Organization billing & seats
Organizations have their own subscription, separate from your Individual plan. Billing uses a hybrid seat model: you purchase a minimum seat floor at checkout, then fill capacity with billable members. Stripe quantity is always at least max(purchased floor, billable members).
How organization billing works
- Create an organization and invite members (see Create & manage an organization), or start checkout from Pricing on the marketing site with a new organization name.
- The organization owner chooses a plan, seat floor (minimum two seats), and whether the owner consumes a billable seat.
- After authentication, Stripe Checkout bills for the selected seat quantity.
- When the first invoice is paid, the organization activates and billable members receive access. On Gateway plans, paid seats fund the System Gateway pool that admins allocate in Settings → Budgets for the billing period.
You do not pay at organization creation alone. Subscribe when you are ready — from Settings → Organizations → [organization name] → Billing in the chat app or from Pricing → Organization on the marketing site.
Plans for organizations
Organizations offer the same plan types as individuals:
| Plan | What you pay Steinkauz | Inference |
|---|---|---|
| Gateway | Per paid seat per month | Included inference budget funds the System Gateway pool (admin-allocated; not independent fixed grants) |
| BYOK | Per paid seat per month | You pay providers directly; Steinkauz does not bill inference |
Plan names and pricing mirror individual plans. See Organization plans and Plans overview.
BYOK still requires a paid billable seat. Non-billable members cannot use chat or API Access on any plan.
Purchased capacity vs billable members
| Concept | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Purchased seat floor | Minimum seats you pay for (minimum_seat_count), set at checkout or renewal |
| Billable members | Members with a billable seat |
| Stripe quantity | max(purchased floor, billable members) |
Filling prepaid seats
If you purchase more seats than you have billable members today, unused capacity stays prepaid. When a new billable member joins within prepaid capacity, they receive access and can be allocated Gateway Budget mass from the pool without a separate invoice for that seat.
Exceeding prepaid capacity
When billable membership exceeds the purchased floor, Stripe subscription quantity increases immediately with proration. New members above capacity receive inference access after the increase invoice succeeds.
Decreasing seats
Seat decreases take effect at the next renewal and cannot go below current billable membership. Removed members keep their current-period Gateway Budget allocation until the period ends (pool conservation rules apply).
Who can manage billing
Only the organization owner can:
- Start a new organization subscription (Subscribe)
- Open the billing portal (Manage billing)
- Change plan or cancel through the portal
Admins and members see billing status but cannot manage payment. If you need billing changes, ask an organization owner or transfer ownership.
When your active context is an organization, Usage & Activity also shows a link to manage that organization’s subscription (owners only).
Owner seat choice
At checkout, the owner chooses whether they consume a billable seat:
- Owner uses a seat — owner counts toward billable membership and Stripe quantity.
- Owner admin only — owner manages billing without consuming a seat; useful for finance or IT admins who do not use chat or API inference in the organization.
Anyone who uses chat or API inference in the organization needs a billable seat.
Individual and organization subscriptions together
You can have:
- A subscription in Individual (Personal) context, and
- Separate subscriptions on one or more organizations you own
Only the active context determines your current access:
- Switch to Personal → your Individual plan and Budgets apply
- Switch to a subscribed organization → that organization’s plan and your Budgets for that context apply
- Switch to an unsubscribed organization → chat and API Access are blocked until the organization owner subscribes
There is no automatic fallback from an Individual subscription to an organization.
Usage and invoices
- Gateway organizations: Paid seats fund the System Gateway pool; admins allocate Budgets in Settings → Budgets. See Usage Budgets and Usage, costs, and activity details.
- Invoices: Managed through the billing portal. Payment receipts are emailed to the billing contact on file with Stripe.
For plan comparisons, see Plans overview. For workspace basics, see Individuals & Organizations.