Monthly link allowances

On October 7, 2026, we reduced the free monthly allowance for new accounts to 100 links per workspace. Accounts that existed when this change was rolled out keep 1,000 links per workspace per month. This lets us limit abuse while keeping the previous allowance for existing users and their integrations.

Which allowance applies?

Your workspace menu in the dashboard shows your actual usage and allowance. A workspace shares one allowance across its members, API keys, the website, and API requests. Links created on u301.co and on custom short domains count toward that workspace's monthly allowance.

Existing accounts keep their allowance

Existing accounts were assigned the previous free allowance during the rollout. That eligibility is saved on the account and workspace; it does not expire at the next monthly reset.

• A new workspace created by an eligible existing account also receives the 1,000-link free allowance.
• Joining an existing workspace does not change that workspace's allowance.
• An active paid plan uses its paid allowance. Once that subscription is no longer active, the workspace returns to its original free allowance: 1,000 for eligible existing accounts or 100 for new accounts.

You do not need to apply for an exception or replace an API key to retain an existing account's allowance.

When does the allowance reset?

Usage is counted by UTC calendar month and resets at 00:00 UTC on the first day of each month. It is not a rolling 30-day period or your subscription billing cycle. Unused links do not carry over.

For example, links created from October 1, 2026 at 00:00 UTC up to, but not including, November 1 at 00:00 UTC count toward October. The allowance resets on November 1 at 00:00 UTC.

What counts toward usage?

Each newly saved short link counts once. Usage is shared across the website, API v2, API v3, and bulk creation for the same workspace.

• Returning an existing link with reuseExisting: true does not use another slot. If no matching link exists, creating one uses a slot.
• Deleting a link does not restore that month's allowance.
• A rejected creation does not use a slot.
• A bulk request that needs more new links than the remaining allowance is rejected without creating any new links. Reduce the batch to fit the remaining allowance, wait for the reset, or change to a plan with a larger allowance.

See Create Link for reuse and bulk request examples.

What happens at the limit?

The dashboard shows a warning when usage reaches 80% of the allowance. At 100%, requests to create additional links are rejected. Existing short links continue to work; reaching the monthly allowance does not expire or disable them. Reusing an existing link remains available.

The warning includes the workspace's current usage and next reset date. Review plans if you need a larger allowance.

API response when the allowance is exceeded

Link creation endpoints return HTTP 429 with code: "MONTHLY_LINK_LIMIT_REACHED". This monthly quota response is different from a short-term request-rate limit.

{
  "error": "Monthly link limit reached (100/100). Upgrade your plan or wait until next month.",
  "code": "MONTHLY_LINK_LIMIT_REACHED",
  "limit": 100,
  "used": 100,
  "remaining": 0,
  "resets_at": "2026-11-01T00:00:00.000Z"
}

used is the number of links already created this month; remaining is the number of new links still available. A bulk request can exceed the allowance while remaining is greater than zero if the batch requires too many new links.

Handle the response code rather than matching the English error text. Repeated immediate retries will not increase the allowance. For a monthly quota error, wait until resets_at, reduce an oversized batch, or upgrade the workspace. The JavaScript SDK maps HTTP 429 to RateLimitError (RATE_LIMITED); check its details for the API's code and resets_at. See Error handling.

Anonymous links and existing integrations

Anonymous creation has a separate hourly limit. Signing in uses the selected workspace's monthly allowance. Existing integration exemptions for anonymous creation remain in place; this monthly allowance update does not change them.

Authenticated integrations continue to use their workspace's allowance, including the preserved allowance for eligible existing accounts.

Fry