Plans & Billing¶
This guide explains how to choose a plan, subscribe, upgrade or downgrade, change seats or billing frequency, manage payment details, cancel or resume, and understand what happens when a trial or subscription ends.
Before you begin¶
Billing belongs to a workspace, not to your personal account or an individual project. Each workspace has its own subscription, usage, members, invoices, and limits. If you belong to several workspaces, confirm the workspace name at the top of the Billing page before making a change.
Only the workspace owner can open Billing, subscribe, change the plan, manage payment details, cancel, or resume. Admins can manage many workspace settings but cannot manage billing. If Billing shows an access-denied message, ask the current owner to perform the change.
Open it from the workspace settings and choose Billing & plan. The direct route has the form:
/workspaces/<workspace-id>/settings/billing
Choosing a plan¶
The current self-serve plans are Solo, Team, and Business. Enterprise uses a quote and approval workflow; see Enterprise Custom Plans.
The table below reflects the product's current built-in limits. Unlimited means the specific
dimension is not capped by the plan; other limits and fair-use constraints still apply.
| Capability | Solo | Team | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Included members | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| Guests | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| Active domains | 3 | 10 | Unlimited |
| Automated monitor screenshots/month | 750 | 5,000 | 25,000 |
| Cloud storage | 5 GB | 25 GB | 100 GB |
| Normal capture retention | 30 days | 90 days | 365 days |
| Protected captures | 10 | 100 | 1,000 |
| Active monitors | 3 | 25 | 100 |
| Fastest monitor interval | 24 hours | 6 hours | 1 hour |
| Captures in one run | 100 | 250 | 500 |
| Pages per project | 1,000 | 5,000 | 25,000 |
| Pages returned by one scan | 200 | 1,000 | 5,000 |
| Wayback history | 12 months | 36 months | Unlimited |
| Uptime monitors | 5 | 25 | 100 |
| Fastest uptime interval | 5 minutes | 2 minutes | 1 minute |
| API keys/webhooks/Jira/automation | No | No | Yes |
| AI summaries and Ask AI | No | No | Yes |
| Brand QA | No | No | Yes |
All paid tiers allow unlimited active projects, but domains, monitor volume, storage, pages, and
other dimensions remain plan-specific. Several projects using the same registrable domain share
one active-domain slot. Archived projects and localhost do not count as active domains.
Practical selection examples¶
- One person and a few sites: Solo fits up to three active domains, daily screenshot monitors, and five-minute uptime checks.
- A product/content team: Team adds five included members, guests, ten domains, six-hour monitoring, and substantially more captures/storage.
- CI/CD or advanced QA: Business is required for API keys, webhooks, Jira mappings, automation rules, AI features, and Brand QA. It also adds hourly screenshot monitoring and removes the active-domain limit.
- Contract-specific scale or terms: request Enterprise when you need negotiated limits, procurement, or custom pricing. Enterprise changes are not self-serve.
The Billing screen and exact Stripe quote are authoritative if displayed pricing or limits differ from an older document.
Monthly versus annual billing¶
Use the Monthly or Annual selector above the plan cards.
- Monthly billing renews each month and offers more flexibility.
- Annual billing is charged once per year and is presented as a 20% saving over twelve monthly plan payments.
- Extra seats are displayed separately. On an annual plan, the screen shows the annual plan price plus the estimated annual total of monthly extra-seat charges.
- Before an existing subscription changes, VisualRunner requests an exact preview from Stripe. Taxes, credits, elapsed time, and configured prices can make that quote differ from a simple hand calculation.
Starting a new subscription¶
- Open the correct workspace's Billing & plan page as its owner.
- Select Monthly or Annual.
- Review Solo, Team, and Business limits.
- For Team or Business, enter any Extra seats beyond the included member count. Do not enter the total team size—the field is additional seats only.
- Select Subscribe on the chosen plan.
- Complete the hosted Stripe Checkout page. Do not close the tab while payment confirmation is in progress.
- Return to VisualRunner and confirm the Current plan shows the expected plan, interval, status, renewal period, and seat quantity.
- Check Invoices for the resulting invoice/receipt. Use View for Stripe's hosted invoice or PDF to download it when available.
Example: a seven-person team choosing Team enters 2 extra seats because Team includes five.
If Checkout is canceled, no plan is activated. Return to Billing and start it again. If payment succeeds in Stripe but VisualRunner does not update, wait briefly and reload; subscription state is confirmed through Stripe webhooks. Do not create several duplicate Checkout sessions while one is still processing.
Upgrading a plan¶
An upgrade includes moving to a higher plan, moving from monthly to annual billing at the same plan, or increasing extra seats without otherwise lowering the subscription.
- Open Billing & plan.
- Choose the intended billing interval and extra-seat quantity.
- Select Switch to ..., Switch to Annual billing, or Add seats.
- Review the Stripe Billing summary:
- Due today is the immediate prorated charge after applicable credits.
- Next renewal is the estimated recurring charge for the new selection.
- Effective immediately confirms that higher entitlements start now.
- Select Confirm change only after checking the plan, interval, seats, currency, and amounts.
- Confirm Current plan and the relevant Usage limits after the page updates.
Example: upgrading Team monthly to Business monthly halfway through a billing period applies Business immediately. Stripe calculates the unused Team credit and Business charge for the remaining period; VisualRunner shows the resulting Due today quote before confirmation.
Downgrading or reducing seats¶
A move to a lower plan, monthly billing from annual billing, or a seat reduction is scheduled for the end of the current billing period. Current access remains until the displayed effective date.
- Compare current usage with every target-plan limit before scheduling the change.
- Choose the lower plan/interval or reduce Extra seats.
- Select the change button and review the Billing summary.
- Confirm that it says Effective
, not immediately. - Select Confirm change.
- Check Current plan for Scheduled change to ... effective ....
Before the effective date, reduce anything that exceeds the new plan: members/guests, active domains, monitors, uptime monitors, API/integration resources, protected captures, pages, capture matrices, and storage. A scheduled downgrade does not automatically make an over-limit workspace fit neatly. When lower entitlements take effect, affected creation or execution actions can be blocked, and premium features can become unavailable.
Example: before Business → Team, remove or replace API keys, webhooks, Jira mappings, automation, AI workflows, and Brand QA usage because those capabilities are Business-only. Reduce active domains to ten and active monitors to 25 if necessary.
Changing team seats¶
Included member counts are shown in the plan table. Team and Business support paid extra seats.
- Adding seats is an immediate, prorated upgrade.
- Reducing seats is scheduled for period end.
- The number entered is additional seats, not total members.
- Guests have their own plan limit and are not a replacement for normal members.
- Buying seats does not invite anyone; invite or remove members separately under Workspace Members.
Example: Business includes ten members. For 14 normal members, enter 4 extra seats. If the team
later drops to nine members, set extra seats to 0; the paid-seat reduction takes effect at the
period boundary.
Payment details and invoices¶
Select Manage payment details to open Stripe's billing portal. Use it for payment methods and other provider-managed billing details. Return to VisualRunner afterward and reload Billing if the new state is not yet visible.
The Invoices section lists recent invoice date, status, amount, hosted invoice, and PDF when Stripe supplies them. Workspace members who need invoices must ask the owner, because the Billing page is owner-only.
Canceling and resuming¶
Canceling schedules the subscription to stop at the end of the current paid period; it does not remove access immediately.
- Select Cancel subscription.
- Confirm the browser prompt.
- Optionally enter a cancellation reason.
- Verify the page shows the cancellation date.
Before that date, select Resume subscription to remove the scheduled cancellation. After the period has already ended, resume is no longer available; start a new Checkout instead.
When a subscription ends, the workspace becomes read-only with no cloud capture entitlement until it has another active subscription or eligible trial. Existing data is not the same as active service: you can inspect available records, but cannot create or run new captures, monitors, scans, or other entitlement-gated work.
Trials¶
An eligible new workspace receives a 14-day Team-tier trial through the welcome/workspace-creation flow. By default no card is required, although a deployment can be configured to require one.
Trial rules:
- One trial per workspace.
- One lifetime trial per person, even across different workspaces.
- A workspace with a subscription cannot start a trial.
- The trial resembles Team but has trial-specific limits: three included members, one guest, 250 automated screenshots, 2 GB storage, 100 pages/project, 50 scan results/run, one month of Wayback, and ten collections/project.
- Business-only API/integration, AI, and Brand QA features are not included.
When the trial expires, the workspace becomes read-only. A 14-day export grace window follows the trial period so you can export eligible data before trial cleanup rules apply. Subscribe before expiry for uninterrupted operation; starting Checkout does not extend the trial by itself.
Payment problems and grace¶
If a renewal payment becomes past due, Billing shows Payment is past due and the grace-end date. Access continues during the configured grace period. Update the payment method in Stripe's portal as soon as possible. After grace expires, the workspace becomes read-only until billing is resolved.
Annual refund window¶
Annual subscriptions can display Eligible for annual refund until
Usage and limits¶
Open Usage from the dashboard to see current consumption. Limits apply at different scopes:
- members, guests, storage, domains, and cookie profiles are workspace-level;
- pages, collections, and rules may be project-level;
- capture matrix dimensions and total captures apply to each capture run;
- automated screenshot usage resets by billing/trial period;
- enabled monitors and uptime monitors are counted separately;
- normal retention, protected captures, and Wayback history are distinct concepts.
A failed or canceled capture may still consume usage after resources were reserved or work began. When a limit blocks an action, reduce usage, disable/archive an eligible resource, wait for the period reset where appropriate, or upgrade.
Troubleshooting billing changes¶
Billing is unavailable or access is denied¶
Confirm you are the workspace owner and selected the correct workspace. Admin, Editor, Viewer, and Guest roles cannot manage billing.
The price is blank or a quote cannot be loaded¶
Configured prices come from Stripe. Reload once, check connectivity, and retry. Do not confirm a change without an exact quote if VisualRunner reports that the preview failed.
The plan did not change immediately¶
Check for Scheduled change. Downgrades, monthly switches from annual, and seat reductions wait until period end. Upgrades should be immediate; if Stripe succeeded but the UI is stale, reload after webhook processing and check the invoice.
A lower plan is blocking work¶
Compare usage against the table above. Look especially at active domains, monitors, pages, storage, capture-run size, and Business-only integrations. Archive/disable or remove items safely, or restore a sufficient plan.
Payment is past due¶
Open Manage payment details, fix the payment method in Stripe, and note the displayed grace-end date. Contact support if Stripe shows payment succeeded but the workspace remains past due after a reasonable webhook-processing delay.