---
title: "Quotas and reservations"
description: "How Autopilot spends a Project's allowance, why it reserves before it works, and what happens when the allowance runs out."
updated: "2026-08-29"
verifiedAgainst:
  - packages/shared/src/autopilot.ts
  - packages/shared/src/free-grant.ts
  - packages/shared/src/trial.ts
  - apps/web/lib/server/acquisition-runtime-control.ts
---

Autopilot spends real allowance, and it spends it carefully, because two runs
that both believed they had the last post would produce one post too many and one
failed charge.

## Reservation before work

A run reserves the posts and images it is about to use before it produces
anything. The reservation is what makes the allowance safe under concurrency: a
second run sees the reservation and plans around it rather than double spending.

If a run fails after reserving, the reservation is released rather than
consuming allowance for work that does not exist.

## What is metered

| Meter | Scope | Paid plan | Free grant |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Posts | Per Project | Per billing period | Lifetime total |
| Topics | Per Project | Per billing period | Lifetime total |
| Images | Per Project | Per billing period | Lifetime total |
| Revisions | Per post | Per post | Regeneration is off |
| Competitors | Per Project | Standing limit | Standing limit |

There is no workspace wide meter. A workspace running two Projects has two
independent allowances. See [usage and limits](/billing/usage).

## When the allowance runs out

Autopilot stops producing for that Project. It does not borrow from another
Project, and it does not carry the shortfall forward.

On a paid plan it resumes when the billing period rolls over. On a Free Project
there is no rollover to wait for: the grant is a lifetime total, so production
stays stopped until the Project is upgraded.

<Callout variant="note">
  On a paid plan this is the most common reason a Project that was publishing
  regularly goes quiet mid month. The usage page for that Project shows it
  directly.
</Callout>

## Autopilot still runs on Free

Both automation modes are included in the Free grant, so a Free Project can run
Assisted or Full and can publish on its own where its Directions allow it. What
Free changes is the counter behind the run, not the automation in front of it.

Free planning works inside a rolling seven day horizon. That horizon is a
planning window, not a second allowance: it decides which plan a run belongs to,
and it never refills the lifetime counter underneath it.

## During a trial

A trial applies a smaller ceiling over the plan you chose, so a trialing Project
reaches its limit sooner than the plan alone would suggest. That ceiling does
reset with the billing period once the trial converts, which is the difference
between it and a Free grant. See [the trial](/billing/trial).