Gmail sending limits explained
Before you send to a large list, you need to know how much Gmail will let you send. Exceeding the limit can pause your sending, so it pays to understand how the numbers work.
The headline numbers
| Account type | Approximate daily limit |
|---|---|
| Personal Gmail (@gmail.com) | About 500 emails per day |
| Google Workspace | About 2,000 emails per day |
Messages versus recipients
Limits are often counted per recipient, not per message. An email sent to one person and copied to two others can count as three. That is why Fanout counts each CC address as an extra email toward your allowance.
What happens if you hit the limit
Gmail stops accepting more outgoing mail for a period, commonly up to 24 hours. Messages in progress may fail with an error such as "Daily user sending quota exceeded". Repeatedly pushing against the limit, or sending content that recipients report as spam, can lead to longer restrictions.
Rolling limits versus midnight resets
Many people assume the allowance resets at midnight. In practice, sending limits are usually measured over a trailing 24-hour period. If you send 300 emails at 9 am, that room returns at 9 am the next day, not at midnight.
Fanout follows the same idea. Your 500-email allowance is a rolling 24-hour window. The app shows how many emails you have left and when the oldest sends age out, so you can plan the next batch without guessing.
How to stay within the limits
- Split large lists across days instead of sending everything at once.
- Count your own normal use. Emails you send by hand count too, so leave some headroom.
- Remove duplicates and bad addresses first. Fanout does this for you before you send.
- Use a Workspace account if you regularly need more than a few hundred a day.
- Pace the send. Fanout sends about two to three emails per second, which keeps well under Gmail's per-second limits.
Fanout's own limits
On top of Gmail's rules, Fanout allows 500 emails per rolling 24 hours per Google account and 500 recipients per send. Failed or stopped sends are refunded, so only delivered emails use your allowance. For lists beyond what Gmail is designed for, use a dedicated email service instead.
Open the consoleFrequently asked questions
How many emails can I send from Gmail per day?
Roughly 500 per day for a personal Gmail account and 2,000 per day for Google Workspace, according to Google's published guidance. Check Google's page for the current figures.
Does Gmail's limit reset at midnight?
Usually not. Limits are generally measured over a trailing 24-hour period, so room returns 24 hours after each send.
Do CC and BCC addresses count toward the limit?
Yes, limits are commonly counted per recipient, so each CC or BCC address counts. Fanout counts every CC as an additional email.
What happens to unsent emails if I hit the limit mid-send?
Fanout stops the send, marks the remaining emails as not sent and does not count them against your allowance, so you can retry them later.