Billing & plans
View your plan, seats, and next charge, change plans right inside the app, and see what happens on upgrade, downgrade, and cancel.
Settings → Billing (/settings/billing) is where you see your current plan, manage your
subscription, and keep your payment method up to date.
- Role
- OwnerAdmin
Billing is managed by Owner and Admin under Settings → Billing. You can change plans right in the app; payment is handled securely by Stripe.
What's on the billing page
- All three plan cards, in every subscription state — your current plan is badged, with an interval toggle (monthly ↔ annual), prominent upgrade CTAs, and subdued downgrade actions.
- Current plan with a status badge: Trial, Active, Past due, or Canceled.
- Trial countdown while you're on the 14-day trial.
- Seats used vs. limit for your plan.
- Next charge — amount and date.
- Default payment method on file.
- Recent billing events — your subscription history.
- A past-due banner when a payment has failed.
Plans
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Members |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 3 |
| Studio | $5/mo | $49/yr | 10 |
| Agency | $9.99/mo | $99.99/yr | 25 |
Annual billing saves about 17–18%. Teams over 25 members can email us for a custom plan. For a deeper look at what each plan unlocks, see Plans and limits.
Seats are flat-fee. Your bill doesn't change as you add members within your plan's cap — you pay the plan price whether you've filled 1 seat or all of them.
The 14-day trial
New workspaces start on a 14-day trial with no credit card required. The billing page shows a countdown. During the trial you'll see an Add payment method call to action so you can add a card before the trial ends and keep your paid features running.
There is one trial per workspace, shared across plans and monthly/annual intervals. Plan switches, cancellation, and restarting a subscription do not reset the trial clock.
Change your plan
Pick a plan card right on the billing page — Hoursmith chooses the safest path automatically:
Choose a plan and interval
On Settings → Billing, toggle monthly/annual and click the plan you want.
Confirm
- No subscription yet? You go through Stripe Checkout.
- Subscription already canceled? Restart through paid Stripe Checkout; a used trial is not renewed.
- On a trial? The plan swaps instantly — nothing is charged, and your trial continues.
- Already subscribed? You're sent to a secure Stripe confirmation showing the proration, then returned to Hoursmith. Your plan flips only once Stripe confirms it (the page shows "Stripe is confirming your subscription…" briefly).
To update your card or download past invoices, click Manage billing to open the Stripe Customer Portal. If you're on the trial, click Add payment method to add a card before it ends.
Upgrade, downgrade, and cancel
Your effective plan is determined by your subscription state:
| Subscription state | Effective plan |
|---|---|
| Trialing or Active | Your plan |
| Past due | Your plan during a 7-day grace period, then drops to Free |
| Canceled or none | Free |
Your data is never deleted on downgrade. Paid features simply lock — your clients, projects, time entries, and invoices stay intact. If you upgrade again, everything unlocks.
A few rules to know:
- Downgrades show an impact dialog listing the features that will lock, so there are no surprises.
- A downgrade that would break a limit is prevented in the app. For example, you can't drop to a plan with fewer seats than you currently use (members + pending invites) until you're back under the cap. Downgrading to Free warns but doesn't hard-block.
- Cancelling defaults to end-of-period — you keep your paid plan until the current period ends, then move to Free. Changed your mind? Resume subscription undoes a scheduled cancellation right in the app.
- Past due keeps you on your paid plan for a 7-day grace period. Update your card via Manage billing to clear it before the grace ends.
- Losing Studio/Agency access system-pauses recurring series and blocks queued sends that have not reached the email provider. Restoring access does not resume or backfill them; a Manager+ reviews and resumes each series manually.
- Losing Agency locks new payout activity, Team profitability, and bill email delivery, while Owners/Admins retain finalized bills, payment records, PDFs, and sent delivery history in the app.
Troubleshooting
- Payment failed / past-due banner. Open Manage billing and update your card in the Stripe Customer Portal. You have a 7-day grace period before dropping to Free.
- I can't downgrade. You're likely over the target plan's limit (usually seats). Remove members until you're under the cap, then try again. See Members and roles.
- A paid feature disappeared. Check your effective plan above — if you're past due or canceled, features lock until you're active again. Nothing is deleted.