Plans & billing

Bower offers three workspace plans: Starter, Individual, and Team. Each plan includes different capacity, member caps, and feature access.

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Plans overview

Annual billing saves up to 20% compared to monthly. All paid plans include a 14-day free trial — no credit card required.

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Workspace capacity

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AI usage allowances

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Bird, your AI co-scientist partner

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Connectors: Bird across your tools

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Capture and knowledge

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Collaboration and sharing

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Version history

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Trust and privacy

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Support

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Who can manage billing

Only Owners and Admins can view or change anything in the Billing tab. Members and Guests don’t see the tab at all — they can use the workspace normally, but they can’t see the plan, change it, update the payment method, add seats, or cancel. If you’re a Member who needs a payment method updated or a seat added, ask an Owner or Admin in your workspace. Owners can be transferred via the Members tab if the current owner has left.

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View your current plan

Go to Settings > Billing. You’ll see your current plan, billing cycle, next billing date, and usage bars for storage, members, and owned workspaces. Click Compare all features above the plan cards to see the full matrix.

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Upgrade your plan

All paid plans include a 14-day free trial — no credit card required to start. You can pay with a credit or debit card. After payment (or during the trial), your workspace is upgraded immediately — no need to sign out or refresh.

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Add or remove Team seats

On the Team plan, every paid member (Owner, Admin, or Member) counts as a seat. Guests are free and never count toward seat usage — Team includes 4 guests per paid seat. See Invite team members for the guest caps on every plan.

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Adding a seat

Open Settings > Members and invite a teammate as Owner, Admin, or Member. If the invite would take you above your current seat count, Bower shows a preview of the prorated charge for the remainder of the current billing period before anything is charged. Confirm to proceed — the seat is added to your subscription and Stripe issues a prorated invoice immediately. The new seat is held for the invitee until they accept. Bower does not silently top up your subscription. A seat is only added when an admin reviews the preview and confirms the charge.

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Revoking a pending invite

If you revoke a paid invitation before it’s accepted, the seat is released straight away and Stripe issues a prorated credit for the unused portion of the current period. The credit is applied to your next invoice automatically.

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Removing an existing member

Removing a paid member from Settings > Members drops your seat count for the next billing cycle. The current period is not prorated — you’ve already paid for it, and the member retains no access after removal. Your next monthly or annual invoice reflects the lower seat count.

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Manage your subscription

Click Manage Billing in the Billing tab to open the Stripe Customer Portal. From there you can:

• Switch between Individual and Team
• Switch between monthly and annual billing
• Update your payment method
• View past invoices and receipts

Plan switches show the exact prorated charge in Stripe before you confirm. Upgrades and cycle changes apply immediately; the new rate is invoiced on the spot with credit for the time you’ve already paid for on the previous plan.

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Monthly vs annual billing

Both monthly and annual subscriptions renew automatically. A monthly plan charges on the same day each month; an annual plan charges once a year on the anniversary of the original purchase. Annual saves up to 20% per month versus monthly across Individual and Team. To switch cycles, open Manage Billing and choose the new cycle on the same plan. The switch is prorated through Stripe — you’ll see the exact charge or credit before confirming.

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What happens if payment fails

If a payment fails, your workspace enters a past due state. You’ll see a warning banner in the Billing tab asking you to update your payment method. Stripe automatically retries failed payments several times over the following weeks. If all retries fail, your workspace is downgraded to the Starter plan. While in past-due state, your existing data is preserved — nothing is deleted. Features gated behind your paid plan may become restricted until payment is resolved.

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Cancellation

To cancel, go to Settings > Billing and click Downgrade to Free. You don’t need to open the Stripe portal. After confirmation:

• You keep access to your paid plan until the end of the current billing period — monthly cancellations run out at the end of the month, annual cancellations at the end of the year
• The Billing tab shows a banner with your end date
• No further charges are made; Bower does not refund the unused portion of the current period
• At period end, your workspace moves to the Starter plan
• Your data is preserved — nothing is deleted
• Storage, member, workspace, and audit-retention limits revert to Starter levels
• Public share links will no longer be accessible

You can reactivate at any time before the end date by clicking Reactivate plan in the same banner. Reactivation is instant, doesn’t trigger a new charge, and leaves your existing billing cycle untouched.

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Student discount

Students and researchers at accredited institutions can request a free Individual plan. Click Free for students under the Individual card on the Billing tab to get the contact details — we review requests manually.

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Workspace deletion and billing

If you delete a workspace that has an active subscription, the subscription is cancelled automatically. No further charges will occur.