Billing Terms

Effective date: 2026-03-05

This Billing Terms page explains how trials, subscriptions, payments, upgrades/downgrades and cancellations work for AcademySystem. These billing terms form part of our Terms of Service.

1) Trial

  • New academies start with a 7-day free trial.
  • The trial starts on your signup date/time and ends automatically after 7 days.
  • When the trial ends, your academy must subscribe to continue using the system.
  • The trial includes 15 recipient sends across the entire organisation lifetime, shared across the organisation and counted per recipient. Member verification, invitations, confirmations, notifications and template test emails all count. The allowance does not reset at a new month or when the trial is extended. Only fixed AcademySystem Founder signup verification and password recovery emails are excluded, with separate resend limits.

2) Subscription plans

  • Plans are billed in USD and renew automatically on a monthly billing cycle unless canceled.
  • Your subscription is tied to your academy/organization (one subscription covers your whole academy).
  • Only an Admin can start, change, or manage billing.

3) Automatic renewal

  • Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period.
  • If you cancel, the subscription stops renewing, but access continues until the end of the current paid billing period.

4) Cancellation (no immediate cancellation)

  • Cancellations are not immediate.
  • When you cancel, your plan remains active until the end of the current billing period (your “current period end” date).
  • No refunds are provided for unused time when you cancel.

5) Upgrades (immediate, prorated)

  • When you upgrade to a higher plan, the upgrade takes effect immediately.
  • Upgrades are prorated based on your remaining time in the current billing period.
  • Any prorated amount due is calculated and displayed by Stripe during the upgrade.

6) Downgrades (end of billing period, not prorated)

  • Downgrades are not immediate. Your current plan remains active until the end of your current paid billing period.
  • The downgrade takes effect automatically on your next renewal date (your “current period end” date).
  • Downgrades are not prorated.
  • No refunds are provided for downgrades. This includes no cash refunds, no credit card refunds, and no refund of any credits (if any).

7) Payment failures and grace period

  • If a renewal payment fails, your subscription may be marked Past Due.
  • We provide a 14-day grace period to update your payment method and settle the payment.
  • If payment is not resolved within the grace period, access to the system may be restricted until billing is updated.

8) Plan limits and overage enforcement

  • Each plan includes limits for active students, active teachers, admins, active branches, storage and monthly email notifications.
  • If your academy reaches or exceeds its plan limits, you may be prevented from creating additional records until you upgrade.
  • When the active branch limit is reached, creating or reactivating another branch is unavailable. Existing active branches remain available.
  • If a downgrade leaves your academy above the new plan's included active branch limit, the downgrade is still allowed and no branch is automatically deactivated or deleted. Existing branches remain active, but additional branches cannot be created or reactivated until usage is below the included limit or the plan is upgraded.
  • Being above the included active branch limit does not by itself cause account suspension.
  • Monthly email notification allowances are Studio: 5,000; Advanced: 15,000; Pro: 50,000; Elite: 150,000; Ultra: 300,000. Enterprise allowances are agreed separately.
  • Paid-plan email allowances are shared by the entire academy and reset on the first day of each calendar month at 00:00 UTC. Unused allowance does not roll over. The full allowance is available for a partial month while access remains active; the trial has a separate allowance of 15 recipient sends across the entire academy lifetime. Trial extensions and calendar-month changes do not reset this allowance.
  • One email accepted for sending counts once per recipient, including student, parent and staff recipients. A digest counts as one email per recipient. Messages rejected before acceptance do not count; later bounces still count. Capacity remains reserved while a submission outcome is uncertain.
  • Verification, password recovery, essential account security, account invitations/onboarding, necessary billing recovery and requests to AcademySystem support are excluded from paid plans' monthly notification allowances; the trial uses the narrower exceptions above.
  • Once the allowance is used, further notification email copies are skipped. In-app notifications remain available. New emails can resume after a monthly reset or an effective plan upgrade; skipped copies are not sent later. Reaching the email allowance does not suspend the academy or prevent invoices, classes or other business records from being created.
  • Plan changes and trial conversion retain usage already recorded in the same calendar month. Upgrades increase the allowance when effective; downgrades apply when scheduled. If usage exceeds the new allowance, further notification emails are skipped until capacity is available. Email delivery remains subject to shared provider sending limits.
  • If your academy remains over its active student, active teacher or admin limits for 30 days, access to the system may be restricted or suspended until you upgrade to a suitable plan.
  • During an overage suspension, students may be shown a limited access notice and asked to contact their admin.

9) Invoices and receipts

  • Stripe generates invoices/receipts for subscription payments.
  • You can access invoices and manage payment methods via the Stripe Customer Portal (available after subscribing).

10) Stripe payment processing

Card payments and subscription billing are processed by Stripe. By subscribing to AcademySystem or using paid billing features, you agree that Stripe may process your payment details, payment method, invoices, subscription changes and related billing information according to Stripe's terms and policies. AcademySystem does not store your full credit card details.

11) Price changes

We may change our subscription prices, plan limits, or billing structure from time to time. If we make material pricing changes, we will provide notice before the changes take effect.

12) Taxes

  • Taxes may apply depending on your location and tax settings in Stripe.
  • If required, you are responsible for providing accurate billing information.

13) Chargebacks and disputes

  • If a payment is disputed (chargeback), we may restrict access while the dispute is investigated.
  • Chargeback and dispute handling is subject to Stripe’s processes and policies.

14) Changes to these billing terms

We may update these Billing Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the effective date above.

15) Repeated payment failures and data deletion

Failed subscription payments receive a 14-day access grace period. Stripe may make up to eight Smart Retries over one month; if recovery fails, the subscription is cancelled. Normal academy access and ordinary background processing stop when the grace period ends. Billing recovery remains available.

An expired trial that never became paid is permanently deleted 30 days after trial expiry, without individual deletion-warning emails. For previously paid academies, permanent deletion occurs six calendar months after payment grace ends, or after the remaining paid entitlement ends following voluntary cancellation. Successful subscription recovery before permanent deletion begins preserves the academy.

Permanent deletion removes the academy's application data, stored files and managed custom-domain configuration, including its vhost and certificate material. Custom-domain configuration is retained during the applicable recovery period without extending normal academy access. Future subscription collection is stopped before permanent deletion. Deleted data cannot be recovered; no deletion backup is created. Only a minimal operational deletion summary and protected provider-identifier digests needed to prevent recreation are retained.