Billing policy
In addition to our Open Research Free plan for publishing protocols, we offer two main paid plans at protocols.io that allow for private protocol sharing with Premium accounts: organization-level (Premium Enterprise or Premium Institutional) plans, or a user can subscribe directly for a Premium Workspace.
For details about what the organization-level plans provide to users, please visit these pages:
If you belong to an organization with a Premium Enterprise or Premium Institutional plan, the billing will all be governed and handled directly through a contract with your organization.
The billing information below is relevant to anyone who has subscribed for Premium directly on the protocols.io website.
Billing Overview
If you have a paid Premium workspace, charges will apply for the number of members belonging to your workspace on the day you upgrade to a paid plan. You will always be billed per user for the total number of members in your workspace or workspaces.
We will automatically detect the number of users in all of your workspaces but you can easily remove users from your workspace, and/or all users can leave a workspace. We will be able to automatically detect when a user is added or leaves/is removed and this is how we will calculate your billing.
If all users leave a workspace, there will be a minimum charge of one user per month unless you downgrade back to the free Basic plan. Your monthly statement will reflect any changes to the number of active members in the workspace.
Please note that if your workspace is configured to permit members to invite additional users to the workspace, you will be charged for each additional member that joins each workspace. You may wish to set up your workspace so that only an administrator can invite new members.
You can manage or cancel your Premium subscription at any time via the Manage Subscription menu.
Adding new members to your Premium workspace
If you add a user to one of your workspaces partway through the billing cycle, we will prorate the charge accordingly. We’ll keep track of this for you and bill you at the end of each month. If you pay annually, it works the same way. We will calculate the prorated cost for the rest of the year, and we will bill you at the end of the month when any new users are added.
Removing members from your Premium workspace
As noted above, protocols.io will detect when members are removed from or if they leave a workspace. When that happens, we will deposit prorated credits to your protocols.io account and they will be applied when new members are added or on your next renewal date. These credits have no currency or exchange value, are non-transferable and non-refundable, and will expire following the termination of your paid services plan with protocols.io.
Please note that you are responsible for ensuring that users who you no longer wish to be on your Premium plan either leave or are removed from all relevant workspaces.
Credit Card Charges
The initial charge will be applied on the day you upgrade to paid Premium. Here are the other times your card will be charged by protocols.io
- On the monthly renewal date if your plan is on the monthly billing cycle.
- On the annual renewal date if your plan is on the annual billing cycle.
- On the last day of the month if your plan is on the annual cycle but there is an outstanding balance due to new members being added to your workspace(s).
Please note that if you have any credits on your account, they will automatically be used towards the next charge applied on your account.
| Account activity | Billing action |
|---|---|
| If a member leaves a workspace or is removed from a workspace by a workspace admin | If a member leaves a workspace or is removed from a workspace by a workspace admin |
| If a member is added to or joins a workspace | We detect the additional user and charge the prorated cost for the days remaining in the billing period |
Workspace members
There is no limit to the number of users you can invite to join your workspaces, but the cost for each member will be added to your plan. If you have a lot of members, you may wish to encourage your organization to sign up for an enterprise/institutional license described above.
Please note that if a single individual user joins more than one of your workspaces, there will be a charge for each workspace they join. This would result in you being charged for the same person multiple times (once per workspace).
What happens to my content on protocols.io if I end my subscription?
Should you decide to terminate or not renew your protocols.io subscription, all existing protocol content and workspaces will remain accessible. Any impacted users will no longer be able to continue to create private protocols or workspaces beyond the number available on the Basic free plan.
Our Refund Policy
If you choose to terminate your account, any pre-paid charges will be non-transferable and non-refundable following the termination of your paid Premium plan with protocols.io.
Overdue Payment Policy
If any customer is twenty-one (21) days or more overdue with their payment for their Premium workspace(s) on protocols.io, protocols.io reserves the right to downgrade any fee-based Services to the basic free plan until the amount is paid in full. protocols.io will contact and remind customers several times and will give at least ten (10) days prior notice that the account is overdue before we would implement the downgrade. The customer acknowledges that any such downgrade will result in a decrease in certain features and functionality. A downgrade will not limit access to content already created on the platform.