The wallet: usage costs without surprises

Result

You have your client's monthly usage budget worked out with real, dated prices, and a weekly spending alert set to match it.

Estimated time

35 minutes

Cost

US$ 0. Doing the math and setting the alert uses no wallet balance.

Analogy

Step-by-step guide

Menu paths are shown as they appear in the English interface, with the Spanish name in parentheses for teams that work in Spanish. Every price carries the date of the page it comes from. HighLevel changes them, so check the date before you quote a client.

1. 01

   Split what the card pays from what the wallet pays

   Settings → Billing → Wallet & TransactionsCopy path

   In a Spanish-language account: Configuración → Facturación → Wallet & Transactions

   In Agency View, open Settings → Billing. Two ways of paying live there, and they don't mix.

   The card pays the fixed costs: your plan and monthly add-ons. For example, the WhatsApp subscription (US$ 10 a month per sub-account, price as of 22 Sep 2026), listings or WordPress hosting.

   The wallet pays for what gets used: texts, calls and numbers, email, email verification, AI, WhatsApp messages and premium workflow actions.

   Open Wallet & Transactions. HighLevel charges your agency wallet for the usage of all your sub-accounts. It never charges your client directly.

   Check the top-up you chose in mission 1. It can't be turned off: you decide the amount and the threshold.

   If Auto-update is on, HighLevel raises the amount when top-ups fire more than three times in seven days. Turning it off doesn't stop the top-ups.

   Key points

   • If a top-up fails, HighLevel tries every card you saved before. If the wallet still goes negative, texts, calls and email stop until a payment goes through.
   • If the charge for your plan fails, which goes to the card, you keep access for 21 days. After that, HighLevel locks the account.
   • Wallet credit doesn't pay for your plan. And the card only pays for usage through wallet top-ups.
   • When you quote a client, always split the two numbers: the fixed one, on the card, and the variable one, from the wallet.
   • Note: number rental and the A2P campaign are fixed, but they come out of the wallet.

   Source: F1, F2, F3, F4, F11

   Card · fixed costs

   Plan

   WhatsApp subscriptionUS$ 10 a month per sub-account · price as of 22 Sep 2026

   Other monthly add-ons

   Wallet · what gets used

   Texts and numbers

   Email and verification

   WhatsApp messages

   AI

   Premium workflow actions

   Auto top-upYou set the amount and the threshold

   Weekly alertWallet ÷ 4

   HighLevel prices carry their date; review them every month

   Settings → Billing → Wallet & Transactions

2. 02

   Count texts by segment, not by message

   A text is billed by the segment. One segment holds up to 160 plain characters, from the alphabet called GSM-7.

   A single emoji, or any character outside that alphabet, switches the whole message to Unicode. Then a segment drops to 70 characters.

   If the message doesn't fit in one segment, it splits, and each part holds a little less: 153 plain characters or 67 in Unicode.

   To cell phones in the US and Canada, LC Phone charges US$ 0.00747 per segment sent or received (price as of 29 Sep 2026).

   On top of that, the carrier adds its fee per segment: US$ 0.0035 to US$ 0.0050 when sent, US$ 0.0025 to US$ 0.0100 when received. HighLevel suggests estimating with US$ 0.005 (23 Jul 2026).

   To text in the US you need a local number, at US$ 1.15 a month (price as of 29 Sep 2026).

   You also need the A2P registration from mission 4: US$ 22.50 once, plus a campaign from US$ 1.50 to US$ 10 a month (prices as of 24 Sep 2026).

   Key points

   • Texting Mexico costs far more. For other countries, HighLevel's SMS guide points to Twilio's pricing page. In October 2026, Twilio lists US$ 0.1819 per segment sent to Mexico.
   • That's about 24 times the US rate. Treat it as a reference: it's Twilio's list price, and HighLevel's own rate by country may differ.
   • If some clients have Mexican cell numbers, WhatsApp is the cheaper channel for them. A utility template costs about 20 times less than a text (step 3).
   • Keep reminders under 160 characters and skip the emojis. In HighLevel's example, a few emojis took a message from 1 segment to 4.
   • If your client gets many text replies, your real cost can run a bit above the estimate: the fee per received segment goes up to US$ 0.0100.

   Source: F5, F6, F7, F8, F9

   1Plain text (GSM-7)Up to 160 characters

   1 segment

   2The same text with one emojiUnicode: the segment drops to 70

   1 segment of 70

   3Long message, plain textSplits into parts of 153

   153

   153

   …

   4Long message, UnicodeSplits into parts of 67

   67

   67

   …

   Each segment to the US and Canada: US$ 0.00747 + about US$ 0.005 carrier feePrice as of 29 Sep 2026; every part is billed as one segment

3. 03

   Email and WhatsApp: the costs people forget

   LC Email costs US$ 0.675 per 1,000 emails, on every plan (price as of 20 Aug 2026).

   You're billed for the emails you send and also for the ones you receive. CC and BCC copies are billed too.

   Verifying addresses is optional and costs US$ 2.50 per 1,000. That's more than sending to them.

   WhatsApp has two bills. The subscription, US$ 10 a month per sub-account (price as of 22 Sep 2026), goes on the card. Messages come out of the wallet.

   Since 1 July 2025, Meta has charged for WhatsApp per message. Each template is billed by its type: marketing, utility or authentication.

   HighLevel adds 5% to its rates to cover payment processing. Its guide doesn't say whether its table already includes it: AXIS uses the figures as they are (an assumption). Compare them with your real charge in Wallet & Transactions.

   Its table dated 22 Sep 2026 lists a utility template at US$ 0.0036 to the US and Canada, and US$ 0.0089 to Mexico.

   A marketing template to the US and Canada is US$ 0.0263. Mexico's marketing rate, US$ 0.0320, applies only through 30 Sep 2026; HighLevel flags a rise on 1 Oct 2026 and hasn't posted the new figure yet.

   Key points

   • According to that HighLevel guide, from 1 Oct 2026 free-form replies (service messages) are free only up to 1,000 per number per month.
   • The same guide says utility templates sent inside the 24-hour window are billed too. In your calculator, count every confirmation and reminder as a billed message.
   • Marketing templates are the expensive kind. To the US and Canada, one costs about seven times a utility template (US$ 0.0263 vs. US$ 0.0036).
   • If your clients are in another country, look up their rate in the same HighLevel guide.

   Source: F10, F11, F12, F1

4. 04

   AI is billed by tokens

   Conversation AI, the bot that answers messages, is no longer billed per message but by tokens. A token is a chunk of text the AI reads or writes.

   With GPT-5 Mini, HighLevel charges US$ 0.25 per million tokens read and US$ 2.00 per million written (price as of 28 Sep 2026).

   With GPT-5, a stronger model, it charges US$ 1.25 per million read and US$ 10.00 per million written.

   For the calculator, AXIS assumes each reply reads about 4,000 tokens (instructions, history and the question) and writes about 150. That puts each reply at about US$ 0.0013.

   That's an assumption, not a price. You see your real cost per reply in the Wallet & Transactions details.

   If you find a HighLevel article that says US$ 0.02 per message, that's the old pricing. Use the token pricing.

   Key points

   • With GPT-5, the same 200 replies from the example cost US$ 1.30 instead of US$ 0.26.
   • Voice AI was repriced on 20 May 2026: US$ 0.045 a minute, plus the voice (from US$ 0.015 a minute) and regular phone minutes.
   • The AI Employee Growth plan, US$ 50 a month per sub-account, includes 1,000 replies (lesson I.1.2). At low volume, paying by tokens costs less.
   • HighLevel warns that its AI prices and models can change. Check the date before you quote.

   Source: F13, F14, F3

5. 05

   Work out the budget and put it on the sheet

   Open this lesson's calculator and replace Alba Studio's numbers with your client's. If you don't have one yet, use your own business or Alba's numbers.

   Texts: messages per month × segments in each. Count the replies you receive too.

   Emails: sent plus received, with their copies.

   WhatsApp: every confirmation, reminder or notice sent as a template.

   AI replies: how many times your bot answers in a month.

   Fixed wallet charges: number rental and the A2P campaign. HighLevel's guide puts them under the phone system, which the wallet pays for: confirm it in Wallet & Transactions. Fixed card charges: WhatsApp and the add-ons you chose in lesson I.1.2.

   The calculator gives you the wallet usage, the month's total and your weekly alert: the wallet ÷ 4, rounded up to the next dollar.

   Download this lesson's budget sheet and copy in your numbers with each price's date. Go over it with the business owner and, if they agree, have them sign it.

   Key points

   • The alert is based on the wallet, not the total: the card doesn't run through the meter.
   • It's an estimate. Redo it every month with the real usage in Wallet & Transactions, and whenever HighLevel changes a price.
   • The signature doesn't lock in prices. It confirms the owner knows what gets billed and how much to expect.
   • In lesson III.1.4 you build the full budget for a real client, with the same logic.

   Source: F3, F5, F6, F10, F11, F13

6. 06

   Set the spending alert to fit

   Agency View → Settings → Billing → Notifications → WalletCopy path

   In a Spanish-language account: Vista de agencia → Configuración → Facturación → Notifications → Wallet

   In Agency View, open Settings → Billing, the Notifications tab and, inside it, Wallet. It's the Spending Alert Settings screen from mission 2.

   Under Spending Alert for Sub-Accounts, switch the type to Set a Fixed Limit.

   Enter your calculated weekly alert as the amount. Leave the period on Weekly, the default.

   Check Notification Recipients. The agency owner is included by default, and you can add up to 5 people.

   Save with Save Changes. That's the screen for your screenshot.

   Key points

   • It's a warning, not a brake. It tells you when a sub-account gets close to its limit or goes over.
   • The fixed limit applies to all your sub-accounts at once. If you manage several, use the weekly budget of the client who spends the most.
   • If the sub-account has a US number, the alert may fire in the week the rental or the A2P campaign is charged. Open Wallet & Transactions and confirm those were the charges.
   • In the month you register for A2P, the one-time US$ 22.50 can set off the alert too.
   • The agency alert, Spending Alert for Agency, watches the whole wallet. You adjusted it in mission 2.

   Source: F5, F9

Interactive

What does your client use in a month?

Replace the sample numbers with your client's. The calculator splits what comes out of the wallet from what goes on the card, and gives you the amount for your weekly alert.

If it breaks

The mistakes that repeat most, and the way out.