Bubble Workload Units, Explained for Founders
What Bubble workload units are, how much each plan includes, what overage costs, and when WU costs make migrating off Bubble the cheaper option.
If your Bubble bill has started to surprise you, the reason is almost always workload units (WU). This guide explains what they are, how they’re priced, and how to decide whether to optimize or migrate.
What workload units measure
WU is Bubble’s measure of the server work your app does. Nearly everything that touches the server consumes some:
- Searches and database queries
- Workflows and backend workflows
- API calls in and out
- Page loads and data sent to the browser
- Scheduled and recurring events
Bubble’s Logs tab breaks WU down by activity, so you can see which pages and workflows use the most.
How much each plan includes
| Plan | Workload units per month |
|---|---|
| Free | 50,000 |
| Starter | 175,000 |
| Growth | 250,000 |
| Team | 500,000 |
| Enterprise | Custom |
Allowances reset each billing cycle.
What happens when you go over
According to Bubble’s pricing FAQ, apps without a workload tier subscription pay $0.30 per 1,000 WU above their allowance. Apps with a workload tier subscription have their own overage rate, shown in their settings.
For example, an app on a 250,000 WU plan that uses 600,000 WU in a month pays for 350,000 extra WU: 350 × $0.30 = $105 on top of the plan price.
Optimize first, when it’s cheap
Some WU problems are fixable inside Bubble:
- Search for exactly what a page needs, with constraints, not filters.
- Avoid “Do a search for” inside repeating groups.
- Move heavy work into scheduled backend workflows that run less often.
- Stop polling. Refresh data only when it changes.
If a few hours of optimization cut your WU in half, do that first.
When migrating is the cheaper option
Migration starts to win when:
- WU grows with your user count, and you’ve already optimized.
- You’re paying for a higher plan mostly for the WU allowance.
- Performance is still a problem even after optimization.
- You need things WU makes expensive, like frequent syncs, heavy reporting or high-traffic APIs.
On your own stack, the same work runs on a server you pay for by the month. A small server plus a managed Postgres database handles a lot of traffic, and the cost doesn’t grow with every search.
Try the workload calculator with your own numbers, then read the migration guide to see what the move involves.