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Seats & Instance Limits

Lakehousecat enforces two independent limits per subscription tier: user seats and active instances. Both are checked by the backend — not just hinted at in the UI — so the limits apply regardless of which path (UI, CLI, or API) is used to invite a user or activate an instance.

Seat Limits​

Lakehousecat uses seat-based billing — each user who accepts an invitation occupies a seat. See User Management for the day-to-day mechanics of inviting, editing, and removing users.

If your organization is already at its seat limit for the current tier, inviting another user is rejected:

Seat limit reached (1/1). Please upgrade your subscription to add more users.

On the FREE tier this means only the Administrator (1 seat) can use the instance — inviting any additional user requires upgrading first. On paid tiers, the same check applies once you reach the tier's Max Users limit (see Billing for the tier table).

Instance Limits​

Each Instance is one deployed Lakehousecat environment. Your subscription's Max Instances limit caps how many instances can be active at the same time across your organization.

If you deactivate an instance, or your subscription's Max Instances limit decreases (e.g. after a downgrade — see Changing or Canceling Your Plan), any instance beyond the limit is moved to Suspended, not deleted:

  • A Suspended instance keeps all of its data and configuration intact.
  • It does not accept new licenses/requests while suspended.
  • Reactivating it from the customer portal brings it back to Ready — no redeploy or data loss.

This lets you free up capacity for a new instance or come back within limits after a downgrade without permanently losing an environment.

Deleting an instance releases its seats​

Deactivating (suspending) an instance keeps its user seats booked. Deleting an instance in the customer portal (Danger Zone → Delete Instance) releases the seats of the users invited to that instance from your subscription — on a monthly plan pro rata, on a yearly plan at the next renewal. The base fee, which covers the initial Administrator, stays.

After the deletion:

  • Invited users can no longer sign in once the instance's current license token expires — at the latest after 72 hours.
  • Only the initial Administrator keeps access, in read-only / free mode, so you can still take backups and exports.
  • Deleting an instance cannot be undone.

Downgrade Readiness​

Because seats and instances are enforced limits, you cannot downgrade to a tier whose limits your organization currently exceeds. Before a downgrade is accepted, your current seat count and active instance count must already fit within the target tier — see Changing or Canceling Your Plan for how to prepare for a downgrade.