Plans & billing

ShutterBase runs on a subscription. The Subscription card in Settings shows which plan you’re on and is where you upgrade, cancel, or update your card.

The plans

• Beta: everything in Pro, at no cost, while ShutterBase is in beta. When the beta ends, every beta account is moved to a 30-day free trial automatically, with plenty of warning first.
• Free trial: 30 days with full Pro access, starting when your beta period ends (or when you create your account, once the beta is over). No card required. When the trial ends your account stays open but becomes read-only until you pick a plan.
• Pro: the paid plan for working photographers. Billed monthly through Stripe. Unlimited events and editing, public event pages and run sheets, gear, checklists, the pose library, scheduled reminders, and the calendar feed.
• Free: what your account falls back to if a trial ends or a Pro subscription is cancelled. It’s read-only, not closed. See below.
• Partnered: complimentary Pro access for ShutterBase partners. Assigned by the ShutterBase team; nothing to pay and no renewal date.

What a Free (read-only) account can still do

Nothing is ever deleted when you drop to Free. You keep full access to view everything, and you can still:

• Open every event you own or that’s been shared with you
• Accept, decline, or leave a collaboration invite
• Tick off items on a formal shot list
• Export your gear and events data from Settings

You can’t create or edit events, gear, checklists, poses, content posts, or shares until you upgrade. Create buttons stay visible but are disabled, with a note explaining why.

Trial and billing reminders

A banner appears under the page header when your account needs attention:

• In the last week of your trial, a reminder with the end date
• If a card payment fails, everything keeps working for 3 more days while Stripe retries; the banner links straight to updating your card
• Once a trial has ended or a subscription has fully lapsed, a read-only notice with a link to choose a plan

The banner stays silent on beta, on a healthy Pro subscription, and on a partnered account.

Upgrading to Pro

1. Open Settings and go to the Subscription card (or select Choose a plan on any plan banner)
2. Select Upgrade to Pro
3. You’re taken to Stripe Checkout to enter your card. Your card details never touch ShutterBase.
4. After payment you’re returned to Settings. The plan usually activates within a few seconds, once Stripe confirms.

Managing an active subscription

From the Subscription card you can:

• Edit Billing: opens the Stripe billing portal to update your card, view invoices, or change billing details
• Cancel my subscription: Pro stays active until the end of the month you’ve already paid for, then the account moves to Free. Nothing is deleted.
• Resume subscription: if you’ve cancelled but the paid period hasn’t ended yet, you can turn it back on with no interruption

Billing messages (a failed cancel, a confirmed change) show inside the Subscription card itself, not at the top of the page.

On mobile

The mobile Settings index has its own Subscription row, so the plan card is reachable the same way as on desktop.