Monthly Active Contacts measures how many different contacts your account genuinely engages with during a billing period. Plans with an active-contacts limit use this number, so it only grows when real engagement happens — not when you tidy up your contact list.
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What makes a contact count
A contact becomes active for the current billing period the first time any of these happens:
- A real message is exchanged — the contact messages you, or your team, a Flow Agent, or a Message Sequence sends them a message.
- An automation rule runs on their conversation — for example, a rule that assigns the conversation, adds labels, or sends a reply.
- AI fills in attributes for them — when AI-enabled custom attributes are generated from their conversation.
Each contact counts once per billing period, no matter how many messages or conversations follow.
What doesn’t count
- Blast recipients — sending a blast doesn’t make its recipients active. Only the recipients who reply count.
- System messages — automated messages such as CSAT surveys, greetings, and out-of-office replies.
- Private notes — internal notes your team leaves inside a conversation.
- Housekeeping — editing a contact’s details, adding labels or notes to a contact, or changing a conversation’s status.
Where to see your usage
Open Settings → Billing to see how many active contacts you’ve used in the current period, alongside your plan’s other limits.
When you reach your limit
As you approach your plan’s limit you’ll see a warning banner in the dashboard. At the limit:
- Contacts already counted this billing period — you can keep replying to them as usual, and replies you send them from your phone or the channel’s own app still show up in the conversation.
- Contacts who become active after the limit is reached — messages to them are paused, replies you send them from your phone or app don’t show up in the conversation, and a note in the conversation tells your team why.
- Automatic private replies to comments — paused while you’re over the limit.
- Incoming messages — still arrive from everyone, so you never miss what customers send you.
If your limit goes up, the paused contacts that now fit inside it can be messaged again straight away. To keep messaging more contacts, upgrade your plan, add a pack of extra monthly active contacts from the Add-ons card on the Billing page, or wait for your billing period to reset.