Billing and plans in Service VIN: trials
How the free trial works, what each plan includes, upgrading or downgrading, updating your card, failed payments, finding invoices, and cancelling — all from one page.
Account & billing2 in this section
The short answer
How does billing work in Service VIN?
Everything about what you pay is on one page. The trial runs without a card, and nothing is charged until you choose a plan. Upgrades and downgrades take effect from that page, your card is updated there, past invoices are downloadable there, and cancelling is a button rather than an email to somebody.
Related feature
shop management software pricing is the page about what this article sets up.
Your whole team and every shop feature ride on one subscription. Settings → Plan & billing is where you see the plan you're on, how much trial you have left, compare tiers, and jump into the secure Stripe portal to change your card or download invoices. Only owners can change the plan or open the portal — managers and techs see the page read-only. Changing plans is safe any time: upgrades take effect the moment payment clears, and nothing you've entered is ever deleted by a plan change.
Your free trial. Every signup gets 14 days with every feature unlocked — the whole product, so you can judge it on what it actually does. No credit card is needed to start, and nothing is charged. AI usage is capped at 300 credits for the trial month so nothing runs up a bill before you have decided, and texting is capped until you add a card (that cap is an anti-spam measure, not a paywall — adding a card lifts it and still charges nothing). The last stretch of the trial shows a countdown ("Trial — 6 days left") on the billing page and a banner in the app, and you pick the plan you want to carry on with from Settings → Plan & billing.
What happens when the trial ends
Nothing happens by itself. If you have chosen a plan and added a card, that plan starts on the last day and nothing about your shop changes — no interruption, no re-picking; press Don't charge me when the trial ends on this page any time beforehand and you keep every remaining trial day and pay nothing. If you have not, the trial simply runs out and access pauses until you pick a plan. Either way nothing is deleted, ever — your quotes, jobs, customers, inbox and every other record stay exactly where they are and come straight back the moment you choose.
The three plans
Prices are in Canadian dollars and are always read live from the pricing table, so the numbers on your billing page are the source of truth if these ever change. Annual billing is two months free — you pay for ten. The tier cards show both a monthly and an annual button, and the annual line spells out the yearly total. The features that visibly make money — the texting agents, automations and AI Scheduling — start on Growth; the calling suite and multi-shop are the Command additions.
Choosing, upgrading or downgrading
- 1
Pick a plan and interval
On the tier you want, click Choose monthly or the Annual button. First purchase sends you to Stripe's hosted checkout — enter your card there; you land back on the billing page and the plan activates within a minute.
- 2
Already subscribed? It switches in place
If you already have a live subscription, changing tier or interval updates it in place with proration — Stripe credits the unused prepaid time and bills only the difference, so a mid-cycle change (even annual → monthly) never charges you for overlapping coverage.
- 3
Downgrades work the same way
Moving to a cheaper tier prorates too: the unused portion of your current plan comes back as account credit against the next invoice. Just remember a lower tier locks the features it doesn't include (e.g. Essentials pauses the AI agents).
Annual is the cheapest way to run
Every plan's annual price is ten months for twelve. If you already know you're staying, switch a monthly subscription to annual from the same tier card — proration means you only pay the gap, and your renewal date moves to a year out.
Updating your card, and finding invoices. Everything to do with your payment method and receipts lives behind one button: Open billing portal in the *Manage billing* card. That opens Stripe's secure customer portal, where you can swap the card on file, download any past invoice or receipt as a PDF, and update your billing email. It's the same portal for cancelling — see below.
If a payment fails
When a renewal charge is declined, your subscription goes past due and you get a 48-hour grace window — everything keeps running, a red "Your last payment didn't go through" banner counts down the hours, and we email and notify the shop's owners straight away, again 24 hours before the lock, and if it locks. Fix it by updating your card in the billing portal; the moment the payment goes through, the banner clears. If the 48 hours pass unpaid, Service VIN locks for everyone on your team, the same way it does when a trial ends — nothing is deleted, and it reopens the moment the payment goes through. If this was your very first charge after the free trial, there is no grace window: the account locks straight away until the card works.
Cancelling, and taking your data with you. Cancel any time from Open billing portal → Cancel plan. Your subscription stays active until the end of the period you've already paid for, then access lapses to the same soft-locked state as an ended trial — nothing is erased. To pull your numbers out, use Export CSV in the header of Reports, which downloads the report you're viewing (revenue, by-service, top customers, installers and more) as a spreadsheet. Want a fuller export before you go? Ask Dash (the ? button, bottom-right) and it'll point you to the right list.
Troubleshooting
There are no buttons to choose or change a plan.
Why: You're not an owner (only owners can change the plan), or the platform's Stripe keys aren't configured.
Fix: Ask your shop owner to make the change. If you are the owner and still see no buttons, online payment hasn't been set up — check the owner checklist.
My payment failed and the past-due banner won't go away.
Why: The card on file is still being declined, so Stripe's retries keep failing.
Fix: Open the billing portal and replace the card. The banner clears the moment the payment goes through — you have 48 hours of full access to sort it before the account locks.
My trial ended and the AI agents went quiet.
Why: At trial's end the org soft-locks — data and core tools stay, but agents, automations, integrations, scheduling, digest and calling pause until a plan is chosen.
Fix: Pick a plan on Settings → Plan & billing. Everything switches back on the moment payment clears.
Common questions
Will I be charged during the free trial?
No. The 14-day trial needs no credit card at all, and nothing is charged during it. You only ever pay after you have chosen a plan and added a card yourself — and the page reminds you what happens and when, so nothing arrives as a surprise.
What happens to my data if my trial ends or I cancel?
It all stays — quotes, jobs, customers, inbox, invoices, documents, everything. The core shop tools keep working; only the paid extras (AI agents, automations, AI Scheduling, integrations, digest, calling) pause until you pick a plan again.
Do I lose money if I switch plans mid-cycle?
No. Switches happen in place with proration: Stripe credits the unused time on your old plan and bills only the difference. That's true upgrading, downgrading, and switching between monthly and annual.
Where do I get a receipt for my accountant?
Open billing portal in the Manage billing card, then download any invoice as a PDF. You can also update the billing email there so future receipts go to the right inbox.
How much is annual billing?
Two months free — you pay for ten. Each tier card shows the yearly total next to its Annual button, and prices are in Canadian dollars.