Essential covers two people: your older adult and one other person. Everyone after that is a seat you add.
The ceiling is twelve, and almost nobody reaches it.
What families actually do
Most settle between three and six. A typical shape is the older adult, the adult child who set things up, one or two siblings, and sometimes a neighbour or a grandchild who visits.
Bigger is not better. A Circle is a group of people who will actually look, and adding somebody who never opens it does nothing except cost $5 or $10 a month.
What the extra people cost
$10 a month each for the first three extra people
$5 a month for anyone after that
A family of six comes to $64 a month all in. A professional caregiver is a separate $15 seat and does not use a family one, nor count towards the twelve.
Why there is a ceiling at all
Not to limit a household. It is there to catch something going wrong: an account generating invitations faster than a person could answer them is a mistake or somebody who should not have access, and the ceiling stops it before it becomes a stack of unwanted emails and a bill nobody checked.
If your family genuinely is that big, tell us and we will raise it deliberately.
You can also be in several Circles
The twelve limits how many people are in your Circle, not how many Circles you belong to. If you are helping two parents, or a parent and an aunt, you can be part of each and switch between them.