Limits and quality tiers
Every limit Aleja enforces today, by kind, and which of them change with a plan. All of them come from the server's own checks (the Rust constants noted in each section), so this page lists what is really enforced, not what the interface hints at.
There are three levels that change anything:
- Free: every account.
- Goose member: an account with the subscriber role. It changes the account's own limits, in every chat and nest.
- Golden Eggs tier: a nest's boost level. Members boost a nest with golden eggs: Tier 1 at 3 eggs, Tier 2 at 12. A tier changes what happens inside that nest, for everyone in it.
Anything not marked as changing with a level is the same for everyone.
Text limits
Lengths are in characters, counted as people see them (an emoji is one character).
People
| Field | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Username | 2–32 | Lowercase letters, digits, _ and .; starts and ends with a letter or digit. Reserved names can't be registered |
| Display name | 1–32 | |
| Custom status | 3–128 | Also the cap on a published activity line |
| About me (bio) | up to 190, 6 lines | The editor allows 5 line breaks |
| Nickname in a nest | up to 32 | Set per nest |
| Password | up to 1,024 bytes | |
| Friend note | up to 256 | Private to the account |
| Friend nickname | up to 32 | Private to the account |
| Custom badge name / description | 2–32 / up to 120 | At most 100 custom badges exist |
Nests
| Field | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Nest name | 2–100 | |
| Nest description | up to 1,000 | |
| Feather | 2–4 letters | A–Z only; shown beside the names of members who choose to wear it |
| Traits | up to 5; label 2–16, emoji up to 16 | The "what this nest is about" chips |
| Featured games | up to 10 | |
| Channel name | 2–32 | Text and voice |
| Channel topic | up to 1,024 | Enforced in the channel editor |
| Category name | up to 100 | Enforced in the editor |
| Role name | 1–32 | |
| Roles per nest | up to 100 | Not counting @everyone |
| Vanity invite | 4–32 | Tier 2 |
| Emoji / sticker / sound name | 2–32 | |
| Sticker description | up to 100 | |
| Sticker emoji tag | up to 16 | |
| Permission overwrites per channel or category | up to 200 |
Events
| Field | Limit |
|---|---|
| Topic | up to 100 |
| Description | up to 1,000 |
| Location | up to 100 |
| Upcoming events per nest | 100 |
| How far ahead one can be scheduled | 5 years |
| Longest event | 366 days |
Messages
| Item | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Message text | up to 4,000; 8,000 for Goose members | Edits are checked the same way |
| Message, end-to-end encrypted | 64 KB sealed payload | Chats are encrypted on the sender's device, so the app checks the character limit before sealing and the server caps the sealed payload |
| Reaction | up to 8 characters, no spaces | |
| Files per message | 5 | |
| Slash-command text | up to 2,000 | |
| Text-to-speech | first 500 characters of a message are read | A reading limit, not a send limit |
Bots and webhooks
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| Bots per owner | 10 |
| Slash commands per bot | 100 (64 KB of definitions) |
| Options / choices per command | 25 each |
| Command and option description | up to 100 |
| Webhooks per nest | 15 |
| Webhook request body | 32 KB |
| Embeds per webhook post | 10 |
See bots and webhooks for the rest.
Files and uploads
Chat attachments
| Free | Goose member | Nest on Tier 1 | Nest on Tier 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largest file | 25 MB | 500 MB | 50 MB | 100 MB |
- A Goose member's limit applies in every chat. A nest's limit applies to anyone posting in that nest, whatever their own plan.
- At most 5 files per message.
- Files are encrypted on the sender's device before upload, which adds 28 bytes. The limit is checked against the file as sent.
- Identical uploads are stored once and each holder is charged for it.
Accepted types are read from the file's own bytes, not its name: images (JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, BMP, AVIF, HEIC), video (MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV, AVI, Ogg), audio (M4A, WAV, WebM, Ogg, MKA), and documents (PDF, ZIP, plain text). ZIP archives are opened and refused if they hold prohibited files or paths that climb out of the folder.
Never accepted, by any extension anywhere in the name (so photo.png.php is refused too): programs and
scripts (exe, msi, bat, cmd, sh, ps1, vbs, jar, apk, ...), server code (php, py, rb,
pl, js, ts, ...), libraries and drivers (dll, sys, so, dylib), pages that run script (html,
htm, svg), and disk images (iso, dmg, vhd, img).
Storage and how long files are kept
| Free | Goose member | |
|---|---|---|
| Attachment storage per account | 5 GB | 100 GB |
| How long a file is kept | 180 days | For as long as they are a member |
- An upload that doesn't fit is refused. People free up room by deleting their own oldest files from settings.
- A free account's files are deleted 180 days after the later of when they were sent and when the account's membership last lapsed. Subscribing again makes them permanent again.
- A lapsed member keeps everything but can't upload until they are back under the free 5 GB.
Pictures
| Upload | Largest file | Formats | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avatar, nest icon, banners, invite background, channel banner | 4 MB | JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF | Scanned before they are stored. A nest banner or invite background never moves: an animated one keeps its first frame |
| Custom emoji | 1 MB | JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF | Needs Tier 1. Animated emoji have their own slots |
| Sticker | 1 MB | JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF | Needs Tier 1. Animated stickers need Tier 2 |
| Soundboard clip | 3 MB | MP3, WAV, Ogg | A clip never plays longer than 10 seconds |
| Report evidence | 8 MB total per report | Any file | Larger files are named and hashed but not attached |
What a nest tier unlocks
| Base | Tier 1 (3 eggs) | Tier 2 (12 eggs) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voice quality in the nest | 96 kbps | 128 kbps | 192 kbps |
| Screen share and stream | 720p, 30 fps | 1080p, 30 fps | 1080p 60 fps, 1440p 30 fps |
| Attachment size | 25 MB | 50 MB | 100 MB |
| Custom emoji slots (static and animated each) | 0 | 25 | 50 |
| Sticker slots | 0 | 10 | 30 |
| Animated stickers | No | No | Yes |
| Role icons | No | Yes | Yes |
| Custom nest banner (still) | No | No | Yes |
| Invite page and info background (still) | No | No | Yes |
| Vanity invite link | No | No | Yes |
| Channel banners | No | No | Yes |
| Egg Provider role for boosters | No | Yes | Yes |
A nest that drops to a lower tier keeps the emoji, stickers, banners and role icons it already has; it just can't add new ones past what its tier allows.
Audio quality
Voice is encoded with Opus at a bitrate set per call from two inputs, and the higher one wins:
| Source | Bitrate |
|---|---|
| Free account, no boost | 96 kbps |
| Goose member (their own microphone, in any call) | 192 kbps |
| Nest on Tier 1 (everyone in its voice channels) | 128 kbps |
| Nest on Tier 2 (everyone in its voice channels) | 192 kbps |
So a Goose member sends 192 kbps in every call, and in a Tier 2 nest everyone does. The call token carries the limit, and the server checks what is published against it.
Settings also let each person set output volume (0–150%), microphone level, an equalizer, noise suppression and echo cancellation. Those are local choices, not plan limits. Each notification and call sound also has its own volume, 0–100%.
Sound packs
Every sound Aleja plays, from the new message ping to the ringtone and the built-in soundboard clips, belongs to a sound pack. Aleja staff make the packs and choose the one everyone hears; in Settings, under Notification sounds, you can pick another pack for your own devices. A pack only needs the sounds it changes: a sound it leaves out plays from the default pack. Aleja keeps the last pack it loaded on your device, so the sounds still play with no connection, and the sounds built into the app play when a pack's file can't be loaded. These are the limits for staff adding a sound to a pack:
| Sound | Largest file | Longest | Formats |
|---|---|---|---|
| A cue (message, mute, join, camera, stream, activity) | 2 MB | 15 seconds | MP3, WAV, Ogg, M4A, WebM, FLAC, AAC |
| A ringtone (incoming and outgoing ring) | 6 MB | 60 seconds | The same |
| A built-in soundboard clip | 2 MB | 10 seconds | The same |
Streaming and video quality
Screen share and stream presets, with the largest picture and top-layer bitrate each may publish:
| Preset | Picture | Frame rate | Top bitrate | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 720p30 | 1280×720 | 30 | 2.5 Mbps | Everyone |
| 1080p30 | 1920×1080 | 30 | 5 Mbps | Nest Tier 1 |
| 1080p60 | 1920×1080 | 60 | 8 Mbps | Nest Tier 2 |
| 1440p30 (shown as "2K") | 2560×1440 | 30 | 9 Mbps | Nest Tier 2 |
| 2160p60 (shown as "4K") | 3840×2160 | 60 | 16 Mbps | Goose member, in a private call |
Inside a nest these are per nest, whatever a person's plan. In a private call (a DM or group chat, outside any nest) a Goose member gets every preset up to 4K at 60fps, and everyone else gets the base. The same bounds apply to camera video in a call, so a person's largest preset is also the largest camera picture the call accepts from them.
Rate limits and account caps
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Messages | a burst of 5, refilling over 3 seconds |
| File uploads | a burst of 5, refilling over a minute |
| Requests per session token | 50 a second |
| Signed-in devices per account | 8 |
| Realtime connections per account | 16 |
| Failed sign-ins before a cooldown | 3, cooling down for up to 15 minutes |
| People in one app session (games, Watch Together) | 25 |
| Garage slots | up to 10 |
What changes with a plan today
| Lever | Free | Goose member | Nest boost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Own microphone bitrate | 96 kbps | 192 kbps | Raises everyone in the nest's calls to 128 / 192 kbps |
| Largest file | 25 MB | 500 MB, anywhere | 50 / 100 MB, inside that nest |
| Message length | 4,000 characters | 8,000 characters | Not affected |
| Attachment storage | 5 GB | 100 GB | Not affected |
| File retention | 180 days | Permanent while a member | Not affected |
| Subscriber badge | No | Yes | No |
| Stream quality | 720p30 | Up to 4K 60fps in private calls | Up to 1080p60 and 1440p30 |
| Shop (buying, daily coins) | No | Yes | Not affected |
| Garage (buying cars and backdrops, rolling, tuning, dyno, featuring) | No | Yes | Not affected |
| Putting on profile decorations | No | Yes | Not affected |
| Wearing a server tag (Feather) | No | Yes | Not affected |
| Gemini, the AI companion (finding, adding, texting, calling) | No | 50 messages and 15 minutes of calls in any 24 hours | Not affected |
A free account keeps everything it already owns, and keeps wearing the decorations, Feather, garage backdrop and featured car it already has, until it takes them off. It can't buy or put on anything new, but it can still sell cars. | Emoji, stickers, banners, vanity link, role icons | Base | Not affected | Per the tier table |
Everything not in that table, such as all the other text limits, picture sizes and per-message file counts, is the same for everyone and could be turned into a perk without changing how it is enforced.