> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.akua.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Plan tiers
> How your plan tier is resolved and how it affects quotas, instance types, and machine lifecycle
Your plan tier determines your resource limits, available instance types, and machine lifecycle rules. Akua resolves your effective tier through a specific chain, and understanding this helps you predict what happens when you upgrade, downgrade, or work across multiple workspaces.
## Tier resolution
### Workspace tier
Each workspace has its own plan:
* **No active subscription** → Free tier
* **Pro plan active** → Pro tier (set automatically when you subscribe)
The workspace tier controls quota limits, instance type filtering, and machine TTL.
### User tier
Some operations use a user-level tier such as rate limit naming and quota info display. Your user tier is the **highest tier across all your workspaces**:
* You belong to 3 workspaces: 2 Free + 1 Pro → your user tier is **Pro**
* You belong to 2 workspaces: both Free → your user tier is **Free**
Upgrading one workspace to Pro also elevates your personal rate limits.
## What each tier controls
### Instance type filtering
When your cluster scales, the available instance types depend on the workspace tier:
| Tier | Available instance types |
| --------------- | ------------------------------- |
| Free | Small, affordable types only |
| Pro | All types from the provider |
| BYOM (any tier) | All types in your cloud account |
### Quota enforcement
Quotas are enforced at the moment a machine record is created, preventing concurrent requests from exceeding the limit.
| Metric | Free limit | Pro limit | BYOM |
| --------- | ---------- | --------- | --------- |
| Machines | 1 | 3 | Unlimited |
| CPU cores | 2 | 8 | Unlimited |
| Memory | 4 GiB | 16 GiB | Unlimited |
| Clusters | 1 | 3 | N/A |
Free-tier workspaces are also subject to a per-user check to prevent circumventing limits by creating multiple free workspaces. Pro workspaces skip this check.
### Machine TTL
| Tier | TTL | What happens |
| ------------------- | -------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| Free (Akua-managed) | 7 days | Auto-deleted with email reminders at 5d, 2d, and 24h |
| Pro (Akua-managed) | No limit | Runs until manually deleted or suspended |
| BYOM (any tier) | No limit | You pay the provider directly |
### Auto-scaling behavior
| Tier | Auto-scaling |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| Free | Enabled within quota (1 machine max) |
| Pro | Enabled within quota (3 machines max) |
| Downgraded (was Pro) | Paused automatically when subscription ends |
## When tiers change
### Upgrade (Free to Pro)
Takes effect immediately:
1. All provider instance types become available (not just small types).
2. Quotas increase (1 → 3 machines, 2 → 8 CPU cores, and so on).
3. Machine TTL is removed; existing machines no longer expire.
4. Auto-scaling limits expand.
### Downgrade (Pro to Free)
Takes effect at the end of the billing period:
1. Akua-managed machines are [suspended](/clusters/machines#suspend-and-resume) (not deleted).
2. Auto-scaling is paused on managed clusters.
3. Quotas revert to free limits.
4. Instance type filtering returns to small types only.
5. BYOM machines are unaffected.
### BYOM (any tier)
Adding your own cloud API key bypasses all quota enforcement:
* No machine count limit.
* No CPU or memory limit.
* No TTL.
* All instance types available in your cloud account.
* No auto-scaling restrictions.
The only Akua charge is the management subscription. Cloud compute costs go directly to your provider.
## Related topics
Upgrade, manage, and cancel your subscription.
Full plan comparison with included limits.
How resource quotas are enforced across workspaces.
Connect your own cloud machines to bypass compute limits.