Free Plans
How free plans work for your customers
A free plan has no price and no checkout. When you assign a customer to a free plan, they're activated immediately. Their usage resets every month, just like a paid plan.
How Free Plans Differ from Paid Plans
| Paid plan | Free plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Has a price | $0 |
| Billing | Monthly, quarterly, or yearly | No charges — usage resets monthly |
| How they start | Checkout + payment | Activated immediately |
| Invoices | Yes | Only for purchases (credits, balance, add-ons) |
| Overage | Configurable per feature | Never allowed — usage is blocked at the included limit |
| Usage resets | Every month | Every month |
Monthly Usage Resets
Even though there's no billing cycle, your customer's usage resets every month — the same cadence as a paid monthly plan. If you give a free plan 1,000 API calls or $50 in balance, that allowance refreshes on their billing day each month.
When a customer hits their included limit, they're blocked until the next reset. Overage is never charged on a free plan.
Example
Your free plan includes $100 in balance.
Your customer uses $100 by day 15.
→ They're blocked for the rest of the month.
→ On their billing day, balance resets to $100.What Your Customer Sees in the Portal
The Customer Portal adapts when someone is on a free plan:
| Section | Paid plan | Free plan |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Shows plan, price, and next billing date | Shows plan and status only — no billing date |
| Invoices | Visible | Visible only if they've made purchases |
| Payment method | Visible | Visible only if they've added one |
| MRR | Shows amount | Shows $0.00/mo |
| Usage (balance/credits) | Visible, with "Add Funds" or "Buy Credits" button | Visible, with purchase buttons |
Purchasing on a Free Plan
Free plan customers can purchase add-ons, credit packs, and balance top-ups — the same one-off purchases available on paid plans. Since they didn't go through checkout, they don't have a card on file. The first purchase prompts them to enter a payment method, which is saved for future purchases.
The plan itself is free. Purchases are optional extras that customers choose to buy.
Changing a Free Plan's Included Balance or Credits
If you change the included balance or credits on a free plan, the change reaches all customers on that plan right away.
Example
You increase the free plan's included balance from $100 to $150.
Every customer on that plan immediately gets +$50 added to their balance.This follows the core principle — giving your customers more resources benefits them, so it applies immediately.
When Your Customer Upgrades to a Paid Plan
The upgrade is always immediate. Since the free plan costs $0, there's no credit to give — your customer simply pays the full price of the new plan from that day.
Example
Your customer is on a Free plan with $100 included balance.
They upgrade to Pro at $99/mo.
Credit from free plan: $0 (it's free)
They pay: $99 (full month)
Invoices, payment method, and billing info appear in their portal.Related
- Plan Changes — Upgrades, downgrades, and switching
- Trials — Another way to let customers try before paying
- Invoices — What invoices your customers receive
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