Limit and lock questions
Common questions about carrier limits, library limits, and what soft lock means. For the full picture, see subscription tiers, limits, and soft lock.
What counts toward my carrier limit?
Your plan caps how many active (non-archived) carriers you can have. Archived carriers don’t count. Equipment items have their own separate cap and don’t consume carrier slots — the two counts are fully independent. See understand tiers and carrier limits.
What is soft lock?
Soft lock is what happens when your organization goes over a plan limit — for example after a downgrade, or if a limit is reduced. Instead of losing your data, the affected areas simply become read-only until you’re back under the limit or you upgrade.
What still works when I’m locked?
Winding down always works. You can still check carriers in and close loans — nothing traps a carrier out on loan — and all your data stays readable. Reservations and the waitlist stay available too. What’s paused is new lending and growth: starting a new check-out, adding carriers, and creating libraries while you’re over the limit.
Why can’t I check anything out while I’m over the limit?
Being over your plan limits is soft lock, and it pauses new check-outs on every carrier — including ones you already own — not just adding new inventory. This is deliberate: while you’re over the cap, the account is meant to wind down, not take on new loans. Check-in and returns still work throughout. To start checking out again, get back under the limit (archive carriers you don’t need active) or upgrade — see below.
How do I get out of a locked state?
Two ways:
- Get back under the limit — archive carriers you no longer need, or remove a library, until your active count fits your plan.
- Upgrade your plan — move to a tier with a higher cap. See upgrade or downgrade.
Once you’re within the limit, the read-only areas unlock automatically.
I downgraded and now I’m over the limit. Did I lose anything?
No. Downgrading never deletes carriers or libraries. If you end up over the new plan’s cap, you go into soft lock instead: your data stays intact and read-only where it applies, and you can add again once you’re under the limit or upgrade back.
What are the actual limits per plan?
The exact carrier and library caps for each tier are listed on subscription tiers, limits, and soft lock and understand tiers and carrier limits.