# GoHighLevel Hidden Costs Explained (Usage Fees)

> **Source video:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ahAcT4DoMM

This guide explains the usage-based costs in GoHighLevel on top of your monthly plan, so you're not caught off guard by unexpected fees.

---

## 1. Usage Costs Overview

The cost of the monthly plan you pick might **not** include all the costs you actually use. GoHighLevel charges separately for usage on a few different things.

---

## 2. What Costs Extra

### SMS (per message)
SMS is priced per message and runs on **Twilio**, the underlying engine GoHighLevel uses to send and receive texts.

### Email Sending
Email sending is done through **Mailgun** and billed based on usage.

### AI Features
The AI features are billed based on how much you use them.

---

## 3. Realistic Expectations

If you use all of these features to run your business through the platform, the usage costs will be **in addition to** your GoHighLevel plan.

Realistically:

- You will pay **more than just the GoHighLevel plan cost.**
- But it will **still be cheaper** than paying for many of these dedicated tools separately.

It's nothing to be too alarmed by, but you don't want to be caught off guard. If a fixed, predictable price that never changes matters a lot to you, specialty tools might have a slight edge.