay-per-use |
| **Workflow executions** | Counter resets to 0 on your billing date |
| **AI credits** | Counter resets to 0 on your billing date. Unused credits do not roll over |
| **API calls** | Daily limit resets at midnight UTC |
| **Storage** | Does not reset — cumulative measurement |
Unused included usage (emails, workflow executions, AI credits) does **not** roll over to the next month. Use it or lose it.
## Overage alerts and notifications
HoopAI sends automatic notifications as you approach and exceed your usage limits:
| Alert threshold | Notification method | Message |
| -------------------- | --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **50% of limit** | In-app banner | "You've used 50% of your \[usage type] for this billing cycle" |
| **80% of limit** | Email + in-app | "You're approaching your \[usage type] limit — 80% consumed" |
| **100% of limit** | Email + in-app + SMS (if enabled) | "You've reached your \[usage type] limit. Overage charges now apply." |
| **150% of limit** | Email + in-app | "Your \[usage type] overage is significant. Review your Usage Dashboard." |
| **Custom threshold** | Configurable | Set your own alert thresholds in Settings → Billing → Alert Preferences |
### Configuring alerts
Navigate to **Settings → Billing → Alert Preferences**.
For each usage type (email, SMS, phone, AI, workflows), set custom percentage thresholds or absolute values.
Select how you want to be notified: email, in-app notification, SMS, or all three.
Optionally add other team members (e.g., a finance manager) to receive billing alerts.
### Spending caps
To prevent runaway overage charges, you can set **hard spending caps**:
1. Go to **Settings → Billing → Usage Limits**
2. For each usage category, enter a maximum monthly spend
3. When the cap is reached, the service is **paused** for the remainder of the billing cycle
Enabling a spending cap means services will stop when the cap is hit. For example, if you cap SMS spending at \$50/mo and hit that limit mid-month, all outbound SMS will be paused until your next billing cycle. Use caps carefully for mission-critical channels.
## How to enable or disable add-ons
Navigate to **Settings → Billing → Add-Ons** (or **Settings → Billing → Manage Plan → Add-Ons**).
Review the list of available add-ons with descriptions and pricing. Some add-ons may require a minimum plan tier.
Click **Enable** or **Add** next to the desired add-on. Some add-ons (like LC Email or WhatsApp) require additional configuration steps.
Review the prorated charge for the current billing cycle and confirm. The add-on activates immediately.
Navigate to **Settings → Billing → Add-Ons** and find the add-on you want to remove under **Active Add-Ons**.
Click **Disable** or **Remove** next to the add-on.
HoopAI shows you what will change when the add-on is removed. For example, disabling LC Phone means you lose call tracking features.
Click **Confirm**. The add-on remains active until the end of your current billing cycle. No partial refund is issued.
## Volume discounts and enterprise pricing
For high-volume users, HoopAI offers volume-based pricing tiers that automatically reduce your per-unit costs:
### Email volume tiers
| Monthly volume | Per-email rate |
| ------------------------- | ----------------- |
| Up to plan limit | Included (\$0.00) |
| First 10,000 over limit | \$0.001/email |
| 10,001–50,000 over limit | \$0.0008/email |
| 50,001–200,000 over limit | \$0.0006/email |
| 200,001+ over limit | \$0.0004/email |
### SMS volume tiers (US/Canada)
| Monthly volume | Per-segment rate |
| ----------------------- | ---------------- |
| First 5,000 segments | \$0.0079/segment |
| 5,001–25,000 segments | \$0.0070/segment |
| 25,001–100,000 segments | \$0.0060/segment |
| 100,001+ segments | \$0.0050/segment |
### Phone volume tiers (US/Canada outbound)
| Monthly volume | Per-minute rate |
| -------------------- | --------------- |
| First 1,000 minutes | \$0.014/min |
| 1,001–5,000 minutes | \$0.012/min |
| 5,001–20,000 minutes | \$0.010/min |
| 20,001+ minutes | \$0.008/min |
Volume tiers are calculated automatically each billing cycle. You do not need to commit to a volume tier in advance — HoopAI applies the best rate retroactively based on your total monthly usage.
### Enterprise custom pricing
Enterprise customers with very high usage volumes or specific requirements can negotiate custom pricing:
* **Custom email rates** for 500,000+ emails/month
* **Dedicated phone rate cards** for call center operations
* **Bundled AI pricing** for heavy AI feature usage
* **Custom SLA** with guaranteed uptime and support response times
* **Dedicated infrastructure** for data isolation requirements
Contact your account manager or email support to discuss enterprise pricing.
## Frequently asked questions
Some add-ons offer a free trial period (typically 7–14 days). Check the add-on details page in **Settings → Billing → Add-Ons** for trial availability. If no trial is listed, contact support to request one.
No. AI credits included in your plan reset to zero at each billing cycle. Purchase additional credits only when you need them to avoid waste.
A single SMS segment is **160 characters** using GSM-7 encoding (standard Latin characters). If your message uses Unicode characters (emojis, non-Latin scripts), a segment is **70 characters**. Messages longer than one segment are billed as multiple segments. For example, a 320-character GSM message is billed as 2 segments.
Yes. If you manage multiple accounts, you can configure individual spending caps per account from **Settings → accounts → \[Account Name] → Billing Limits**.
The add-on remains active until the end of your current billing cycle. No prorated refund is issued. The add-on will not renew on your next billing date.
Currently, add-ons are billed monthly only, regardless of whether your base plan is monthly or annual. Enterprise customers may negotiate annual add-on pricing as part of a custom agreement.
Go to **Settings → Billing → Add-Ons**. Your active add-ons are listed at the top with their activation date and current monthly cost. You can also see them itemized on your latest invoice.
Yes. Go to **Settings → Phone Numbers**, select the number, and click **Transfer to account**. The number retains its configuration and call history during the transfer.
WhatsApp Business is available in most countries where Meta supports the WhatsApp Business API. Pricing varies by region. Some countries may have additional regulatory requirements. Check the WhatsApp add-on page for a full list of supported countries and rates.
The default email sender uses shared sending infrastructure. LC Email gives you a **dedicated** sending domain and infrastructure, which isolates your sender reputation. This is recommended for high-volume senders or businesses where email deliverability is critical.