Billing & Subscriptions
Every dedicated cluster has its own subscription, billed through Stripe, our payment partner. Payment methods belong to your team and can be shared across its clusters. This page covers everything after Create a Cluster: paying, invoices, changing payment details, cancelling, and what happens to your data.
Where to find billing in the dashboard
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| A cluster's plan, billing period, and status | Clusters > (cluster) > Config > Subscription |
| Invoice history, update the card for one subscription | Clusters > (cluster) > Config > Subscription > Manage subscription > Manage |
| Cancel a subscription and delete the cluster | Clusters > (cluster) > Config > Subscription > Cancel subscription |
| Your team's saved payment methods | Teams > (team) > Billing |
| Who receives billing emails | Teams > (team) > Members, then Add billing contact in a member's actions menu |
Manage opens the Stripe billing portal in a new tab. The portal is where you see past invoices, download receipts, and update the payment method for that subscription.
Roles and access
Billing actions are controlled by team roles:
| To | You need |
|---|---|
| View the team's payment methods | view-billing |
| Add, remove, or set the default payment method | manage-billing |
| Open the billing portal, cancel a subscription, delete a cluster | manage-clusters |
| View or change the team's billing contacts | view-organization and manage-organization |
If an action is missing from your view, ask an admin of your team to grant the role.
Plans and billing periods
Clusters come in three tiers: Starter, Premium, and Enterprise. Premium and Enterprise can be billed monthly or annually, and the annual rate is discounted. Starter is billed monthly only. See Choosing a tier and the Pricing page for details.
Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period until you cancel.
Free trial
The Starter tier includes a 30-day free trial, applied automatically at checkout and available once per customer. You enter a payment method at checkout but are not charged during the trial. When the trial ends, the first monthly payment is taken and the subscription continues.
If you cancel during the trial, you are not charged.
Checkout
When you create a cluster you are sent to Stripe Checkout to enter a payment method. Once checkout completes you return to the dashboard while the cluster is provisioned.
If you close the checkout before finishing, the cluster waits for billing to be set up. Open it from the Clusters view and use Enter Payment Details on the Finish setting up billing notice to pick up where you left off.
Managing payment methods
Open Teams > (team) > Billing to manage the cards your team has on file. From there you can:
- Add payment method. You are sent to Stripe to enter the card, then returned to the Billing page.
- Set a default. The default card is offered first when you create a new cluster.
- Remove a card. A card that is billing an active subscription can't be removed. Switch that subscription to another card first, from its Manage subscription portal.
To change the card used by one cluster's subscription, open that cluster's Config > Subscription and choose Manage.
Invoices and receipts
Invoice history for a cluster is in the billing portal (Config > Subscription > Manage). Phase Two also emails:
- A receipt each time a payment succeeds, itemized by cluster.
- A renewal reminder about a week before a subscription renews. Trials and subscriptions that are set to cancel don't get one.
- A payment-failed notice if a payment doesn't go through, with what to do next and the relevant dates.
These go to the billing email on the Stripe account and to your team's billing contacts. You may also receive notices directly from Stripe, for example when a trial is about to end or a card is about to expire.
Billing contacts
Billing contacts are team members who receive copies of billing emails: receipts, renewal reminders, failed-payment notices, and cluster deletion notices. To add one, open Teams > (team) > Members, open the member's actions menu, and choose Add billing contact. Billing contacts are marked with a card icon in the member list. Use Remove billing contact to stop the emails.
Being a billing contact only adds the person to these emails. It grants no access, so give them view-billing as well if they need to see payment methods.
Changing your plan
To move a cluster to a different tier or billing period, or for any other question about your plan, email support@phasetwo.io with the cluster name and the change you want.
Failed payments
If a renewal payment fails, Stripe retries it automatically. If the payment still can't be collected, or the subscription ends without being renewed, the cluster is marked Billing required. The cluster keeps running and its configuration and data are untouched while you resolve it.
Open the cluster in the dashboard. The notice explains what happened and offers one of two actions:
- Pay Outstanding Invoice, which takes you to Stripe to pay the invoice that failed.
- Enter Payment Details, which takes you to Stripe to start a new subscription for the cluster.
Once payment succeeds the cluster returns to normal. Nothing is re-provisioned.
If billing isn't resolved, the cluster is eventually removed. The notice and the emails Phase Two sends state the removal date and how long data is kept after it, so keep your billing contacts and payment methods current.
Cancelling a subscription
Cancelling a subscription schedules its cluster for deletion. To cancel:
- Open Clusters > (cluster) > Config > Subscription.
- Choose Cancel subscription.
- Review the deletion timeline in the Destroy this cluster? dialog and confirm.
You need the manage-clusters role. Cancelling from the Stripe billing portal (Manage subscription > Manage) has the same effect.
The cluster stays available until the end of the period you have already paid for. You receive an email with the full timeline.
What happens to your cluster and data
After the paid period ends:
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| End of the billing period | The subscription ends. No further charges. |
| Up to 7 days after period end | Grace period. The cluster stays available. |
| 7 days after period end | The cluster is removed. Its data is retained but the cluster no longer runs. |
| 14 days after period end | All realms and data are permanently purged and can't be recovered. |
Export anything you may want later, such as realm exports and users, before the period ends rather than relying on the retention window. See Backups and Data Retention.
Undoing a cancellation
Before the billing period ends, you can resume the subscription from the Stripe billing portal (Manage subscription > Manage), or email support@phasetwo.io and we will restore it. After the cluster has been removed, contact support as soon as possible. Once the data is purged it can't be restored.
Refunds
Subscription payments are non-refundable. This applies to monthly and annual billing. Annual billing is discounted in exchange for the full-year commitment. See the Terms of Service for details.
Directly invoiced clusters
Some contracts are invoiced directly by Phase Two rather than through Stripe. For those clusters, Config > Subscription shows "Your cluster is billed directly by Phase Two" instead of the billing portal. Email support@phasetwo.io with any billing question.
Automating billing
The Management API can list your team's payment methods and create clusters against one, or return a checkout link for a person to complete. API keys need the manage-billing scope for this. See the API keys, recipes, and Terraform pages.
FAQ
How do I change the billing email, billing address, or tax ID on my invoices? Open the billing portal from Config > Subscription > Manage. If a field isn't editable there, email support@phasetwo.io.
How do I move a cluster to another team? Email support@phasetwo.io with the cluster name and the destination team.
Who do I contact about billing? support@phasetwo.io.