Billing and plans

Earnest charges by the number of reps and managers you pay through it. This guide explains what counts as a seat, how to upgrade, and what happens when a payment fails or you cancel. Only admins can see or change billing, under Settings → Billing.

Plans and seats

Every feature is included on every plan. Only the number of reps and managers differs.

A seat is one active person with a current Rep or Manager position.

• Admins never use a seat.
• A future hire uses a seat from the day you add them, not from their start date.
• Deactivated people don't use a seat.
• Total users, admins included, are capped at the greater of 4 times your seat limit or 50: 50 on Starter, 76 on Teams, 200 on Growth.

An addition that would pass your seat limit is refused with a message such as "Your current plan supports up to 19 reps and managers. Admins are free. This change would bring you to 20." People you already have are never removed because of a limit.

Settings → Billing shows your Current Plan with a status badge (Free Tier, Active, Past Due or Canceled) and your Usage: reps and managers against your limit, plus your free admins.

Upgrade

1. Go to Settings → Billing and click Upgrade.
2. In Choose Your Plan, click the plan you want. (Moving down instead? See Move to a lower plan.)
3. What happens next depends on whether you already pay:
   • On Starter, you go to a secure checkout page run by Stripe, our payment provider. Enter a billing address and pay by card or US bank account. When you return, you see "Checkout complete" and the Billing tab refreshes after a few seconds.
   • On a paid plan, you see Review Upgrade with the amount Due Today. That's a prorated charge for the days left in your current billing cycle. Click Confirm & Pay. You see "Successfully upgraded to" followed by the plan name.

Your admins get an email once the new plan is active.

Sales tax is added where it applies, based on your billing address. Checkout always asks for one.

Card or bank account

While a bank transfer clears, the Billing tab shows "Bank transfer in progress." and the Upgrade button is hidden. You don't need to do anything, and you shouldn't pay again.

If the transfer fails, your admins get an email called "We couldn't complete your bank transfer" explaining why. The extra seats opened during clearing are removed and your seat limit goes back to the free level. Everyone you've added keeps their access, but you can't add more reps or managers until a payment goes through.

Many business accounts block direct debits by default, so ask your bank to allow them first.

Manage Billing

Click Manage Billing on the Billing tab to update your payment method or billing address, or to see your invoices. It opens Stripe's billing portal.

If Earnest set up your plan for you, there's no Manage Billing button. Email support@earnestcomp.com with billing questions.

If a payment fails

When a renewal payment fails, nothing changes straight away.

1. Your admins get an email called "Action needed: your Earnest payment didn't go through".
2. A banner across the app counts down: "Your last payment didn't go through. Everything keeps working for" a number of days, with the end date. Reps and managers see a shorter banner saying an admin needs to update billing.
3. The card on file is retried automatically. You have 7 days from the first failure to fix it. The fastest way is to update your card under Manage Billing.

If the payment still hasn't gone through after 7 days, editing is paused:

• Everyone can still sign in and read statements, plans and history.
• Nothing can be added or changed. A blocked change shows "That change wasn't saved. Editing is paused until a payment succeeds."
• You can still manage billing, export your data, change your own password and email settings, and delete the organization.

Editing resumes as soon as a payment succeeds. Nothing is deleted because of a failed payment.

Cancel

To cancel, use Manage Billing, or email support@earnestcomp.com. The Billing tab then shows the date it will cancel ("Your subscription is set to cancel on …"), and your plan keeps working until then. To change your mind, open Manage Billing and renew it.

When it ends, your organization moves to the free plan: up to 5 reps and managers, with admins free as always. Your admins get an email called "Your Earnest subscription has ended". Nothing is deleted. What happens next depends on your team's size:

• 5 or fewer reps and managers: nothing else changes. The badge shows Free Tier and everything keeps working.
• More than 5: the badge shows Canceled and editing is paused. Everyone can still sign in and read everything. A blocked change shows "Editing is paused because the subscription has ended. An admin can remove reps or managers under People until the team fits the free plan, or subscribe again under Settings → Billing."

To get editing back, do either of these:

1. Go to People and deactivate reps or managers until you have 5 or fewer. Editing comes back on by itself as soon as you do, and the badge changes to Free Tier.
2. Subscribe again: click Upgrade on the Billing tab. Paying by card unlocks editing right away. Paying by bank unlocks it when the transfer clears.

If you're leaving for good, download your data first from Settings → Data.

Move to a lower plan

You can move to a cheaper plan yourself, as long as your reps and managers fit it.

1. Go to Settings → Billing and click Upgrade (it reads Change plan if you're on Enterprise).
2. In Choose Your Plan, click the lower plan. If your team is too big for it, the card says how many people to remove first, for example "Remove 3 reps or managers to switch to Teams". Deactivate them under People, then come back.
3. Review Plan Change shows a Credit to your account: the unused part of your current plan. It comes off your next invoices, and nothing is charged today.
4. Click Confirm Change. You see "Switched to" followed by the plan name.

Your new seat limit applies straight away. To move all the way down to the free plan, cancel instead.

Check it worked

• Current Plan shows the plan you bought with an Active badge (or the bank-transfer banner while a transfer clears).
• The Usage limit shows your new number of reps and managers.

Common problems

• "We couldn't apply sales tax because there's no billing address on file." Add an address under Manage Billing, then try the upgrade again.
• "Your card was declined, so the upgrade was not applied — you're still on your current plan and nothing was charged." Update your card under Manage Billing and try again.
• "Checkout was canceled. No changes were made." You left the checkout page before paying. Click Upgrade to start again.
• "Your last payment didn't go through. We couldn't complete your recent payment…" A checkout didn't finish and nothing was charged. Try again when you're ready.
• "Your bank transfer is still clearing." A second checkout is blocked so you aren't charged twice. Wait for the transfer to clear.
• "This account has reached its maximum number of user records." You've hit the total-user cap. Deactivate people who have left, or contact support.

Go deeper

• Settings, notifications and your data: the full Billing tab, billing emails, and deleting your organization.
• Add your team: adding reps and managers within your seat limit.
• People and teams reference: deactivating people who leave.