TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Overview
• Key terminology
• Scope of the policy
  • What is covered
  • What is excluded
• Why this change was made
• Plan-based hourly email limits
• Enforcement behavior and impact
  • What happens when you reach the limit
  • Expected operational impact
• Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Overview

To maintain strong email delivery rates, protect shared infrastructure, and reduce spam risk, Freshservice enforces a plan-based Fair Usage Policy (FUP) for outgoing emails sent through default mailboxes. This replaces the previous uniform limit of 30,000 outgoing emails per hour across all paid plans.

Freshservice allocates hourly outgoing email limits based on your subscription tier. This structure ensures that higher subscription tiers receive higher sending allowances while protecting shared outbound infrastructure and intellectual property (IP) reputation against bulk or spam-like transmission.

Key terminology

• Email FUP: The Fair Usage Policy governing maximum outgoing email volume per account within a specific time window.

• Default mailbox: A mailbox that sends emails using Freshservice's default email service provider.

• Custom mailbox: A mailbox configured with your own customer-provided SMTP server.

• Hourly limit: The maximum number of outgoing emails your account can send within a one-hour window.

• Discard: The process where an outgoing email exceeding the limit is dropped at the Freshservice platform layer and not delivered to recipients.

Scope of the policy

What is covered

• Outgoing email dispatched through default mailboxes on Freshservice-managed sending paths.

• Active newly signed up accounts (effective November 03, 2026) will be subject to hourly email limits based on their subscription plan.

What is excluded

• Outgoing email sent through custom mailboxes (customer-configured SMTP). Your custom SMTP servers are not subject to these default hourly caps.

Why this change was made

1. Anti-abuse protection: Moving away from a single high limit reduces account exposure to unauthorized bulk or spam sending.

2. Infrastructure and IP reputation: Shared sending channels maintain better deliverability when throttled according to plan size.

3. Commercial alignment: Higher subscription tiers receive proportionally greater outgoing email capacity to match operational requirements.

Plan-based hourly email limits

The following hourly limits apply to outgoing emails sent through default mailboxes for each plan:

Note: Sprout and Starter plans share the same limit of 550 emails per hour.

Enforcement behavior and impact

What happens when you reach the limit

If your account reaches its designated hourly limit for default mailbox sending, any additional email requests during that hour will encounter the following behavior:

• Emails will not be delivered to recipients.

• Emails will be discarded at the Freshservice platform boundary.

Expected operational impact

• Failed notifications: Email triggers from ticket updates, automations, bulk updates, and third-party integrations may fail during the over-limit period.

• High-volume workflows: If your team requires sending higher email volumes on lower tiers, consider upgrading your subscription plan.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

1. Does this policy affect emails sent through our own custom SMTP server?

No. This policy applies strictly to outgoing emails sent through default Freshservice mailboxes.

2. What happens to emails sent after the limit is reached?

Over-limit messages are not delivered and are discarded at the Freshservice platform layer.

3. Do all paid plans still receive 30,000 emails per hour?

No. The flat 30,000 cap is replaced by the plan-based limits once your account migrates.

4. Which plan names are supported under this policy?

Sprout, Starter, Growth, Pro, Enterprise, and Business Team Pro.