When you run out of included review credits (RCs) in a billing period, ADO Pilot either blocks new reviews or charges you for additional RCs — your overage policy controls which. This page explains the two policies and the optional cap that limits how much overage you can accrue.

## Hard-block

With a hard-block policy, the moment your remaining RCs reach zero, new PR reviews are rejected. The PR receives a failing status check named `ai-pr-review` with the message **"AI review blocked — review credit quota exhausted. Upgrade your plan or wait for the next billing period."** No inline review comment is posted on a blocked PR — the failing status check is the only signal you'll see there. Rejected reviews consume zero RCs.

Hard-block is not the default on any standard plan; it applies to enterprise or custom contracts that negotiate a hard cap. Choose it when you want predictable monthly costs and are willing to upgrade or wait for the period reset rather than absorb surprise charges. On a standard plan you get the same predictability by setting an overage cap (below) — including a cap of zero, which behaves like hard-block.

## Auto-overage

With an auto-overage policy, reviews continue running after your included RCs are exhausted. Each extra RC consumed in the period is billed at your plan's per-RC overage rate, totaled at the end of the billing period and added to your next invoice.

Auto-overage is the default for every standard plan — Starter, Team, and Business — on both monthly and annual billing. Reviews keep running even after you exhaust your included RCs, so a busy period never silently stops your PR reviews; the extra usage is billed at your plan's per-RC rate. By default there is no cap (uncapped overage); set an overage cap (below) if you want a known ceiling. Custom-tier accounts negotiate their overage policy as part of their contract; ADO Pilot sets it on the plan when your account is provisioned, rather than it being a toggle on your dashboard.

Worked example. A Business plan includes {% $plans.business.includedRcs %} RCs at an overage rate of {% $plans.business.overageRate %} per extra RC. If you consume 1,500 RCs in the period, the first {% $plans.business.includedRcs %} are covered by your plan and the remaining 200 are billed at {% $plans.business.overageRate %} each.

## Overage cap

The overage cap is the safety valve on auto-overage: a per-period maximum number of overage RCs you are willing to be billed for. Once your overage reaches the cap, ADO Pilot switches to hard-block for the rest of the period. The cap resets at the start of the next billing period.

Set or change the cap from the Billing page:

{% steps %}

### Step 1 — Open the Billing page

In the ADO Pilot dashboard, go to **Billing**. Find the **Overage cap** section.

### Step 2 — Enter a cap value

Type the maximum number of overage RCs you want to allow per period. The page shows an estimated cost beside the input so you can sanity-check the dollar exposure.

{% callout type="info" title="Identity re-confirmation required" %}
Saving the cap requires you to recently re-confirm your identity (a "step-up" check).

How you confirm depends on how you sign in: if you have two-factor authentication enrolled in **Settings → Security**, you enter a fresh authenticator code; if you sign in with a password, you re-enter that password; and if you sign in without a password — a magic link, an email code, or **Sign in with Microsoft** — you enter a one-time code we email to your current address. Two-factor authentication is not required. See [Step-up re-authentication](../trust/account-security.md#step-up-re-authentication) for details.
{% /callout %}

### Step 3 — Save

Click **Save**. The new cap takes effect immediately for the current period.

{% /steps %}

The default for auto-overage tiers is no cap (uncapped overage). If you set the cap to zero, auto-overage behaves like hard-block.

{% callout type="info" title="During a free trial" %}
The overage cap doesn't apply while you're on the trial: trial usage is fixed at the {% $trial.rcs %}-credit trial cap no matter what cap you set here. Any cap you configure takes effect the moment your subscription starts. See [Trial and conversion](./trial-and-conversion.md).
{% /callout %}

## Choosing a policy

- **Hard-block** — predictable cost, occasional review interruptions when you exceed the allocation.
- **Auto-overage with no cap** — continuous reviews, variable cost.
- **Auto-overage with a cap** — continuous reviews up to a known maximum spend, then a hard-block until the period resets.

{% callout type="info" title="When does the cap reset?" %}
The cap, like the RC allocation, resets at the start of every billing period. See [Billing periods](./billing-periods.md) for when that boundary lands.
{% /callout %}