Fair Usage Policy
HotBot AI plans are built to give you generous access to today’s leading AI models. To keep the service fast, reliable, and affordable for everyone, all plans operate under a fair usage policy. The overwhelming majority of our members never notice these limits — they exist to prevent extreme or abusive usage from degrading the experience for everyone else.
How Usage Limits Work
Rather than a single fixed message count, your usage is measured by the computing resources your activity consumes. Some requests cost far more to process than others, so how far your allowance stretches depends on factors such as:
- Which model you use — advanced reasoning models consume significantly more resources per request than faster, lighter models.
- Conversation length — long conversations resend their history with every message, so a reply deep into a long thread costs more than the same question in a fresh chat.
- Attachments and files — analyzing large documents, PDFs, or images increases the resources a request needs.
- Generation features — image and video generation, web search, and deep research are more resource-intensive than a standard chat reply.
Certain high-demand models and generation features also carry daily allowances that reset automatically every 24 hours.
When We May Temporarily Limit Usage
Temporary limits can apply when an account’s activity is far outside typical use. Examples include:
- Sending an unusually large number of requests in a short period of time.
- Sustained, continuous use of the most resource-intensive models.
- Repeatedly processing very large files or generating large volumes of media.
These limits are temporary and lift automatically — they are not a penalty, just a way of balancing capacity across all members.
What Normal Use Looks Like
- Everyday use is always fine. Drafting documents, writing code, brainstorming, studying, analyzing files, and generating images for personal or professional work fits comfortably within every plan.
- Very heavy use may slow down. Running the most powerful models continuously for hours, or generating media in large batches, may occasionally trigger a temporary limit.
- Automated use is not permitted. Driving your account with scripts or bots, or using it as backend infrastructure for another product, is outside the scope of a personal subscription.
Prohibited Usage Patterns
The following are not permitted on any plan and may result in restriction or termination of an account:
- Accessing the service through automated scripts, bots, scrapers, or any non-interactive means.
- Sharing one account between multiple people, or operating multiple accounts to multiply your allowance.
- Reselling, sublicensing, or otherwise offering your access to third parties as a service.
- Attempting to bypass, probe, or interfere with rate limits or other usage controls.
What Happens When You Reach a Limit
If you reach a usage limit, you’ll see a notice directly in the product. Depending on the limit, you may be able to continue right away with a lighter model, or simply wait — allowances reset automatically at the end of their usage window. You never need to contact us or take any action to have a limit lifted.
Why We Have This Policy
Offering flat-price access to premium AI models only works if capacity is shared fairly. This policy lets us keep individual allowances generous while protecting the speed and reliability of the service for every member.
Questions about how the policy applies to your account? Contact us at support@hotbot.com.