Mention limits
Each plan has a monthly mention limit. A "mention" is a single post or comment that one of your scouts finds and processes.
Limits by plan
| Plan | Monthly mentions |
|---|---|
| Starter | 5,000 |
| Pro | 25,000 |
| Ultra | 100,000 |
Mention counts reset on the first of each calendar month.
How mentions are counted
Every post that your scouts find counts as one mention against your monthly limit. This includes posts that are later filtered out by AI filters or negative keywords — the mention is counted when it's found, not when it appears in your feed.
If multiple scouts find the same post, it's deduplicated and only counted once.
Warning emails
ForumScout sends warning emails as you approach your limit:
- 75% warning — You've used three-quarters of your monthly allowance
- 90% warning — You're close to the limit
Both warnings can be toggled on or off in Settings > Mention Limit Warnings.
What happens when you hit the limit
When you reach your monthly mention limit, your scouts are automatically paused. They stop running and no new mentions are collected until:
- The next month starts — Mention counts reset on the 1st, and scouts resume automatically
- You upgrade your plan — A higher plan gives you more mentions, and scouts resume immediately
Paused scouts don't lose their configuration. They simply stop running until mentions are available again.
Checking your usage
You can see your current mention usage in two places:
- Billing page — Shows a progress bar of mentions used vs. your limit
- Feed — Shows your current month mention count
You can also view mention counts per scout to see which scouts are using the most mentions.
Tips
- Monitor high-volume scouts — If one scout is consuming most of your mentions, consider narrowing its keywords or adding more specific AI filters.
- Pause scouts you're not actively using — Paused scouts don't consume mentions.
- Keep warning emails on — Getting surprised by auto-paused scouts is worse than two extra emails per month.
- Plan for growth — If you consistently hit your limit in the first half of the month, upgrade before you start missing mentions.