Workload
Bubble is a platform for apps of all sizes. Whether you’re launching a new idea or scaling a business, it’s our responsibility to support our users by growing in a sustainable way. In order to do so, we have a usage-based pricing model so users will only pay for the resources their app uses.
Our mission is to make software development more accessible — Instead of requiring users to monitor all of the various metrics in a traditional tech stack built with code, we introduced a single pricing metric to track resources needed for each app: workload.
What is workload?
Workload represents the server resources needed to host, run, and scale apps built on Bubble. It aggregates how much server resources is needed for different processes. The amount of workload an app consumes is measured in workload units (WU).
How workload streamlines server metrics
Teams of traditional software developers typically need to manage a complex infrastructure with various systems, like servers, network, storage, and more. Each system also comes with its own set of technical metrics to monitor — like CPU usage, load balancing, bandwidth consumption, and network latency, just to name a few. For teams building on Bubble, workload is the only metric you need to manage. This approach allows you to:
Streamline performance monitoring: By focusing on a single metric, you can focus on creating great apps and let Bubble handle the rest.
Identify optimization opportunities: Workload reflects which processes in your app are consuming resources, so you can optimize if needed.
Adapt to changing needs: Add more workload easily with pay-as-you-go workload overages or purchase a workload subscription for a volume discount.
How much workload do I need?
The majority of users find that their plans have more than enough workload units (WU) to get started with building, testing, and launching their apps. As your app grows and attracts more users, there are flexible ways to add more WU, either or , to avoid the app going offline. This flexibility ensures that your app can handle increasing demand. We’ll share more about how pricing works in the Account and billing section.
How are capacity and workload different?
Before Bubble introduced the concept of workload alongside our new workload-based pricing plans in April 2023, legacy plans used a different metric called capacity. Unfortunately, capacity was too closely connected to Bubble’s infrastructure, so each app had a capacity limit to protect Bubble's overall performance. For users, this meant apps slowed down when they exceeded the capacity limit — they were “throttled” right when they most needed to keep up with increased demand from end-users. While capacity worked well in Bubble’s earlier years, it was no longer sustainable for our growing customers and their scaling apps.
Unlike capacity, workload is not a shared or scarce resource — it measures the resources each individual app uses to go as fast as it needs. In essence, capacity was a speed limit on the highway, whereas workload works more like the fuel for your car.
The 3 steps to workload management
In the following articles, we will delve deeper into each of the steps that are part of a healthy workload management strategy. We also offer practical insights to help you make sure your app is using workload efficiently.
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