> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.kordless.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Pricing and billing

> The plan, the outcome fees, and exactly what counts as a billable outcome.

Kordless has one plan — **Studio** — with a simple, attributed pricing model: a monthly subscription plus outcome fees per booked project and per activated contract. There are no conversation limits, no feature tiers, and no per-message charges. You pay for the subscription and for outcomes you actually book.

## The Studio plan

**$299/month** (or **$249/month** billed annually).

The Studio plan includes the full bid desk — website intake to bid, deposit, and booked project — plus:

* AI bidding from your published rate card
* Website chat and connected channels
* Service calendar, deposits, and payouts (through your own Stripe account)
* Properties (your homeowner and pool records) with recall reminders
* Maintenance contracts with activation, pause, and renewal
* Portfolio website and review workflows
* The per-project fee ($29–$99 per project, by project value) and the per-contract activation fee (\$29 per contract)

There are no hidden caps. The agent's capability is never gated — you get the full system on day one.

## The per-project fee

On top of the subscription, you pay a flat fee per deposited project, taken as a Stripe application fee on the deposit:

| Project value (bid) | Fee      |
| ------------------- | -------- |
| Under \$5,000       | **\$29** |
| \$5,000 and above   | **\$99** |

The tier is decided by the bid's quoted value — specifically, the low end of the price range. The fee never exceeds the deposit. If the deposit is smaller than the fee, the fee is clamped to the deposit amount.

<Warning>
  The per-project fee is charged only on the deposit. Job balances (the remaining amount collected at or after project completion) carry **no platform fee**. The fee rides the deposit, one time, per booked project.
</Warning>

## The contract activation fee

When a maintenance contract activates — the homeowner pays the first recurring charge — a one-time fee is taken as a Stripe application fee on that charge:

| Event                             | Fee      |
| --------------------------------- | -------- |
| Contract activated (first charge) | **\$29** |

The contract fee is charged **once, on the first successful payment only**. Every subsequent recurring charge carries no Kordless fee — not now, not next month, not ever. Kordless takes no percentage of your recurring contract revenue.

<Warning>
  If a contract is canceled before the second payment, the \$29 activation fee is refunded to you automatically. If the contract has collected two or more payments, the fee is not refunded. This is the no-take-rate invariant: Kordless never takes a cut of your recurring revenue.
</Warning>

## What counts as a billable outcome

You are billed **only** when a verifiable commitment event fires. In Pool & Spa, there are three:

* **Deposit paid** — a homeowner pays a project deposit through a booking link or bid. This is the primary billable event for project work.
* **Booking confirmed** — the agent books an appointment (in web chat, the booking is confirmed on the spot; via SMS, it's placed as a pending hold and confirmed on your approval).
* **Contract activated** — a maintenance contract's first successful charge is collected. This is the billable event for recurring service.

## What is never billed

* **Failed bids** — a bid that's sent but never accepted, expires, or is declined. No fee.
* **Uncommitted inquiries** — a homeowner asks about pricing but doesn't book. No fee.
* **Conversations** — there is no per-conversation, per-message, or per-token charge. The agent can answer 100 questions from a window shopper and you pay nothing extra.
* **Balance payments** — the remaining balance collected at or after project completion. No platform fee.
* **Recurring contract charges** — every charge after the first one. No platform fee.
* **Cash or POS settlements** — money you collect in cash or via your own POS on site. No platform fee.

<Accordion title="A homeowner paid a deposit but cancelled — am I still charged?">
  Yes — the per-project fee was charged when the deposit was paid, because a project was booked at that moment. If you refund the deposit to the homeowner, the platform fee on that deposit is also refunded to you. The fee follows the money.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="A maintenance contract was canceled after one payment — is the fee refunded?">
  Yes. If a contract is canceled before the second successful charge, the \$29 activation fee is refunded to you automatically. The refund is processed as a Stripe application-fee refund — only the fee comes back, not the homeowner's service payment.
</Accordion>

## The Pause plan

**\$49/month.**

If you need to step back — winter shutdown, personal time, any reason — switch to Pause. Your website stays live, every homeowner and property record is preserved, and your bid and payment history stays intact. The agent is switched off: no automated outreach, no bidding, no follow-ups.

Reactivate to Studio at any time. Everything picks up where it left off.

## Manage your subscription

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open billing settings">
    Go to **Settings → Billing** to view your current plan, billing interval (monthly or annual), and next billing date.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Change plans">
    Switch between Studio and Pause, or switch between monthly and annual billing. Changes take effect at the next billing cycle.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open the Stripe billing portal">
    Click **Manage in Stripe** to open the customer billing portal, where you can update your payment method, download invoices, and view payment history.
  </Step>
</Steps>

**Success:** your plan change is confirmed and the next invoice reflects the new plan.

<Accordion title="I switched to Pause but I'm still being charged for deposits">
  Pause switches off the agent — it doesn't cancel your Stripe connection. Deposits for existing bookings still process through your Stripe account, and the per-project fee still applies to any deposit collected before the pause took effect. No new bids or bookings are created while paused.
</Accordion>

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="The ledger" icon="book" href="/pool-spa/money/ledger">
    Every deposit, fee, refund, and payout in one place.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Maintenance contracts" icon="repeat-2" href="/pool-spa/day/contracts">
    How recurring service agreements work: activation, pause, and renewal.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>