Billing & plans: start free, upgrade when it pinches

BirrStore starts free — a real store, not a trial dashboard — and you upgrade only when your business outgrows the free tier. Plans gate scale, not substance: limits apply to things like product counts, keyword tracking, storage, and AI usage, while core selling never locks. This tutorial explains what each plan gates, how to subscribe through inline BirrPay checkout, and what happens if a payment ever lapses. ## The plans at a glance Plans are **Free**, **Starter**, **Growth**, **Scale**, and **Unlimited**. What they gate: - **Catalog size** — maximum products (Free allows 5; tiers step up to 100, 1,000, 10,000, and unlimited) - **Content** — maximum blog posts, and theme availability (top tiers unlock all themes) - **Apps** — number of active plugins - **Order volume** — monthly order limits - **SEO Suite** — tracked keywords (25 / 150 / 1,000 across tiers) and competitor radar rows (1 / 5 / 25) - **Media** — storage in megabytes - **AI** — AI requests per day (the Free tier includes a daily allowance; higher tiers raise it) - **Extras** — advanced analytics, custom domains, removing the "Powered by Store" branding, API access, priority support What plans do **not** gate: selling itself, checkout and the payment gateways, orders, the CRM, the chatbot, docs and FAQs, and the core of every feature described in these tutorials. A free store is a working store. ## Subscribe with inline BirrPay checkout 1. Open **Billing** at `/dashboard/billing` and compare plans on the plans table. 2. Pick a plan and click **Upgrade**. Checkout opens **inline with BirrPay** — you pay without leaving the dashboard. 3. Apply a **coupon** at checkout if you have a code; the discount applies before payment. 4. On success, the plan activates immediately and an **invoice** is recorded under your billing history. Invoices can be resent to your email whenever you need them for accounting. ## Trials and grace periods New paid subscriptions include a **trial window** so you can evaluate the higher tier before the first charge. If a renewal payment fails, a **grace period** keeps your store fully live while you sort out payment — update the card, top up the wallet, retry. Grace exists because a failed card should never be the reason a Friday order disappears. ## What "locked" actually means If a subscription is neither renewed nor within grace, the store enters a locked state, and the boundaries are deliberately narrow: a locked merchant keeps **billing access only**. That means you can still sign in, reach the billing area, and complete the payment that unlocks everything else. The storefront and the rest of the dashboard stay offline until the subscription is active again — pay, and the store comes back as it was, with all data intact. ## Reading your usage The billing page shows where you stand against your plan's limits — products in use, storage, AI requests today, tracked keywords. Watch the two you are closest to; the right moment to upgrade is the week a limit would pinch, not the day after it blocks a upload. Downgrading works the same way in reverse: bring your usage under the target plan's limits first, then switch. ## Tips - Start on Free honestly. The platform is designed so the free tier proves the workflow before you pay for capacity. - The most commonly needed unlocks are **custom domain** and **remove branding** — both are plan features, so check the plans table if either matters to your brand. - Set a calendar reminder a few days before renewal if you pay via wallet top-ups; funded wallets and valid cards both avoid the grace-period drama entirely. ## FAQ **Can I switch plans mid-cycle?** Yes. Upgrades apply immediately with billing handled through BirrPay; downgrades take effect according to your current cycle. Invoices for each change appear in billing history. **What currency and methods does BirrPay accept?** BirrPay checkout shows the available methods at payment time, including wallet balance you have funded in advance. **If I cancel, do I lose my data?** While a subscription lapses the store locks, but nothing is deleted — reactivate through billing access and the store returns exactly as you left it.