Project Paused Despite Daily Active Usage (20+ Users) – Need Clarification

I noticed that my project was automatically paused, even though it is actively being used. The project is an attendance application that is used daily by 20+ users, so it should not be considered inactive.

According to the new policy, projects are supposed to be paused only after 7 consecutive days of inactivity. However, my project has continuous usage and regular requests through the Node Appwrite SDK.

For now, I have manually resumed the project, but I’m concerned about this happening again in the future.

Could you please help me understand:

1. Why the project was paused despite active usage?
2. Whether there might be an issue with activity detection when using the Node Appwrite SDK?
3. How I can prevent this from happening again?

Thanks for your help 🙏

I have also attached the mail I got in pdf format as a proof.

Btw
I will also need a clarification because I have seen this happening to others
https://discord.com/channels/564160730845151244/564160731327758347/1481398380906418336

same here, it does not look good guys, my app has nearly 100+ requests daily, still it got passed.

Hey, as mentioned in our official documentation — Free plan projects remain active as long as they show development activity in the Console. If there hasn’t been any activity there, the project may be automatically paused, which is likely what happened in your case.

Thanks for the clarification.

However, I’m still a bit confused about why the project was paused.

This happened not only with my attendance app but also with another project that uses the same stack (Next.js + Node Appwrite SDK). Both projects receive daily traffic and API calls, and the websites are live with users across India using them regularly.

I understand from your explanation and the documentation from Appwrite that the requirement is development activity in the Console, not just runtime usage. However, I actually opened the Console about 2 days ago and did some auditing/checks on the project, so I expected that to count as development activity.

Despite that, I received the project paused email today, which is why I’m a bit confused about how the activity detection works.

Could you please clarify:

• Does simply opening and reviewing things in the Console count as activity, or does it require actual changes (like config updates, deployments, etc.)?
• Do API usage or SDK requests not count at all toward keeping a project active on the free plan?
• Is there a recommended way to ensure active production apps don’t get paused if there isn’t frequent configuration work happening?

Since both of my active projects were paused despite regular usage and recent Console access, I’m wondering if something might have been misclassified.

Also the article https://appwrite.io/changelog/entry/2026-02-20-1 does not clarify anything clearly either update it so it is being understood at once instead of creating a misunderstanding.

I’d appreciate any clarification or suggestions on how to prevent this from happening again.

Thanks!

The inactivity check on the free plan looks for signals that a project is still under active development. Runtime traffic such as API calls, SDK usage, or end-user visits does not count toward this. The free plan is primarily intended for development, learning, and hobby projects that don’t require guaranteed availability.

To prevent abuse of the free infrastructure, we don’t publish the exact activity detection logic and we may change it from time to time. Over the few months we’ve seen repeated attempts to game these systems, which increases costs for everyone using the platform.

If a project is actively being developed, normal development work in the Console will typically keep it active. Projects that need continuous availability without development activity are better suited for a paid plan.

this doesn't sound good. I wanted to upgrade to pro when my app can cover the cost. In fact, I am happy to pay and I did purcahse many services. but if appwrite don't disclose how to stay active, my app just shut down every 7 days. I can't risk using appwrite anymore cuz the sudden pause already made my new project lose some customers.😫 I hope you can define clearly what development activity is. does create execution counts?

If you already have customers, I’d strongly recommend moving to the $25 plan. It’s a small investment for the infrastructure your service depends on, and it sends the right signal. If you’re asking your own customers to trust and pay for your product, it’s reasonable to expect the same level of commitment toward the services you rely on to run it.

I believe many appwrite users are like me. My app still in early stage and I just lose a few trial users and I don't even know is it because of the pause or my app. It basically just earn a few bucks. really hope appwrite can define development activity so I can make my app alive before upgrade 😫

Same here I am using the app to automate some of the tasks which required google forms first but with appwrite it was easy to make within the free tier limit but the activity only in the console seems pretty aggressive to me.

And I am not even earning anything from the automations it is there just to make my life easy.

lol I believe they are for-profit that they won't care about hobby users 🤣 But me and many small developers are very willing to pay, as long as the service really help us to earn. Not explaining what development activity clearly, wasting our time to test and making our apps at risk definitely not gonna help 😓

so we (user with hobby plan) can't do anything to keep the app active except moving to the $25 plan? if that's the case I think I'll give up and find something else to use

Is Supabase the best choice right now?

I totally agree with you

1. Why Supabase stays active
   Supabase remains active as long as there is any interaction with the database or API.

Daily Use: Because people use your app daily, they are likely making API requests (e.g., fetching data, signing in, or updating rows).
Broad Activity Detection: Any Supabase-js request or even logging into the Supabase Dashboard and opening a table counts as activity.
The 7-Day Rule: Supabase only pauses projects that have zero activity for 7 consecutive days. Since your users interact with it daily, the "timer" resets every 24 hours.

2. Why Appwrite keeps pausing
   Appwrite recently updated its Free Plan policy (as of February 2026), and it is currently much stricter than Supabase.

Stricter "Activity" Definition: Appwrite's current policy states that projects stay active only if there is development activity in the Console. Standard API requests from your end-users might not be enough to prevent a pause under their new "sustainability" rules.
Detection Issues: There have been reports of Appwrite projects pausing every 7 days even when they have 20+ daily active users. This suggests their system may be prioritizing "Console logins" or "code changes" over regular user traffic.

i did a research i found out this

@eldad btw I'm facing the same issue, and it's not even every 7 days, it's every 2 days and i guess it's a bug or something in the new system

if you share your project ID, the team can check

i was working on the project and deployed new versions to 2 of my websites also created and used an API key for the development on 13th of March, and the project still got paused on 15th of March which is only 2 days after

What's your project id?

694ac2e3000ea958c5c7

Did you deploy that in the Console or outside of the Console?

Inside of the console, manual deployment (tar.gz file)

Thanks. Let me check with the team