Billing

Plans and retention

Billing is in the sidebar's Billing group, which has three pages: Plan, Payment method and Invoices. Account Admins and users with the Billing Only access option can open it (see Who can see billing).

What a plan sets

A plan is defined by three numbers:

• Sources included - how many active sources the account can hold.
• Log allowance - how much log data the account can send in a calendar month.
• Retention - how long events are kept.

Plan	Sources included	Log allowance	Retention
Startup	10	15 GB a month	30 days
Business	50	50 GB a month	1 year
Enterprise	250	250 GB a month	3 years

Each plan's monthly and yearly price is shown on the Set up billing page, and in the Change plan or billing period dialog.

Users, filters, alerts, every way of sending logs and the agent API are included on every plan. The one exception is the Redact mode of redaction, which is included in the Business and Enterprise plans only. When an account using Redact moves to the Startup plan, redaction switches to Detect only. The chosen detectors are kept, so moving back to a plan with Redact lets you switch it on again with the same detectors.

Sources included

A source counts once it exists and is approved. A paused source still counts, and a pending source does not. Deleting a source frees its place at once.

When the account holds as many active sources as the plan includes:

• approving a pending source, or creating a new one, is refused until a source is deleted or the account moves to a plan that includes more
• a new server that would otherwise be approved automatically appears as pending instead

Log allowance

The allowance is measured as the size of each event's message and attributes as they are received. The month is the calendar month in UTC.

What happens once the allowance is used up depends on how the account holds its plan:

• During the free period, events past the allowance are dropped and not stored until the next month begins or the account moves to a paid plan. The Plan page, the dashboard and the Sources page say so while it is happening.
• On a paid plan, nothing is dropped and nothing extra is charged. The allowance is a fair-use limit, and an account that keeps sending more than its allowance month after month is asked to move to a larger plan.
• On a complimentary plan (free with no end date), nothing is dropped.

Retention

Retention applies to the whole account. Every source keeps its events for the plan's retention period, and there is no per-source setting. Each event gets its expiry date when it arrives and is removed once that date passes.

Moving to a plan with longer retention also extends the events already stored. Their expiry is moved to the new period, so a move to a year's retention keeps the past months as well as the events still to come. Events that had already expired before the change are gone.

Moving to a plan with shorter retention deletes nothing at once. Stored events keep their original expiry, and only events arriving after the change get the shorter period.

Usage

Billing > Plan shows the plan, how the account holds it, and this calendar month's usage:

• Logs received this month - the volume so far and its share of the allowance.
• Projected month end - where the month will end at the current rate, from the second day of the month.
• Active sources - active sources against the plan's count.
• Days left in the month - days until the month resets.

A warning appears at 80% of the allowance and again at 100%. Figures update within a minute of events arriving.

Below that, Volume by source breaks the month down by source, and Previous months lists each earlier month with its events and volume. The dashboard and each source's page show how much is arriving, and from where, at any time.

Paying for a plan

Setting up billing

To pay for a plan, choose Set up billing on the dashboard or on the Plan page. On the Set up billing page, pick the plan and Monthly or Yearly, two months free, then choose Continue to payment. A year costs ten months' price. The page says when the first charge will be made before you continue. Continue to payment opens Stripe's checkout, where you enter the card. The card is stored by Stripe and never by SaneLog. If you leave the checkout without finishing, you return to the Set up billing page and nothing is charged.

A new account that signs up on its own holds the plan chosen at signup free of charge for 14 days, with no card. The Plan page and the dashboard show the day the free period ends. The free period lasts until the end of that day.

While the free period runs, the dashboard shows a card with the plan and the days left, and its Set up billing button opens the Set up billing page.

An email goes to the account contact email 7 days and 3 days before the free period ends, with a Set up billing button.

When the checkout completes:

• During the free period, nothing is charged until the free period ends. The first charge is made on that day, and the Plan page shows the date and amount.
• Within 48 hours of the end of the free period, or after it has ended, the first charge is made at once. If the account had stopped receiving logs, it starts again at once.

A plan that includes fewer sources than the account has active is refused until enough sources are deleted.

Paying by invoice instead of by card can be arranged by writing to support@sanelog.com.

Changing plan or billing period

On an account with a subscription, Change plan or billing period on the Plan page moves the subscription to another plan, or between monthly and yearly billing. The dialog says what the change will cost before you choose Change subscription.

What the change costs:

• Before the first charge, the new plan and billing period apply at once and nothing is charged until the free period ends. The first charge is then for the new plan.
• Within the same billing period, the difference is prorated onto the next invoice.
• From monthly to yearly, the year starts today. The year is charged now, less the unused part of the current month.
• From yearly to monthly, the first month starts today. The unused part of the year is kept as a credit and applied to the coming monthly invoices until it is used up. The credit is not refunded to the card.

A plan that includes fewer sources than the account has active is refused until enough sources are deleted. Moving to longer or shorter retention works as described under Retention.

An account that pays by invoice, or holds a complimentary plan, changes plan by writing to support@sanelog.com.

Cancelling

Cancel subscription on the Plan page opens a page that sets out what cancelling will do before anything happens:

• The plan keeps running to the end of the period already paid for, and no further charge is made. A subscription cancelled before its first charge is never charged.
• The account stops receiving logs after that day.
• Stored logs, sources, filters, alerts, users and invoices stay in place for 30 days (see After a plan ends).

The page has an optional box for saying why, which goes to the SaneLog team. Choosing Cancel subscription there schedules the subscription to end when the current period does, and the Plan page shows the day.

Until that day the plan is unchanged, and Resume subscription on the Plan page withdraws the cancellation with no interruption.

After a plan ends

When the free period ends without a paid plan, or a cancelled subscription ends, the account stops receiving logs on that day. The account is kept for 30 days from then:

• You and the account's other users can still log in.
• Stored logs can be searched until they reach the plan's retention period.
• Sources, filters, alerts, users and invoices all stay in place.

Choosing a plan at any point in those 30 days starts receiving logs again at once, with nothing to set up again. On the 30th day the account is closed permanently, and its logs, sources, users and settings are deleted. The Plan page shows that date whenever it applies.

The account contact email receives an email when the plan ends, 7 days and 1 day before the account is closed, and once it is closed. Each one names the closure date.

When a payment fails

When a charge fails, the Plan page says the last payment failed, and the account keeps receiving logs. Stripe retries the card over the following days. One email about the failed payment goes to the account contact email and to the addresses set under Email invoices.

To keep the plan, replace the card on the Payment method page so the next retry succeeds. If every retry fails, the subscription ends and the account stops receiving logs until a plan is chosen again.

Invoices and payment

Payment method

Billing > Payment method shows the card on file. Manage card and billing details opens Stripe's billing portal, where you can replace the card and change the billing address shown on invoices. The portal returns you to SaneLog when you are done.

While a subscription is running, an email goes to the account contact email 30 days and 7 days before the card on file expires, also sent to the addresses set under Email invoices. Replacing the card before then keeps the next charge from failing.

Invoices

Billing > Invoices lists every invoice with its date, number, amount and status. View invoice opens the invoice on Stripe's invoice page, where you can download the invoice and, once it is paid, its receipt. An unpaid invoice can be paid there too.

Every paid invoice is also emailed with the invoice PDF attached and a View invoice link to the same page. The link works without logging in to SaneLog, so an accounts department copied on the emails can open it too, and it keeps working however old the email is. When a payment fails, one email names the invoice, when the card will be tried again and where to replace it.

Prices exclude tax. Any tax that applies is added at checkout and shown as its own line on each invoice.

Email invoices

All invoice and payment notifications are sent to the account contact email. To send them to an accounts department as well, or to anyone else who needs the invoices without logging in, open Billing > Invoices and enter the addresses under Send invoice emails to, one per line, then Save.

Each email names every other address it was sent to. Clearing the field and saving sends the notifications to the account contact email only.

The account contact email is shown on the same page. An Account Admin changes it under Account settings.

Who can see billing

Account Admins, and users with the Billing Only access option, can see billing.

A Billing Only user who also has Read Only can view the billing pages but not change anything. This suits an accountant who needs the invoices and nothing else.

Questions about an invoice

Write to support@sanelog.com with the invoice number.