What Does the Webhooks Capacity Limit Error Mean?
Killiane MenandThe capacity limit error occurs when you’ve exceeded the total monthly Compute Units (CUs) allotted to your Alchemy account. Each Alchemy plan has a set CU limit, and once that limit is reached, your services—such as webhooks—may stop operating until the next billing cycle or until you upgrade your plan to gain more CUs.
Capacity Limit Example
If you are using many webhook events throughout the month and your CU usage exceeds your account’s limit, you’ll see a capacity limit error, such as:
{
"webhookId": "wh_127lzhz0dfwwimwe",
"id": "whevt_55i2al4sc2ivp1m8",
"createdAt": "2022-12-05T23:43:16.379Z",
"type": "ADDRESS_ACTIVITY",
"event": {
"error": "Monthly capacity limit exceeded. Visit https://dashboard.alchemy.com/settings/billing to upgrade your scaling policy for continued service."
}
}This error indicates that your webhook events have consumed all available CUs, and additional events will not be processed until the next cycle, or unless you upgrade your plan.
Understanding Compute Unit (CU) Consumption for Webhooks
Every webhook event you process consumes Compute Units (CUs) based on the amount of data transmitted.
1 byte of data transmitted through a webhook consumes 0.04 CUs.
A typical webhook event usually involves about 1,000 bytes of data, which consumes approximately 40 CUs per event.
The more data your webhooks process, the more CUs they consume, and reaching your monthly CU limit will trigger the capacity limit error.
What to Do When You Hit the Capacity Limit
If you receive a capacity limit error, there are 3 options:
Wait for the Next Billing Cycle: Your CUs will reset at the start of the next billing period, and your webhooks will resume operation.
Upgrade Your Plan: If your app or project requires more CUs, you can upgrade to a higher tier by visiting your Alchemy Dashboard in the billing section.
Enable the Auto-Scale: If you are on the Growth or Scale tier, you can enable the Auto-Scale feature to allocate additional CUs when you hit your limit, ensuring uninterrupted service!
📘 For more information on CU pricing and webhook usage, refer to the Alchemy Docs
