# Plans and tiers

> **What this chapter covers**
> How the products fit together, what each tier unlocks, and which one to pick.

> **As of August 2026.** Prices and limits change. Don't memorise them — look at
> the **structure**.

## Credits are not a product you buy

This is where expectations most often go wrong.

> **A monthly plan issues credits every cycle.** It is not a prepaid wallet you
> top up and draw down.

It used to be a single wallet. That model was bad in two ways — our revenue moved
with usage and could not be predicted, and the customer could not say what this
month would cost either. A subscription fixes both.

**Extra purchases sit on top of a plan**; they are not a way in on their own.

### Monthly credits do not roll over

Issued credits expire at the end of the cycle. Allowing roll-over lets an idle
workspace pile up a balance until "a year's worth in one month" becomes possible.

**Consumption goes by earliest expiry first.** So plan credits are spent before
purchased ones — the order that favours the customer comes out automatically.

## Three tiers

| | Starter | Pro | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $29 | $99 | $299 |
| Monthly credits | 20 | 80 | 250 |
| Members (seats) | 3 | 10 | 30 |
| Concurrent runs | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Drive storage | 10 GB | 50 GB | 200 GB |
| [Audit log](/guide/cn-audit) window | — | 30 days | 365 days |
| [Data masking](/guide/cn-masking) | — | — | ✓ |
| [SSO](/guide/cn-sso) | — | — | ✓ |

With no plan you are on the **free tier** — 1 seat, 1 concurrent run, 1 GB. Not
zero, for one reason: blocking a solo trial leaves no way to evaluate the product.

## Two different kinds of limit

```mermaid
graph TD
  A["What splits the tiers"] --> B["Cost grows with the tier<br/>seats · concurrency · storage"]
  A --> C["Cost is zero but it is a contract term<br/>SSO · audit · masking"]
  B --> D["Split by number"]
  C --> E["Split by on/off"]
```

Force both into one shape and you get meaningless values like "3 SSOs".

**Features that make the product stick — the widget, MCP, the glossary — are not
tiered at all.** Locking those costs us more than it earns.

## The audit log is never off, only shortened

Worth noticing.

> **Collection always runs regardless of tier. Only the ability to look is locked.**

Turning collection off would mean that after an upgrade you can only see from the
upgrade onwards — which destroys the reason to buy it ("what happened during last
year's incident?"). That is why the locked screen says **"available on a higher
tier"** rather than "no records".

## Systems and public addresses are separate products

They do not come with the plan.

| Product | What | See |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | The workspace itself | This chapter |
| System slot | A slot for one computer. **First one free** | [Managing systems](/guide/cn-systems-manage) |
| Address slot | One tunnel address | [Managing systems](/guide/cn-systems-manage) |

## A price rise does not touch existing customers

The price at sign-up is copied onto the subscription row and renewals use that.

**Credits and entitlements are read from the price table every time, though.**
Changes that give more reach existing customers immediately. Changes that take
away are not made — a new tier is created instead.

## Which tier

```
□ More than 3 people?                          → Pro or above
□ Did a security review ask for SSO?           → Business
□ Must personal data stay out of the model?    → Business (masking)
□ Do you need query history for compliance?    → Pro (30d) / Business (365d)
□ Uploading a lot of documents?                → decide on storage
□ Running several schedules at once?           → decide on concurrency
```

**Concurrency is the bottleneck more often than people expect.** With several
long-running schedules, moving up a tier can be a faster fix than rewriting
prompts.

## On-premises installs are different

There are no tiers. There is nowhere to buy, so **everything is open** and the
credit screen does not appear. Only concurrency is finite, and that is not a price
— it is what one server can carry.

## Common misunderstandings

### "Can't we just buy more credits?"

**The plan comes first.** Extra purchases sit on top of a plan, so there is no
credit-only path. And in most cases moving up a tier is cheaper per credit.

### "We didn't use this month's credits — that feels wasteful"

**They don't roll over.** Leftovers are a signal your tier is too high — consider
moving down. If you run short every month, look at the **distribution** on the
usage screen first ([Usage and credits](/guide/cn-usage)).

---

## Check yourself

**1. How do you get credits?**

<details>
<summary>Answer</summary>

**A monthly plan issues them each cycle.** It is not a prepaid wallet, and extra
purchases sit on top of a plan. Issued credits expire at the end of the cycle and
do not roll over.
</details>

**2. Why do audit records accumulate even on lower tiers?**

<details>
<summary>Answer</summary>

**So that the past is visible after an upgrade.** If collection stopped, you would
only see from the upgrade onwards and could not investigate an old incident. The
tier only shortens the **viewing window**.
</details>

**3. Why are seats a number while SSO is on/off?**

<details>
<summary>Answer</summary>

**Because cost grows with the tier for one and not the other.** Seats, concurrency
and storage cost us more as they grow; SSO, audit and masking cost nothing but are
contract terms. One shape for both would produce meaningless values like "3 SSOs".
</details>

---

Next, calling in from outside → [Calling it via API key](/guide/cn-api)