Platform Subscription

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Your MakerVera platform subscription determines which features your makerspace can access and how many users and members it supports. This is separate from the payments your makerspace collects from members through the store, gift cards, or donations (which flow through Stripe Connect).

Plan Tiers

MakerVera offers three platform tiers. Each tier builds on the one below it.

	Community	Foundational	Professional
User accounts	200	1,000	Unlimited
Members included	30	100	100
Member surcharges	Must upgrade	Yes (volume-based)	Yes (volume-based)
Volunteer tracking	—	Included	Included
Gift cards	—	Included	Included
Basic reports	—	Included	Included
Custom profile fields	—	—	Included
Group & family memberships	—	—	Included
Advanced reports	—	—	Included
Add-on modules	Available	Available	Available
Annual billing	N/A	Available (discounted)	Available (discounted)
Free trial	N/A	30 days	30 days

Community (Free)

A good starting point for small or new makerspaces. You get core platform functionality with a cap on user accounts and members. When you outgrow the limits or need features like volunteer tracking or gift cards, upgrade to a paid plan.

Foundational

Designed for growing makerspaces with active membership programs. Adds volunteer tracking, gift cards, basic reports and analytics, higher user account limits, and volume-based member surcharges for scaling beyond the included member count.

Professional

For established makerspaces with advanced needs. Everything in Foundational, plus custom profile fields, group and family memberships, and advanced reports. Unlimited user accounts.

Member Surcharges

Paid plans include a set number of members in the base price. If your active member count exceeds the included amount, graduated per-member surcharges apply. The surcharge rate decreases at higher volumes — larger makerspaces pay less per additional member.

Surcharges are seat-based and real-time. When a member is added or removed, the subscription updates immediately and Stripe prorates the charge automatically. You only pay for the days each member is active.

Tip: The included member count varies by plan. Check your Plan page in Settings for your current usage and thresholds.

Add-On Modules

Add-on modules provide optional functionality that can be subscribed to independently of your plan tier.

Door Access Integration

Sync MakerVera membership status with your access control hardware (badge readers, door locks). Members gain or lose physical access automatically as their membership status changes.

Flat monthly fee
14-day free trial

Classes & Workshops

Enhanced event management with per-transaction platform fees instead of a flat monthly charge.

No monthly fee — usage-based pricing via a small percentage on class/workshop transactions
14-day free trial

Add-ons can be managed from your Plan page under Settings.

Subscribing to an add-on

The Plan page splits add-ons into two sections:

Subscribed — the add-ons you currently have. Each shows the next renewal date (or trial-end date) and a Manage and Cancel action. The renewal date moves forward each time the add-on renews, and you keep access for as long as it keeps renewing.
Available — add-ons compatible with your current plan tier. Each shows the price and trial length and a Subscribe action.

If you already have a MakerVera subscription, the button shows the monthly price (for example Add for $25/mo) and opens a confirmation first: Add Door Access? names the exact amount charged now for the rest of the current billing period (for example “You’ll be charged $16.12 now”) and the monthly price after that. Nothing is charged until you click Add Add-On. Once you confirm, the add-on is added to your subscription with no trial and moves to the Subscribed list. If your card is declined, nothing is added and the message shows under the add-on. During your plan’s trial, the confirmation says nothing is charged during the trial and when the add-on is first billed.

Without a MakerVera subscription, Subscribe opens a Stripe Checkout session for that add-on alone: you pay only for the add-on, never for your plan. Once you confirm, you’ll return to the Plan page and the add-on will appear in the Subscribed list. Trials begin immediately and convert to paid at the end of the trial unless you cancel.

Each add-on’s free trial is offered once per makerspace. If you’ve already trialed or paid for an add-on and cancelled it, its card shows Subscribe instead of Start N-day trial, and buying it again is charged right away. Complimentary access from MakerVera doesn’t use up the trial.

Add-ons on a plan MakerVera set up

If the MakerVera team set up your plan for you (for example the free Community plan, a plan chosen when your makerspace was created, or a plan MakerVera assigned), you can still buy add-ons. You pay only for the add-ons; your plan, its billing cycle and your makerspace’s status stay exactly as they are.

Your Plan page says “MakerVera set up your plan. You pay only for your add-ons.” and keeps Manage Payment Method, so you can update your card and see invoices. There’s no Cancel Plan, because you don’t pay for the plan.
If a payment for your add-ons fails, only the add-ons are affected. Your makerspace is never restricted or locked because of an add-on payment.
When you cancel your last add-on, your add-on billing ends at the end of the current billing period. Each add-on keeps working until then. Subscribing to an add-on again before that date keeps the billing going.
To stop paying entirely, cancel your add-ons. Picking the free plan card tells you the same.

When an add-on can’t be bought

If an add-on can’t be added, the reason shows under its card and nothing is charged:

Message	What it means
This add-on isn’t available on your current plan.	Your plan (or the plan MakerVera assigned) doesn’t offer this add-on.
Add-on is already on your plan.	You already have it, as a paid, trial or complimentary add-on.
This add-on can’t be bought yet. Contact support.	The add-on isn’t ready for purchase yet. MakerVera support can help.

Add-ons your current plan doesn’t offer

If your plan changes and the new plan doesn’t offer an add-on you pay for (for example when a plan MakerVera assigned ends), you keep the add-on. Its card stays under your add-ons with “Not offered on your current plan. You keep it until you cancel.” and its Cancel button. Nothing changes until you cancel it.

Cancelling an add-on

Cancelling an add-on takes effect at the end of the current billing period, not immediately. Until then you keep full access to the add-on’s features.

The Subscribed list shows “Cancelled — access until [date]” once you confirm cancellation.
Re-subscribing before the period ends restores normal status without a gap, and you aren’t charged again.
If you cancel during a trial, access ends at the trial-end date and you are not charged.

Complimentary access

Some makerspaces have add-on access granted directly by MakerVera (for trials, partnerships, or support cases). Complimentary add-ons:

Show a Complimentary badge in the Subscribed list.
Cannot be cancelled by the makerspace admin — they’re managed by MakerVera and end on a date set at grant time, or when MakerVera revokes them.
Behave identically to paid add-ons in terms of feature access.

If you have questions about a complimentary add-on on your account, contact MakerVera support.

Locked Pages and Upgrade Prompts

Some features in MakerVera are gated behind a specific plan tier or add-on. When you visit a feature your makerspace doesn’t have:

Admins see an upgrade prompt with a button that takes you to the Plan page where you can upgrade or subscribe.
Members see an “ask your administrator to enable this feature” message — members can’t change makerspace-level subscriptions on their own.
Locked nav items appear in the admin sidebar with a small lock icon next to the name. Clicking still navigates so you can see what the feature does and how to enable it.

If your makerspace’s billing is restricted or suspended due to a payment issue, you’ll see additional banners and some admin actions will be temporarily disabled — see “What Happens If a Payment Fails” below.

Free Trials

Paid plans (Foundational and Professional) offer a 30-day free trial. A credit card is required at sign-up. If you don’t cancel before the trial ends, billing begins automatically.

During the trial you have full access to all features included in the plan tier.

Upgrading and Downgrading

Your makerspace always has one MakerVera subscription. Changing from one paid plan to another changes that subscription, prorated; it never starts a second one.

Upgrading

You can upgrade your plan at any time from the Plan page in Settings.

Already on a paid plan: clicking Upgrade asks you to confirm, then changes your plan right away. You’re charged now for the rest of the current period at the new price, minus what you already paid. If your card is declined, nothing changes and the Plan page asks you to update your payment method and try again.
First paid plan (you’re on the free Community plan with no add-ons, or on any plan with no MakerVera subscription): clicking Upgrade opens a Stripe Checkout session where you enter your card and confirm the plan.
You already pay for add-ons only: clicking a paid plan opens a confirmation, Add plan to your bill?, that shows the amount charged now for the rest of the current period and what renews after that. Once you confirm, the plan is added to the same subscription that bills your add-ons; your add-ons keep their billing dates and are never charged twice. No plan trial starts. If your add-on subscription is still in its trial, nothing is charged until that trial ends. Afterwards your Plan page shows the plan you bought, with Cancel Plan.

The Plan page uses the billing cycle you’re on (monthly or annual) unless you turn the Annual Billing switch on or off first. Changing plan and switching between monthly and annual billing at the same time starts a new billing period today: you’re charged now for the new plan and cycle, minus a credit for the unused time on your current plan, even on a downgrade. The confirmation dialog says so before you confirm. To switch the billing cycle without changing plan, use the Billing Portal.

Downgrading

Moving to a lower paid plan takes effect right away, and the unused time on your old plan is credited on your next invoice. Moving to the free Community plan works like Cancel Plan: your paid plan stays until the end of the current billing period, then your makerspace moves to Community.

Before a downgrade is processed, MakerVera checks whether your current usage fits within the lower plan’s limits:

User accounts — if you have more users than the target plan allows, you’ll need to reduce your user count first
Members — if you’re on the Community plan’s member cap and exceed it, you’ll need to reduce members
Features — features not available on the target plan (e.g., custom profile fields on Foundational) will become unavailable

The Plan page shows you exactly what’s blocking a downgrade before you confirm.

What the confirmation shows

Every plan change and add-on that changes what you pay asks you to confirm first, and the confirmation shows the exact amount, worked out by Stripe for your subscription:

An upgrade, or a change that switches between monthly and annual billing: the amount charged now, then the plan’s price and renewal date.
A downgrade: that nothing is charged now, the credit for the unused time on your current plan, and the date and amount of your next invoice.
During a trial: that nothing is charged during the trial, and the date and amount of your first invoice.
Adding an add-on: the prorated amount charged now and the monthly price after that.

The amount appears a moment after the dialog opens, and Confirm is available once it has loaded. If the amount can’t be loaded, the dialog says “We couldn’t load the exact amount”, explains what is charged in general terms, and you can still confirm; if the exact amount becomes available by the time you confirm, nothing is charged yet and the dialog shows it and asks you to confirm again. If the amount changes while the dialog is open, nothing is charged: the dialog shows the new amount and asks you to confirm again, and if the new amount can’t be loaded, it says so and Confirm stays unavailable until you select Try again and the new amount appears. If the change can’t be made at all, the dialog says why and Confirm stays unavailable. If you leave a confirmation open for a long time, the amount may expire: nothing is charged, and the Plan page asks you to try again so you can see the current amount.

Trials and scheduled cancellations

During a trial, changing plan keeps your trial end date. No new trial starts and nothing is charged until the trial ends.
Changing plan cancels a cancellation you scheduled with Cancel Plan: your subscription keeps renewing on the new plan.

If a plan change can’t go through, for example because another change to your subscription is already in progress, the Plan page says why above the plan cards and your plan stays as it was.

If a second MakerVera subscription is ever started by mistake (for example, an old Stripe Checkout tab completed after you’d already changed your plan), it is cancelled automatically and its unused time credited to your account. A page that still offers Stripe Checkout after you already have a subscription asks you to refresh it instead.

Billing Portal

Click Manage Payment Method on the Plan page to open the Stripe Billing Portal, where you can:

Update your payment method
View and download invoices
Switch between monthly and annual billing
Cancel your subscription

The billing portal is always accessible, even if your makerspace is in a restricted or suspended state due to a payment issue.

What Happens If a Payment Fails

MakerVera uses a graduated response when your subscription payment doesn’t go through. Stripe retries a failed charge automatically over about a month. If the payment isn’t resolved, access restrictions increase over time. Paying at any point restores full access. If every retry fails, the subscription ends and your makerspace is suspended, about a month after the first failed payment.

The same steps apply in two other situations:

Your first payment is still processing or needs your confirmation. For example, your bank may ask you to approve the charge. Until the payment completes, your makerspace is treated as having a payment issue instead of showing as Active.
Your subscription is paused. For example, a trial ended with no payment method on file.

The Plan page banner tells you which of these applies, so you know what to do. The day counts below start when the issue is first detected.

Grace Period (Day 0–14)

Full access — everything continues to work normally
Admin dashboard shows a billing warning banner
Email notifications are sent to billing contacts

Restricted (Day 15–29)

Admin actions are read-only — you can view data but cannot create or modify records (except on the billing page)
Members continue to have access and can manage their own subscriptions. They see a gentle notice from the start of this stage that some features are temporarily on hold, with your name as the contact
Resolve the payment issue via the billing portal to restore full access immediately

Suspended (Day 30+)

Makerspace is locked — admins and members see a suspension banner
The billing page remains accessible so you can update your payment method and resolve the issue
Member self-service (viewing their own subscription, cancelling, updating payment method) is never blocked
Once payment is resolved, full access is restored automatically

If Your Subscription Is Paused

A paused subscription can’t be resumed from your billing page. Add a payment method if you don’t have one, then contact MakerVera support and ask them to resume your subscription. Once it’s resumed, the banner clears and full access returns automatically.

If Your First Payment Hasn’t Completed

Check whether your bank is waiting for you to approve the charge, and update your payment method from the billing page if needed. Once the payment goes through, the banner clears and full access returns automatically. If the payment is never completed, your makerspace moves through the same steps as above.

Important: Your data is never deleted during suspension. Resolving the payment issue restores everything to its previous state.

Platform Admin Overrides

In some cases, the MakerVera team may override your plan assignment — for example, during a beta program, for issue resolution, or for development testing. When an override is active, you’ll see a notice on your Plan page indicating that your effective plan differs from your subscribed plan.

Overrides don’t affect your Stripe subscription. They only change which features and limits apply to your makerspace.

While an override is active, you can’t switch plans from the Plan page: the plan cards still show prices and features, but their buttons are turned off, and a plan purchase answers “MakerVera set your plan. Contact support to change it.” Contact support to change your plan. You can still buy add-ons the assigned plan offers; you pay only for the add-ons (see Add-ons on a plan MakerVera set up). If you’re still paying for a plan underneath the override, Cancel Plan stays available and stops that billing at the end of the period; the plan MakerVera set for you stays in place.

If the MakerVera team set up your plan for you, without you going through checkout, there’s no payment method on file. Your Plan page says so in place of the Manage Payment Method and Cancel Plan buttons. Once you buy an add-on, Manage Payment Method appears for your add-on billing. To cancel a plan the MakerVera team set up, or to switch it to the free Community plan, contact support.

FAQ

Is the platform subscription the same as Stripe Connect? No. Your platform subscription is what your makerspace pays MakerVera for access to the platform. Stripe Connect is how your makerspace collects payments from your own members (store purchases, donations, gift cards). They are completely separate.

Can I use the store and accept donations on the free plan? Yes. Store, donations, and payment collection through Stripe Connect are available on all plans, including Community.

What counts as a “user account” vs. a “member”? A user account is anyone with a login in your makerspace. A member is a user with an active, paid membership. All members are users, but not all users are members.

Can I switch between monthly and annual billing? Yes. To switch on your current plan, use the Stripe Billing Portal. To switch while changing plan, turn the Annual Billing switch on or off on the Plan page before you pick the new plan. Annual billing includes a discount.

Can I be billed for two MakerVera subscriptions at once? No. Plan changes and add-ons always change your one MakerVera subscription. If an old Stripe Checkout tab ever starts a second one, it’s cancelled automatically and its unused time credited to your account.

MakerVera set up my plan. Can I buy add-ons without paying for a plan? Yes. Add-ons you buy on a plan MakerVera set up are billed on their own, and your plan stays as it is. See Add-ons on a plan MakerVera set up.

Why can’t I start a free trial of an add-on again? Each add-on’s trial is offered once per makerspace. After you’ve trialed or paid for an add-on, buying it again starts billing right away.

What happens to my data if I downgrade? Your data is preserved. Features that aren’t available on the lower plan simply become inaccessible until you upgrade again. Nothing is deleted.