Overview
A Spek subscription belongs to one workspace. It supplies the credits used by research and AI work in that workspace. Billing is being opened in stages, so a workspace may show that checkout is temporarily unavailable while configuration is verified.
Choosing a package
The available packages are Growth, Pro, Scale, and Enterprise. Public Pricing compares all four packages, while the Settings → Plan pop-up is a Select a plan list of all four packages. Use Monthly or Annual to compare displayed rates. Growth, Pro, and Scale continue into checkout or a plan update; Enterprise is contact sales. Choosing a package on public Pricing carries that package into signup and onboarding, where the server validates it again. The comparison shows 750, 4,000, and 10,000 monthly credits with new-subscription app allowances of 5, 10, and 25 respectively. Growth and above include a dedicated support manager; the dedicated ASO manager is a paid add-on on Pro, Scale, and Enterprise. Slack support, invoice/custom billing, and single sign-on are available from Growth upward.
Existing Pro and Scale subscribers keep their 20-app and 50-app allowances through renewals. New purchases, including returning after cancellation, and changes to your plan or billing cycle use the current 10-app and 25-app limits. Your connected apps stay in your workspace.
Launch is no longer available for new subscriptions or plan changes. Existing Launch subscribers keep their current pricing, 100 monthly credits, and one-app allowance. Their subscriptions continue to renew as usual. Launch cannot be selected again after cancellation or a move to another plan.
| Billing cycle | Charge | Credit delivery |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | Charged each month | The selected credits are added after each paid renewal |
| Annual | Charged once a year at the annual price | The selected credits are still added monthly |
The in-product onboarding paywall reads the available subscriptions from the server catalog. A URL can suggest only a known plan and cycle; it cannot set its own amount, price, credits, app limit, customer, or workspace.
Checkout
You can create an account directly from Pricing. Spek creates your account and first workspace, then keeps you inside the product on the onboarding paywall. A valid Pricing choice is preselected there; you can review and confirm the server-catalog package before Stripe Checkout opens.
- Stripe hosts payment-card entry and prefills your Spek account email.
- Spek does not receive or store the full card number or CVC.
- Prices and charges are shown in USD.
- Returning from Checkout keeps you on onboarding. Store setup opens only after Stripe's paid invoice is confirmed; the browser redirect alone does not activate a workspace.
- Automatic tax calculation is not enabled. The total Stripe shows is the amount charged.
Credits and renewal
Subscriptions renew automatically until canceled. New credits are added only after Stripe confirms the relevant payment. Each credit grant is a tranche with its own expiry date, and spending uses the tranche nearest expiry first.
If a payment is overdue, existing unexpired credits remain available, but no new subscription credits are added until payment is confirmed. Spek never lets the balance go below zero.
If the balance reaches zero, only credit-metered research and AI work stops. Reading data, editing existing drafts, and publishing an approved change remain available. Connecting an app does not spend credits, but it must fit the package allowance: 1 for existing Launch subscribers, 5 for Growth, 10 for Pro, and 25 for Scale. Existing Pro and Scale subscriptions keep their retained allowances as described above; your workspace shows your current limit. Removing an app frees a slot. Spek keeps the refused draft in place and never retries it automatically after payment.
One-time credit packages and the former Startup packages are retired. Owners and admins can review Growth, Pro, or Scale from Settings → Plan. If the workspace has credit debt from reversed, already-used value, Spek shows exactly how much of the first paid subscription grant repays that debt and how much is usable immediately before Checkout opens.
A formal open payment dispute provisionally holds the disputed credits and pauses new plan credits while Stripe decides the case. It does not independently end already-paid access. A win restores eligible value with its original expiry and repayment history; a loss makes the reversal final.
Managing billing
Open Settings, then open Billing. The page lists your package, billing period, member count, and credits, then payment details and invoices. The same credit balance and next refresh date also appear on Workspace. Owners and admins add or replace a primary card in Stripe-hosted Setup Checkout. They can also add one automatic backup after explicitly agreeing to its limited use. Spek displays only the brand, last four digits, and expiry; Stripe keeps the full card details. Billing name, company, country, email, and tax number are edited in Spek and saved on the Stripe customer; Spek does not store those values. Invoice emails send each invoice copy to the billing email when that toggle is on.
The backup is tried at most once when a recurring renewal fails because the primary needs replacement. It is never used for signup or a payment that needs bank confirmation. If the backup succeeds, it becomes primary.
Billing shows the upcoming invoice and recent payments. View invoice opens the Stripe-hosted invoice when one exists. The Stripe Billing Portal remains available as a backup and still collects a standard cancellation reason. Spek first shows the paid-through date, access, and credit consequences; there is no cancellation discount. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the paid period and can be withdrawn before then with Keep subscription.
Settings → Plan marks your exact package and billing cycle as Current plan. Owners and admins can choose Update planon another option and confirm the exact change in Stripe. Moving up applies right away, and you pay only the difference for the rest of your current period: the unused time on your old package counts toward the new one, your renewal date stays the same, and the credits for what you paid are added on top of the ones you have left. Lower-price or shorter-interval changes take effect at the end of the current period and change nothing until then. A downgrade is blocked when the workspace currently exceeds the target package's app limit.
Common questions
Why does Billing say checkout is unavailable?
Billing is rollout-gated and fails closed when its Stripe configuration is incomplete. No charge can start while that notice is shown.
Check the message in the correct workspace and have an owner or admin review it if billing action is needed. Avoid repeating purchases from several tabs. A selected package and a successful return URL do not by themselves establish that payment and activation completed.
Does an annual plan add all credits at once?
No. The annual price is charged once a year, but the selected credits are added monthly.
Can an editor update the card or cancel?
No. Editors and viewers have read-only billing access. Ask a workspace owner or admin.
What happens after a payment fails?
Existing paid-through access and unexpired credits stay available, but new plan credits pause. An owner or admin can replace the primary card or open the exact hosted invoice recovery page from Billing.
How should I estimate the plan my workspace needs?
Start with the number of apps you need to connect and the research or AI work your team expects to request. Consider how many markets you will actively review rather than assuming every possible locale needs a fresh pass at once. Compare the current package allowances and credit balance in the product, then review the actual checkout or plan-change details before confirming. A plan recommendation is a starting point for your workload; it is not a promise that a particular amount of research will produce a specific ranking or revenue result.
How should I interpret a zero credit balance?
A zero balance affects credit-metered work, not every activity in the workspace. You can still inspect existing data and work on drafts within the access described by your subscription state. Check the balance, renewal information and the operation's message before requesting more work. If an operation was refused for insufficient credits, do not assume it will automatically restart after payment. Review the intended request again once credits are available, and keep the distinction between a prepared draft and paid research clear.
What should an owner check before changing a plan?
Review the selected package, billing cycle, current app count and the timing and amount shown in the confirmation flow. Different plan changes can take effect at different times, so use the actual preview rather than assuming every change is immediate. Check which workspace is being updated when you belong to several teams. If a target package cannot support the connected app count, resolve that scope before proceeding. Keep billing decisions separate from store publishing permissions and from the review of any pending listing drafts.
What information should I send about a billing problem?
Identify the workspace, account email, approximate time and the invoice or visible error relevant to the issue. Explain whether the problem concerns checkout, a renewal, credits or a plan change so support can investigate the correct stage. Do not send a full card number, CVC, password or store private key. Where Billing provides a hosted invoice or payment recovery action, use that exact flow. A successful browser redirect or a screenshot of a selected plan is not by itself confirmation that payment and credit updates completed.