Monthly active contacts (MACs) is the usage metric behind SleekFlow’s new pricing. It aligns what you pay with how much value you get from customer engagement on SleekFlow. In this article, we will walk you through how monthly active contacts will be calculated.
What are monthly active contacts (MACs)?
A contact is counted as 1 MAC for the current billing month if any one of the following happens:
- Incoming message: the contact sends you a message on any connected channel (including Live Chat).
-
Outgoing message: the contact receives a message sent from your business, including messages sent via:
- Inbox (all channels, Live Chat included)
- Flow Builder (automations)
- AI agent
- WhatsApp Co-existence (WhatsApp Business App)
-
Zapier / Make.com / SleekFlow API
ℹ️ When a customer reacts to your message with an emoji (e.g., 👍 / ❤️), the system considers it as a new incoming message. Emoji reactions therefore count towards your monthly active contacts (MACs) limit.
What does not count
The actions below do not count toward MACs:
- Contacts who only receive a Broadcast and don’t reply
- Messages sent and received inside the AI agent playground
- Messages from internal tools: Testing channel
- Contacts created/imported/synced only (no messaging activity), e.g., via CRM sync
ℹ️ A contact can message you in multiple channels and still counts as 1 MAC for the month.
Some examples:
- You sent a Flow message to a contact via WhatsApp → Counts as a MAC
- You imported 5,000 contacts but didn’t message them → Doesn’t count
- You broadcast to a list and no one replies → Doesn’t count
- A contact chats with you via Instagram and later via Live Chat → Counts as 1 MAC (not two)
Difference between MACs and total contacts
- Total contacts = everyone in your workspace database
-
Monthly active contacts (MACs) = only the contacts that were active (as defined above) this month
What happens when I reach my MAC limit?
To protect service quality, we temporarily pause actions that would increase MACs. When you hit 100%:
- Inbox messaging to/with all contacts (both active and inactive) are paused
- Flow enrollments are paused
- Response from AI agents are paused
- Broadcasts sending are paused
ℹ️ Other non-AI features and your existing data remain available. You can still receive incoming messages from contacts.
Manage your MAC usage
To view and manage your MACs usage:
- Click on the
icon on the left-hand navigation bar - On the Subscriptions page in Plans and Billings, you can review the monthly active contact usage showing your current month’s usage vs. limit
ℹ️ Note: When the MACs limit is reached, messaging and flow enrollments are paused. Existing conversations remain in your Inbox.
Update monthly active contact usage tier
You can adjust the monthly active contact usage tier anytime to match changing engagement needs, scale up for peak periods or bring it down later.
To edit your monthly active contacts (MACs) usage tier:
- Click on the
icon on the left-hand navigation bar -
On the Subscription page in Plans and Billings, you can review the monthly active contact usage showing your current month’s usage vs. limit
- Click on Upgrade plan to update your MACs tier
-
Update the upper limit of monthly active contacts via the dropdown, and continue with payment as required
Monthly active contact auto-scaling
ℹ️ Auto-scaling is enabled by default and can be managed from your subscriptions settings. To learn more about auto-scaling, refer to this article: Auto-scaling
To help prevent service interruptions when your usage grows unexpectedly, SleekFlow offers auto-scaling for monthly active contacts (MACs).
When auto-scaling is enabled, SleekFlow will automatically upgrade your MAC tier to the next available pricing level if your usage exceeds your current limit. This upgrade takes effect immediately to ensure messaging, workflows, and AI responses continue running without disruption.
Before any upgrade occurs, each workspace is also granted a 20% usage buffer above its MACs limit to accommodate short-term spikes in activity.
What happens after you update the MAC tier
When you upgrade your MACs tier, the change takes effect immediately after confirmation. The Plan and Billing page may take a short while to reflect the updated limit. Once the usage refreshes, you’ll see your new limit and updated usage on the page.
If you’d like to downgrade your MACs tier, please contact our team for assistance. For higher-than-listed tiers or complex needs, please contact us to explore Enterprise options with a SleekFlow specialist.
Usage cycle of monthly active contacts
Your monthly active contacts (MACs) limit resets every month based on your plan.
- Paid plans: The cycle starts from the date you purchased your plan
- Free plans: The cycle starts from the date your company was created
- Reset date: The cycle renews on the same day each month. If your start date falls on the last day of the month, it will always reset on the last day of each month
- Upgrades: If you upgrade your plan or MACs tier during a cycle, the upgrade date becomes your new cycle start date
Monthly active contacts (MAC) by plan
Plan details might change
For the most up-to-date pricing and plan information, refer to the Pricing and Plans page.
| Free plan | Pro | Premium | Enterprise | |
| Monthly active contacts (MACs) | 50 | 500 (Add-on available – up to 2,000) | 1,000 (Add-on available – up to 12,000) | Custom |
| User accounts | 3 | 3 (Add-on available) | 5 (Add-on available) | Custom |
| Number of channels | 3 | 3 | 10 | Unlimited* |
*All references to “Unlimited” usage are subject to our Fair Use Policy
FAQs
Q: Why is my MAC usage higher than the number of active conversations?
In some cases, the number of monthly active contacts (MACs) may appear higher or different from the active conversations metric shown in Conversation Analytics. This is expected because the two metrics are calculated differently.
1. MAC counts unique contacts involved in messaging activity
A contact counts as 1 MAC if they have at least one incoming or outgoing message with your business during the billing cycle.
Importantly, a contact does not need to reply to be counted as a MAC. If your business sends an outbound message to a contact (for example, through an automated flow), that contact will still count toward your MAC usage.
This means businesses that rely heavily on automations or outbound messaging may see higher MAC usage even if the reply volume is relatively low.
2. Active conversations are calculated differently
The active conversations metric in Analytics measures conversation activity based on calendar-day interactions, rather than counting unique contacts.
For example:
- If a single contact exchanges messages with your business across two different days, it will be counted as two active conversations in analytics.
- MAC, however, would still count that contact as 1 MAC for the billing cycle.
Because these two metrics measure activity differently, the numbers may not always match.
3. Data refresh timing may cause temporary differences
Another reason for temporary differences is data refresh timing.
- MAC usage is refreshed more frequently (every 3 hours).
- Analytics dashboards update on a different schedule.
If a large number of contacts are enrolled into flows or receive automated messages between refresh intervals, MAC usage may appear higher until analytics data catches up.
Q: If I delete a contact, does it remove them from this month’s MACs?
No. MACs are based on activity within the cycle; once counted, they remain counted for that month.
Q: Do internal tests count?
No. Messages from the testing channel don’t count.
Q: What happens to AI when MACs run out?
When your MAC limit is reached, AI replies to customers are paused, meaning the AI will not send new messages or respond to customers. Your data/configurations remain intact.