Billing & Plans

Choose or change your UMS plan, manage your subscription through Stripe Checkout and the Billing Portal, and recover from a lapsed subscription.

UMS includes a self-serve billing area where organisation administrators can choose a plan, change plans, and manage payment details without contacting Utilified. Billing lives under Settings → Billing.

When to use this

Use the billing area when you need to:

• Subscribe to a plan for the first time after signing up.
• Change to a different plan as your usage grows.
• Update your payment method or download invoices via Stripe.
• Restore access after a failed payment.
• Request access to an Enterprise (request-only) plan.

Who can manage billing

Only users with the Manage billing permission (can_manage_billing) can start a checkout, change plans, or open the Stripe Billing Portal. This typically maps to organisation administrators.

Users without this permission can still see the current plan and usage on the Billing page, but the Subscribe, Manage subscription, and Stripe Billing Portal actions are hidden. If billing lapses, non-admins are asked to contact an administrator.

Choosing or changing a plan

The Choose or change your plan section on the Billing page lists every available plan side-by-side. Each plan card shows:

• Plan name, monthly base price, and a short description
• The features included in the plan
• Any usage limits (for example, connections or users)
• A Subscribe button — or a Current plan badge if your organisation is already on that plan

1. Open Billing

   Navigate to Settings → Billing.

2. Compare plans

   Scroll down to the Choose or change your plan section to compare available plans.

3. Subscribe

   Click Subscribe on the plan you want. UMS opens a secure Stripe Checkout session in the same window.

4. Complete checkout

   Enter your payment details in Stripe Checkout. When the payment succeeds you are returned to UMS and your new plan is active immediately.

Changing plans uses the same flow as subscribing for the first time. Stripe prorates the change automatically.

Enterprise and other request-only plans

Some plans — typically Enterprise and other usage-based plans — are request-only: they don’t have a fixed monthly price and can’t be subscribed to directly from Stripe Checkout. Their plan card shows:

• A custom pricing summary instead of a monthly figure (for example, “from $400/mo + 50¢/meter”).
• A Request access button instead of Subscribe.

Clicking Request access opens a short form where you can confirm your name and email and add an optional message about your needs (for example, how many meters you manage). Submitting the form creates a lead and notifies the Utilified team, who will follow up to set up the plan for you.

The form pre-fills your name and email from your UMS profile. Edit them if a different contact should hear back about the enquiry.

12-month commitment

Paid plans run on a 12-month commitment. While the commitment is active:

• An info banner on the Billing page shows the date your term ends — for example, “You’re on a 12-month commitment until 1 Dec 2026.”
• Upgrades to a higher-priced plan stay available at any time. Choosing an upgrade resets the 12-month clock from the new start date.
• Downgrades and cancellation are locked until the term ends. Plan cards priced below your current plan show a disabled button with a “Committed until …” helper instead of Subscribe.
• Request-only plans (such as Enterprise) are not affected by commitment gating — you can submit an enquiry at any time.

Once the commitment end date passes, all plan-change options become available again from the same plan picker.

Managing your subscription

Once your organisation has an active Stripe subscription, a Manage subscription button appears at the top of the Billing page. This opens the Stripe Billing Portal in a new tab, where you can:

• Update your payment method
• Download invoices and receipts
• Change billing address and tax details
• Cancel the subscription (after the commitment term ends)

If your organisation is billed by Utilified directly (no Stripe subscription), the page instead shows a note prompting you to contact Utilified for changes.

What happens when billing lapses

UMS derives a billing access state from Stripe’s subscription status. This drives the in-app behaviour you see when payments fail or a subscription is cancelled.

Access state	Meaning	What you see
exempt	No Stripe subscription — billed by Utilified directly	No banner. Billing actions show a contact-Utilified message.
active	Subscription active or trialing	Full access. No banner.
grace	Stripe is retrying a failed payment (past due)	Full access, plus a dismissible warning banner with an Update billing shortcut.
blocked	Subscription has lapsed	A non-dismissible Billing Locked screen replaces the app until billing is resolved.

Grace-period banner

When a payment fails but Stripe is still retrying, UMS shows a warning banner at the top of every page:

We couldn’t process your latest payment. Update your billing details to avoid interruption.

The banner has an Update billing button that links straight to Settings → Billing. You can dismiss the banner for the rest of the tab session, but it returns on the next reload until the payment is resolved.

Billing Locked screen

If retries are exhausted and the subscription lapses, UMS replaces the main app with a full-screen lock that cannot be dismissed.

• Billing managers see two actions: Manage billing (opens the Stripe Billing Portal to pay the overdue invoice or update the payment method) and Choose a plan (jumps to the plan picker in Settings → Billing).
• Other users see a message asking them to contact their organisation’s administrator.

Both views also offer a Sign out action.

Settings and onboarding stay reachable while locked. Even when your organisation is in the blocked state, billing managers can still navigate to Settings and Onboarding so they can resolve payment. All other routes redirect to the Billing Locked screen until access is restored.

Billing during onboarding

Plan selection is optional during sign-up. On the Plan step of onboarding you can either:

• Pick a plan and complete Stripe Checkout up front, or
• Request access to a request-only plan (such as Enterprise) using the same contact form available in Settings → Billing, or
• Click Skip for now — set up billing later to continue onboarding without a subscription.

If you skip, you can subscribe at any time from Settings → Billing. Your organisation will keep working until the billing gate kicks in — once your trial or grace period ends without an active subscription, the Billing Locked screen prompts an administrator to choose a plan.

Skipping is useful when you want to invite your team and start configuring accounts before deciding on a plan. Just remember that a billing manager will need to subscribe before the grace period ends.