Upcoming Changes to Podio Free Plan: 100 Item Limit

Dear Podio Users,

As we continue to focus on the stability and reliability of Podio, we are reminded of a general saying "Scalability issues are a good problem to have for a product". Is that really true? Well, partly yes, partly no. Yes because, the product have now proven to have such a great fit and usage in the industry that it has started experiencing scale issues. No because, if the product does not scale in time to accommodate the demand, it would eventually fail. That is why, to support the exponential growth of Citrix Podio, we have been consistently focussing on its scalability over the years and to continue doing so, we often need to take strict decisions, make usage recommendations and put in hard limitations in place.

From 5M in 2012 to 500M in 2017, 1B in 2019 and finally crossing the 2B mark in early 2022, we currently have more 2.19 billion items on Podio and the number grows by thousands each day. As much as this delights us to see this growth, we are assessing all parameters to stay ahead,  tackling this increasing volume of data before it becomes a scalability challenge.

In order to provide a better user experience, stability and system reliability in Podio for all subscribers, we have decided to reduce the item limit from 500 items to 100 items for the Free Podio Plan. This is inline with the restrictions we had implemented earlier.

What is the Revised Item Limit Policy?

An organisation (org) on a free plan, can create up to 100 items in total, across all its workspaces and apps. Once an organisation reaches the 100 item limit, it will need to upgrade to any one of the paid plans or else it will enter the edit-only mode and will eventually be locked. Please note, if a user has both paid and free organisations and s/he crosses the 100 item limit for the free org, then the access will only be locked for the free org and there would be no impact on the paid org.

The existing free and paid features will remain the same.

What happens to the existing free organisations that already have more than 100 items?

With this product news, we are providing all existing organisations a 30-day notice before we impose the revised item limit starting 12th Oct 2022. Organisations can use this 30-day notice period to either pro-actively upgrade their plan for uninterrupted access or take backup and delete some items to come below the 100 item count mark.

Once this new limit is rolled out, all organisations that have more than 100 items, will enter an edit-only mode where they can view, edit, export and delete their data but cannot create new items. They will have another 60 days in this edit-only mode to upgrade their plan before their account gets locked out.

What is the edit-only mode?

On reaching the 100 item limit for an organisation, its users will have access to their data on an edit-only mode for 60 days where they can view, edit, export and delete their data but cannot create new items. It is possible to delete old items to get below the 100 item limit and thereby, get out of the edit-only mode and be able to create new items again. 

What happens to the Data for a Locked Account?

If an organisation does not upgrade even after 60 days in the edit-only mode, then the organisation account will get locked and users will lose access to their data on Podio for that organisation. They will need to upgrade to a paid subscription to access data or contact Podio support for further assistance. 

How do I know I need to upgrade?

We understand that right and timely communication is the key to such plan changes. This news serves as our first communication for the upcoming revision of the item limit.

During these 30 days, before the revised limit is rolled out, please check your organisation's current item count to be aware if you are already above the 100 item limit and need to make necessary changes to your plan before the limit impacts you.

Once the revised limit is in effect, there will be in-app communication in the form of banners and paywall modals that would warn users on exceeding 80% of the item limit and block creation of new item on reaching the 100% limit. So please look out for these paywall alerts while using Podio to be prepared before hitting these limits. 

How to get my organisation’s current item count?

In order to get the item count for your organisation, click on the 3 dots next to your organisation name > Go to Reporting > View the Item Count. This is accessible to all employee users of an organisation on free plan. More details here.

Release Plan

• New 100 item limit will apply to all new free sign-ups from October 12th, 2022 
• Existing free organisation users will start seeing paywalls as per the revised item limit starting October 12th, 2022 with phased roll-out continuing till November 2022

Note: All organisations that are legacy sponsored will not be affected by this change.