Auto top-up
Auto top-up buys a credit pack for you with your saved card, so you never run dry during a peak.
Setting it up
Section titled “Setting it up”Owners and billing members turn it on in Billing → Buy credits → Auto top-up and save:
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pack | Which pack to buy (5k, 25k or 100k). |
| When credits drop below | Buy when your available credits drop below this percentage of the plan’s monthly quota, e.g. 10 %. |
| When the first email is held | Buy as soon as a message is held for lack of credits. |
| Max. top-ups per month | Upper bound on the number of automatic purchases per calendar month (1–20). |
| Monthly spending cap | Upper bound on the amount spent by auto top-up per calendar month, in your billing currency. It must cover at least one pack. |
Choose at least one trigger – you can use both. Auto top-up needs a saved card: buy one pack through Stripe Checkout first (the card is saved) or add a card via Billing → Plan → Manage cards & invoices.
What happens
Section titled “What happens”- A trigger fires: the threshold is checked every 15 minutes, the held trigger fires right when a message is held.
- Frontmail checks the monthly count and spending cap (per calendar month, UTC). If the next purchase would exceed either, nothing is bought until the next month – messages keep going to the hold queue. Only one automatic purchase runs at a time.
- Your saved card is charged off-session for the pack.
- The pack grant is created and the hold queue is released.
- The owner, admins and billing members receive an auto top-up completed email with the invoice.
The whole flow typically takes a few seconds.
Emails sent with the public key
Section titled “Emails sent with the public key”Anyone can copy your public key from your website and send requests with it. So that nobody can spend your money that way, emails sent with the public key don’t trigger auto top-up by default – neither When the first email is held nor the threshold check when the email is accepted. They wait in the hold queue until credits arrive. Turn on Public-key emails may trigger auto top-up in Billing → Buy credits → Spending by public-key traffic if your website forms should buy packs too. Requests with a private key, dashboard sends and auto-replies are not affected, and the periodic threshold check (every 15 minutes) still looks at your balance. The monthly count and spending cap always apply.
When a payment fails
Section titled “When a payment fails”If the charge is declined or the bank requires authentication that can’t happen off-session, auto top-up is paused and you get an auto top-up failed email. The Auto top-up card in the dashboard shows Auto top-up was paused because a payment failed. Update the card via Manage cards & invoices (or buy a pack manually, which lets you complete 3-D Secure) and save the auto top-up settings again to resume it. Messages keep going to the hold queue in the meantime – none are lost.
Auto top-up is also paused if a payment of your organization is disputed (a chargeback). The unused credits bought with the disputed payment are removed right away; if the dispute is decided in your favour, they are added back with their original expiry. Contact support, and save the auto top-up settings again to resume it.