What happens at a limit (soft lock)
When your organization goes over a tier limit, the affected areas become read-only. This is soft lock. It’s designed so a downgraded or expired-trial organization can still wind down cleanly — nothing you already have stops working.
Two situations
There are two distinct cases, and they behave differently.
At the cap. You’ve filled every slot your tier allows — for example 10 active carriers on Free. You can’t add another carrier or library, but you’re not in soft lock. Everything else works normally.
Over the cap (soft lock). Your usage is above the tier limit, which almost always follows a downgrade or a trial ending at a lower tier. For example, you had 40 carriers on Pro and dropped to Free (limit 10). The affected areas now go read-only.
What still works in soft lock
Soft lock never blocks reading your data or winding down existing loans:
- Check-in still works. You can always receive returned carriers and close loans.
- Existing loans keep working — renewals and returns on loans that are already open aren’t blocked.
- Everything is still readable. Carriers, caregivers, loans, and reports stay visible.
- Removing existing waitlist entries stays available, so you can clear queues.
What’s blocked in soft lock
- Adding carriers — blocked until you’re back under the carrier limit.
- Creating libraries — blocked until you’re back under the library limit.
Feature gates from a lower tier also apply once you’re on it. For example, if you drop to Free, you lose the ability to add new waitlist entries or renewals (a Starter-and-up feature), though you can still clear existing ones.
Getting back to normal
You have two ways out of soft lock:
- Get back under the limit. Archive carriers you don’t need active — archived carriers don’t count toward the cap. Once your active count is at or below the limit, the block lifts.
- Upgrade. Move to a tier whose limits cover your current usage. See Upgrade or downgrade.
Sponsored and Founding Partner organizations
Sponsored and Founding Partner organizations bypass tier limits entirely and never enter soft lock.