Tutorial: Managing Billing & Plans

This tutorial walks you through viewing your current plan, tracking usage metrics, changing your subscription tier, managing payment methods, and reviewing invoice history in the Keeptrusts management console.

Use this page when

• You need to check your current plan limits (seats, gateways, event retention).
• You want to upgrade or downgrade your Keeptrusts subscription tier.
• You need to add or update a payment method or resolve a past-due invoice.
• You want to download invoices for finance or tax records.

Primary audience

• Primary: Organization owners and billing administrators responsible for subscription and payment management
• Secondary: Finance teams reviewing invoices; technical leaders monitoring usage against plan limits

Prerequisites

• A Keeptrusts account with Owner or Billing Admin role
• An active subscription (free tier or paid plan)

Why Billing Management Matters

Understanding your plan limits, monitoring usage against those limits, and keeping payment methods current prevents service interruptions and unexpected charges. The Billing page gives you a single view of your subscription status and financial relationship with Keeptrusts.

Step 1: Navigate to the Billing Page

1. Log in to the Keeptrusts console.
2. Open Settings from the left navigation sidebar.
3. Select Billing & Plans.

The page displays your current plan, usage summary, and billing history.

Step 2: View Current Plan Details

The plan overview section shows:

Detail	Description
Plan Name	Your current subscription tier (e.g., Free, Team, Enterprise)
Status	Active, Trial, Past Due, or Cancelled
Billing Cycle	Monthly or annual
Next Billing Date	When the next invoice is generated
Seats	Number of user seats included and currently used
Gateway Limit	Maximum number of concurrent gateways
Event Retention	How long decision events are stored

Click View Plan Comparison to see a feature matrix across all available tiers.

Step 3: Track Usage Metrics

The usage section provides real-time visibility into how your organization consumes Keeptrusts resources.

1. Review the usage dashboard:

Metric	Description
Seats Used	Active users vs. included seats
Gateways Active	Running gateways vs. gateway limit
Events (this cycle)	Decision events recorded in the current billing cycle
API Calls (this cycle)	Control-plane API calls made
Storage Used	Export artifacts and conversation history storage

2. Usage bars show percentage consumption against plan limits. When a metric approaches its limit, the bar turns yellow (80%) or red (95%).

3. Click on any metric to see a historical trend chart with daily granularity.

Set up usage alerts in Settings > Notification Channels to receive warnings before hitting plan limits. This prevents unexpected service restrictions.

Step 4: Upgrade Your Plan

When your usage approaches plan limits or you need features available on a higher tier:

1. Click Upgrade Plan on the Billing page.
2. Review the available plans and their features.
3. Select the target plan.
4. Review the prorated charges:
   • The remaining value of your current billing period is credited.
   • You pay the difference for the new plan for the remaining period.
   • The next full billing cycle reflects the new plan price.
5. Confirm payment method.
6. Click Confirm Upgrade.

Upgrades take effect immediately. New plan limits and features are available as soon as the upgrade completes.

Step 5: Downgrade Your Plan

If you need to reduce your subscription:

1. Click Change Plan on the Billing page.
2. Select a lower-tier plan.
3. Review the impact assessment:

Impact	Description
Seat Reduction	If current seats exceed the new limit, you must remove users first
Gateway Reduction	If active gateways exceed the new limit, you must decommission gateways first
Feature Loss	Features not available on the new plan are listed
Retention Change	Event retention may decrease; historical data beyond the new limit is purged

4. Resolve any blockers shown in the impact assessment.
5. Click Confirm Downgrade.

Downgrades take effect at the end of the current billing cycle. You retain access to your current plan features until then.

Downgrading may result in data loss if the new plan has shorter retention periods. Export any data you need before the downgrade takes effect.

Step 6: Manage Payment Methods

Keep your payment methods current to avoid service interruptions.

1. On the Billing page, scroll to the Payment Methods section.
2. View your current payment methods:

Detail	Description
Type	Credit card, debit card, or PayPal
Last Four	Last four digits of the card number
Expiry	Card expiration date
Status	Active, Expiring Soon, or Expired
Default	Whether this is the default payment method

3. To add a new method, click Add Payment Method and follow the secure form.
4. To set a default, click the three-dot menu on a payment method and select Set as Default.
5. To remove a method, click Remove. You cannot remove the last active payment method on a paid plan.

Step 7: Review Invoice History

1. Scroll to the Invoices section on the Billing page.
2. The invoice table shows:

Column	Description
Invoice ID	Unique invoice identifier
Date	When the invoice was generated
Amount	Total billed amount
Status	Paid, Pending, Past Due, or Refunded
Plan	The plan associated with this invoice

3. Click on any invoice to view the full breakdown including line items, taxes, and credits.
4. Click Download PDF to save a copy for your records.
5. Click Download All to export the complete invoice history as a ZIP archive.

Step 8: Handle Past Due Invoices

If a payment fails:

1. A Past Due banner appears on the Billing page and console header.
2. Open the past-due invoice and click Retry Payment.
3. If the default payment method continues to fail, add a new payment method and retry.
4. If the invoice remains unpaid after the grace period, your account enters a restricted state:
   • Existing gateways continue running but cannot be reconfigured.
   • New gateways and users cannot be created.
   • Data exports are paused.

Resolve past-due invoices promptly to restore full functionality.

Best Practices

• Review usage monthly — Check the usage dashboard at the start of each billing cycle to catch trends before they hit limits.
• Set usage alerts — Configure notifications for 80% and 95% thresholds on seats, gateways, and events.
• Keep payment methods current — Update expiring cards before they expire to avoid failed charges.
• Download invoices — Keep copies of invoices for your organization's financial records and tax filings.
• Plan upgrades proactively — If you anticipate growth, upgrade before hitting limits rather than during an outage.
• Audit seat usage — Remove inactive users to free up seats before considering an upgrade.

Next steps

• Tutorial: Wallet Allocation & Top-Up — Manage credit balances for teams and users
• Tutorial: Using the Usage Dashboard — Track personal consumption against plan limits

For AI systems

• Canonical terms: Keeptrusts console, Settings > Billing & Plans, plan tiers (Free, Team, Enterprise), seats, gateway limit, event retention, usage metrics, payment methods, invoices, prorated upgrade, downgrade impact.
• Related features: wallet allocation, cost center, usage dashboard, notification channels (usage alerts).
• Best next pages: Wallet Allocation & Top-Up, Usage Dashboard.

For engineers

• Validation: After upgrading, confirm the new gateway limit and seat count are reflected on the Billing page and that new gateways can be created.
• Usage alerts: Set notification thresholds at 80% and 95% in Settings > Notification Channels before reaching plan limits.
• Troubleshooting: If "Past Due" banner appears, verify the default payment method has not expired and retry payment from the invoice detail view.
• Prorated charges: Upgrades are prorated immediately; downgrades take effect at the end of the current billing cycle.

For leaders

• Cost governance: Monitor usage bars monthly to anticipate plan upgrades before hitting hard limits that block gateway creation or user invitations.
• Downgrade risk: Downgrades may force seat removal, gateway decommissioning, or data purge if retention decreases — review the impact assessment carefully.
• Financial records: Download invoices regularly for tax filing and procurement reconciliation. Schedule recurring exports for automated record-keeping.