Billing & Free Trial
This page explains how billing works on TimberCloud: the 14-day free trial, monthly vs. annual pricing, the platform fee (and how it differs from Stripe's processing fee), how payouts reach your bank through Stripe, and how to upgrade, downgrade, or cancel. For a side-by-side comparison of what each plan includes, see Subscriptions & Plans. For the permanent $0 plan, see The Free Plan.
Note: All billing is handled through Stripe. You change plans, update your card, and cancel from one place — the Stripe Customer Portal, opened from Settings → Company → Manage Subscription.
The 14-day free trial
Every paid monthly plan (Commerce and Build) starts with a 14-day, full-feature free trial. There is no capped sandbox — you get the complete plan during the trial.
- A credit card is required to start. You won't be charged until the trial ends.
- No charge for 14 days. At the end of day 14, Stripe automatically charges the card on file and your subscription becomes active.
- Cancel anytime before the trial ends through the Stripe Customer Portal — you won't be charged.
- During the trial, your subscription status is trialing and the trial end date is shown in Settings → Company.
Important: The trial is offered on monthly plans only. Annual plans are not trial-eligible — choosing annual billing starts a paid subscription immediately. The permanent Free plan is a separate, no-card option (it is not a trial and never expires).
Activate your subscription early
If you'd rather start billing before day 14, open Settings → Company and click Activate subscription now on the trial banner. A confirmation dialog shows the exact amount you'll be charged. Confirming charges your card today, ends the trial immediately, and switches you to a fully active subscription. If the charge doesn't go through, your trial stays intact and you'll be asked to update the card.
Important: Activate subscription now only starts your billing early — it does not unlock live customer payments. You do not need to end your trial to take real money. See Taking live payments during the trial below.
Taking live payments during the trial
A common misconception: you can absolutely take real customer payments while you're still in the 14-day trial. Being in the trial does not block live charges.
What actually turns on live payments is two things, and neither one is ending the trial:
- Finish Stripe Connect onboarding — connect your own Stripe account and complete Stripe's verification so charges are enabled on it. See How payouts work and Order Payments.
- Turn test mode off — while test mode is on, checkout runs against Stripe's test environment (no real money moves). Switch it off when you're ready to charge real cards.
Once Stripe is connected (charges enabled) and test mode is off, your storefront takes live payments — whether your subscription is trialing or active. Activating your subscription early changes when your plan starts billing, nothing about payment processing.
Monthly vs. annual billing
You can pay monthly or annually. Annual billing saves about 17% — you pay for 10 months and get 12.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (pay 10 months) | Platform fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | — | No payments |
| Commerce | $199/mo | $1,990/yr | 1% |
| Build (Most Popular) | $499/mo | $4,990/yr | 0.5% |
| Production | $999/mo | $9,990/yr | 0% |
| Enterprise | Custom — talk to sales | — | 0% |
You can switch between monthly and annual billing in the Stripe Customer Portal. Remember that the 14-day trial applies to monthly plans only.
Platform fee vs. Stripe's processing fee
Two separate fees apply to card payments collected through your TimberCloud checkout. It's important to understand that these are different fees:
- TimberCloud platform fee — TimberCloud's own fee on successful card charges collected through TimberCloud checkout. It depends on your plan: Commerce 1%, Build 0.5%, Production 0%, Enterprise 0%. The Free plan can't accept payments, so no platform fee applies.
- Stripe's processing fee — Stripe's standard 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. This is charged by Stripe and is separate from and on top of the TimberCloud platform fee.
The platform fee applies only to successful card charges through TimberCloud checkout — it does not apply to quotes, offline deposits, or orders you log manually.
Tip: Want to lower your platform fee? Higher tiers cost more per month but charge a lower (or 0%) platform fee. Production and Enterprise have a 0% TimberCloud platform fee, so you only pay Stripe's standard processing rate.
Worked example
On the Commerce plan (1% platform fee), a customer pays $1,000 by card through your storefront:
- TimberCloud platform fee: 1% of $1,000 = $10.00
- Stripe processing fee: 2.9% + $0.30 = $29.30
- You net roughly $960.70 in your Stripe account.
On Production (0% platform fee), the same $1,000 order has no TimberCloud platform fee — you'd pay only Stripe's $29.30, netting about $970.70.
How payouts work (Stripe Connect)
TimberCloud uses Stripe Connect, which means money flows directly to your own Stripe account — TimberCloud never holds your funds.
- You connect (or keep using) your own Stripe account, and payouts go straight to your bank on your Stripe payout schedule.
- You keep full access to your Stripe Dashboard for payment history, disputes, and payout settings.
- Connecting Stripe to collect payments requires a paid plan (Commerce or higher). The Free plan is inquiry-only and can't accept payments — see The Free Plan.
Changing your plan
All plan changes happen in one place: Settings → Company → Manage Subscription, which opens the Stripe Customer Portal. You can also reach an upgrade flow from the sidebar Upgrade button or from any in-app upgrade prompt.
| Change | When it takes effect | Billing behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Upgrade (e.g., Commerce → Build) | Immediately | Pro-rated — you're charged the difference for the rest of the current period, and the new features unlock right away. |
| Downgrade (e.g., Build → Commerce) | At your next renewal | You keep the higher-tier features until the period ends, then move to the lower tier. |
| Cancel | At the end of the current billing period | You keep access until the period ends. After cancellation, your plan is cleared. |
Note: There are no overage fees on TimberCloud — not on orders, users, or storage. The only usage-based cost is the platform fee on card payments described above. Adding seats beyond your plan's included users is a defined add-on, not a surprise overage (see below).
Switching between paid tiers preserves all of your products, orders, customers, and pricing — nothing is lost or migrated. Downgrading all the way to Free is also non-destructive: your pricing and data are preserved (just hidden) and instantly restored if you upgrade again. See The Free Plan for the full downgrade behavior.
Add-ons
Visual Configurator and Carrier & Freight Services used to be $99/mo add-ons on Commerce. They are now included with every paid plan — Commerce, Build, Production and Enterprise — at no extra cost. Only Free excludes them.
That leaves one add-on:
| Add-on | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Additional Users | +$50/user/mo | Seats beyond your plan's included users. Adding a user adjusts your subscription. |
Each plan includes a number of user seats: Free 1, Commerce 1, Build 7, Production 15, Enterprise unlimited. On Commerce, extra seats are $50/user/mo. Seats are managed alongside your subscription in Settings → Company.
Subscription statuses
Your subscription status is synced in real time from Stripe and shown in Settings → Company (and as a top-of-app banner when action is needed). Here's what each status means and what to do:
| Status | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| trialing | You're in your 14-day free trial. No charge yet. You can still take live customer payments once Stripe is connected and test mode is off. | Nothing required. Cancel before day 14 if you don't want to be charged, or click Activate subscription now to start billing early. |
| active | Your subscription is paid and in good standing. | Nothing required. |
| past_due | A renewal charge failed (e.g., expired or declined card). Stripe is retrying. | Open Manage Subscription and update your card to restore access before retries run out. |
| unpaid | Payment retries were exhausted and the invoice is still unpaid. Access may be restricted. | Update your card in the Stripe portal to bring the account current. |
| canceled | The subscription was canceled (by you or after failed payments). The plan is cleared. | Re-subscribe from Settings → Company → Upgrade Plan to restore access. |
| incomplete | The first payment didn't complete (e.g., card needed extra authentication). | Finish or retry the payment in the Stripe portal. |
| incomplete_expired | An incomplete first payment was never completed in time and expired. | Start the subscription again from Settings → Company. |
| paused | Billing is paused (e.g., a trial ended with no usable payment method). | Add or update a payment method to resume. |
Important: If you see an Action Required banner (typically for past_due, unpaid, incomplete, or paused), click it to open the Stripe Customer Portal and update your payment details. Keeping a valid card on file is the quickest way to keep payments and your storefront running.
Where to manage everything
- Settings → Company → Manage Subscription → opens the Stripe Customer Portal to change plans, update your card, view invoices, or cancel.
- Settings → Company → shows your current plan, trial end date, status, and the Activate subscription now button during a trial.
- Sidebar → Upgrade → quick path to upgrade and unlock plan-gated features.
Related pages
- Subscriptions & Plans — full plan comparison and feature gating
- The Free Plan — the permanent $0 inquiry-only plan and downgrade behavior
- Your Website — the Site Builder hosted website (Commerce+)
- AI Features — AI tools included from Commerce up