Billing and subscription guide

Choose a plan, complete Stripe checkout safely, manage the subscription, and recover from billing problems.

BlendDuck subscriptions belong to a workspace. An Owner or Admin manages them from Dashboard → Billing; a social-platform role does not grant billing access.

Before you start

Confirm the workspace name before selecting a plan.
Compare current limits and billing periods on the pricing page.
Use an Owner or Admin account and a private browser session you control.
Never send card details, a full checkout URL, or a Stripe session token to support.

Start or change a subscription

Open Billing and choose monthly or yearly billing.
Review the plan name, billing period, allowance, and price.
Choose the intended paid plan to start its checkout.
Complete payment only on the Stripe-hosted checkout page.
Return to the same BlendDuck workspace.
Keep the Stripe receipt and verify that the expected paid capability becomes available before relying on it.

A canceled checkout does not change the subscription. A completed checkout is applied after BlendDuck receives and verifies Stripe's webhook, so the page can briefly show the previous plan. Do not create another checkout while the first one is still being reconciled.

Manage payment, invoices, and cancellation

The current Billing page starts plan checkout. When the deployment separately provides the Stripe customer portal, use its secure session to update the payment method, view Stripe invoices, or schedule cancellation. The portal returns to Billing when finished. A workspace has no customer portal until it has a Stripe customer, normally created by starting checkout.

Cancellation can take effect at the end of the current period. Keep the period end and cancellation state with the billing record; do not infer them from a removed feature or a failed provider action.

Understand external costs

Connecting a social or advertising provider does not authorize ad spend or include the provider's own fees. Advertising delivery requires a separate, explicit product action. Telephony, SMS, WhatsApp, storage, and other third-party charges are outside the BlendDuck subscription unless the pricing page says otherwise.

You are done when

The checkout and return path used the intended workspace, plan, and period.
The Stripe receipt or invoice matches the expected price and currency.
The customer portal, when used, returns to the same workspace.
Any scheduled cancellation and period end match the decision you made.
No payment credential has been copied into BlendDuck content or support messages.

If something blocks you

Symptom	First safe action
Billing is read-only or returns `403`	Ask a workspace Owner or Admin; changing a social-platform role will not help.
Checkout says no price is configured	Stop and report the plan and billing period; the deployment must configure the matching Stripe price.
Checkout was canceled	Return to Billing; the current subscription should remain unchanged.
Payment succeeded but the old plan remains	Refresh the correct workspace and allow webhook processing before attempting another checkout.
Customer portal says no billing customer exists	Complete the first checkout, or ask the deployment owner to verify the workspace-to-customer record.
Invoice or renewal looks wrong	Use the Stripe invoice ID, workspace, plan, amount, currency, and approximate time when escalating—never card data.
A social/advertising provider charged separately	Review that provider's native billing; connecting it does not move its charges into BlendDuck.

If the state still does not reconcile, contact support with the workspace name, plan, billing period, approximate time, displayed request ID, and a Stripe invoice or receipt ID. Redact checkout URLs and all payment details.