A personal Gmail account can send to about 500 recipients a day. A paid Google Workspace account can send 2,000 messages a day. Tools that send through Google Apps Script, including Google Sheets tools, have a lower quota: 100 recipients a day on a personal account and 1,500 on Workspace.
Figures and rules on this page come from the official sources linked below, checked on 17 October 2026. They can change without notice, so check the source before relying on them.
| Limit | Personal Gmail | Google Workspace (paid) |
|---|---|---|
| Emails per day from Gmail | Error appears above 500 a day | 2,000 messages a day per user |
| Recipients in one email | 500 | 2,000 in total, no more than 500 external |
| Unique recipients a day | Not stated separately | 3,000, of which 2,000 external |
| Apps Script email recipients a day | 100 | 1,500 |
| Apps Script recipients per message | 50 | 50 |
| Workspace free trial | Not applicable | 500 messages a day until the account is paid |
What happens if you go over
Gmail shows “You have reached a limit for sending mail” and stops new sends for a while. Google says personal accounts can usually send again within 1 to 24 hours; Workspace users can’t send new messages for up to 24 hours, and an account that keeps exceeding the limits can be suspended. Limits run over a rolling 24 hours, not a calendar day.
Why Google Sheets tools have a lower limit
A tool that sends from inside Google Sheets runs on Google Apps Script, which has its own daily email quota. That quota, not Gmail’s headline figure, is the ceiling for a sheet-based tool. Google states that its quotas can be reduced or changed at any time.
What this means for cold email
- Plan for tens of new contacts a day, not hundreds. Follow-ups count towards the same daily total.
- Staying well under the limit is safer than sending right up to it: sudden volume from a new account is what spam filters notice.
- A paid Workspace account on your own domain gives the most headroom and the most credible sender address.
OutreachSheet sends from your own account in small batches and keeps separate daily limits for new contacts and total emails, so follow-ups leave room in the quota. See how follow-ups fit into the daily limit.
Sources
- Google: Limits for sending and getting mail (Gmail Help)
- Google: Gmail sending limits in Google Workspace
- Google: Quotas for Google Services (Apps Script)