Managing your billing and seats

Everything to do with billing lives in one place: go to Settings → Billing. From there you can subscribe, manage seats, top up credits, update your payment method, and view invoices.

Starting on a free trial

Most teams start with a free trial, so you can send real messages before you subscribe. No card is required to begin. For what the trial includes and what happens when it ends, see Your free trial.

Subscribing to a plan

emu.chat has one plan, billed monthly, with no lock-in. When you are ready to keep sending, open Settings → Billing, choose the plan, and add a payment method. Checkout is handled securely by Stripe.

Note: If you are using emu.chat inside Microsoft Teams, checkout opens in your browser. Stripe checkout and the billing portal cannot run inside Teams.

Your subscription is priced per user, so the next thing to understand is how seats work.

Seats and what each one includes

You pay $10 per user per month (AUD, excluding GST), with a minimum of 3 seats. A team of 1 or 2 is still billed at 3 seats. Your monthly subscription is simply your seat count times the seat price.

Each seat adds to your shared monthly allowances, pooled across your whole organisation:

• 100 SMS per seat to Australian numbers

• 5 MMS per seat for picture messages

• 1 virtual number per 3 seats for sending and receiving

Once a pooled allowance is used up, further usage draws from your credit balance (see Credits and top-up below). Extra virtual numbers beyond your included count are $12 per month each.

Adding and removing seats

Seats follow the people in your workspace. When someone joins, a seat is added; when they leave, it is removed. New seat changes have a short grace window before they affect your bill, and any seat added partway through a billing period is prorated. Pending changes are shown in your billing summary with the date they take effect. To add someone, see Invite team members to your workspace.

Credits and top-up

Credits cover usage beyond your included pools, plus international messages, which are billed at carrier cost per destination. You can add credits manually or set up auto top-up so your balance never runs out mid-conversation. For rates and step-by-step setup, see Buying credits and setting up auto top-up.

Payment method

Your card on file is shown in the Payment method section, with its brand and last four digits. To change it, open the billing portal from billing and update your card details in Stripe.

Warning: If a payment fails, billing shows a payment overdue alert. Update your card promptly to avoid sending limits.

Invoices

Recent invoices appear under Settings → Billing, each showing the date, amount, and status. Open the billing portal to see your full invoice history. Your first invoice is generated at the end of your first billing period.

Billing contact

The billing contact receives invoices, receipts, and billing alerts. It is set during sign-up and you can change it any time from the Billing contact section. Use a shared address such as accounts@yourcompany.com rather than a personal email so invoices are never missed.

Need higher volume?

If you send at high volume, committed-use contracts offer discounted SMS, MMS, and dedicated numbers in exchange for an annual commitment. Use the Talk to sales link in billing to discuss your needs.