How to fix P5008: Usage exceeded, upgrade your plan (Accelerate) in Prisma

First, confirm your project is on the free tier:

1. Log in to [Prisma Data Platform](https://console.prisma.io)
2. Navigate to your workspace
3. Go to Billing → Pricing Plans
4. Check your current plan—if it says "Free," you have hit the limit

You can also check your current usage:
1. Go to Workspace Settings → Usage & Billing
2. View your "Queries" section
3. If it shows "60,000 / 60,000," you have exceeded the limit

The error P5008 only occurs on the free plan. Paid plans have higher limits and will not pause access when limits are approached.

The quickest solution is to upgrade to a paid plan:

1. Go to Workspace Settings → Billing → Pricing Plans
2. Select your desired tier:
- Starter: 10 million queries/month (pay-as-you-go pricing)
- Pro: 50 million queries/month
- Business: Custom limits
3. Choose your payment method and confirm
4. Your project will immediately resume access

After upgrading, your database will be accessible again within seconds. Paid plans offer:
- Higher query limits
- Cost controls with spend alerts at 75% of your limit
- No service interruption when usage increases
- Per-query rate pricing instead of monthly tiers

If you prefer not to upgrade immediately:

1. Your quota resets automatically at the beginning of next month
2. Database access will resume when the monthly reset occurs (usually UTC midnight on the 1st)
3. You can continue using Prisma Accelerate on the free tier next month

Important: This approach means your application will be unable to access the database for the remainder of the current billing month. Plan accordingly if your application needs continuous availability.

You will receive notifications from Prisma before your project pauses, giving you time to upgrade if needed.

While waiting for the next billing cycle or preparing for upgrade, implement query optimization to reduce future usage:

Use field selection (select):

// Before: Fetches all fields
const users = await prisma.user.findMany();

// After: Only fetch needed fields
const users = await prisma.user.findMany({
  select: { id: true, email: true, name: true }
});

Implement pagination:

// Before: Could fetch 10,000+ records in one query
const allUsers = await prisma.user.findMany();

// After: Fetch 100 at a time
const users = await prisma.user.findMany({
  take: 100,
  skip: 0,
  orderBy: { id: 'asc' }
});

Cache frequently accessed data:

// Use Redis, Memcached, or application-level caching
const cachedUser = await redis.get(`user:${id}`);
if (!cachedUser) {
  const user = await prisma.user.findUnique({ where: { id } });
  await redis.setex(`user:${id}`, 3600, JSON.stringify(user));
}

These optimizations reduce the number of database queries, lowering your monthly usage.

Understand where your queries are coming from:

Enable Prisma query logging:

const prisma = new PrismaClient({
  log: [
    { emit: 'event', level: 'query' },
    { emit: 'stdout', level: 'error' },
  ],
});

prisma.$on('query', (e) => {
  console.log('Query: ' + e.query);
  console.log('Duration: ' + e.duration + 'ms');
});

Use Prisma Studio to review your schema:

npx prisma studio

Check for problematic patterns:
- N+1 queries: Fetching parent records, then fetching related records one-by-one
- Unnecessary queries in loops
- Missing indexes on frequently queried fields
- Unoptimized relationship loading

Once you identify high-traffic areas, optimize them first.

After upgrading, configure alerts to prevent hitting limits unexpectedly:

1. Go to Workspace Settings → Billing
2. Look for "Usage Alerts" or "Spending Limits"
3. Set your monthly spending limit (paid plans allow this)
4. Enable email notifications at 75% of your limit

Prisma will send you an alert when you reach 75% of your configured limit, giving you time to either:
- Upgrade to a higher tier
- Optimize queries to reduce usage
- Plan for expected high-traffic periods

For production applications, it's recommended to always have a paid plan with generous limits to ensure uninterrupted service.