# Plans & Billing Alfred Scholar offers a one-time 3-day Pro trial when you sign up, followed by paid Pro and Lab plans for researchers at different stages. This page covers plan features, pricing, upgrades, cancellations, and usage tracking. ## Available plans ### 3-day Pro trial When you sign up, your first workspace starts with 3 days of Pro access. No payment or credit card is required to begin the trial. Additional workspaces you create later need a Pro or Lab plan. - Unlimited documents - Unlimited AI messages - Advanced AI model - Unlimited citations and manuscripts - 1 plagiarism check per month - 3 Telescope analyses per month - Zotero & Mendeley sync - 3 peer reviewers ### Pro For serious researchers who need more. Removes document limits, unlocks unlimited AI messages, and provides access to the Advanced AI model for more accurate and detailed responses. - Unlimited documents - Unlimited AI messages - Advanced AI model - Unlimited citations and manuscripts - 1 plagiarism check per month - 3 Telescope analyses per month - All citation styles - 3 peer reviewers - Zotero & Mendeley sync - Email support ### Lab One plan for your entire research lab. Includes everything in Pro plus shared workspaces, unlimited plagiarism checks, and the Frontier AI model. - Everything in Pro - 1 PI + 4 researchers (5 seats total) - Unlimited peer reviewers - Unlimited plagiarism checks - 10 Telescope analyses per month - Frontier AI model - Shared workspaces - Role-based access control - Supervisor review workflow - WhatsApp priority support ### Founding Scholar A one-time purchase that grants permanent Pro access, with no recurring bill. It is a numbered edition limited to **100 seats**, shared worldwide: each Founding Scholar gets a unique seat number, allocated in order of purchase. When the 100 seats are gone, the plan closes. - Everything in Pro, permanently - A single payment of ₹26,999 in India, or $349 (USD) everywhere else, no renewals - A numbered founding seat (1 through 100) > **Note:** Founding Scholar is Pro for life, not Lab. Lab's shared-workspace and multi-seat features are not included. ## Pricing Pro and Lab subscriptions are priced in Indian Rupees (INR) and are currently available in India only. The Founding Scholar lifetime edition is available worldwide. Workspace trials are available worldwide. | Plan | Monthly | Annual | One-time | | -------------------- | ------------ | ------------ | --------------------------------- | | **Pro** | ₹899/month | ₹8,999/year | - | | **Lab** | ₹4,499/month | ₹44,999/year | - | | **Founding Scholar** | - | - | ₹26,999 in India, $349 elsewhere | > **Tip:** Annual billing gives you 2 months free (roughly 17% off) compared to paying monthly. You can switch from monthly to annual billing at any time. Founding Scholar is a single payment for permanent Pro access, limited to 100 seats worldwide: ₹26,999 in India, or $349 (USD) everywhere else. Outside India, you can pay with PayPal or a major credit or debit card. INR prices are inclusive of GST. The $349 international price is charged in US dollars. ## Usage limits and fair use Alfred Scholar tracks four usage metrics against your plan's limits: - **Documents** - Total documents uploaded in your workspace. - **AI messages** - Chat messages sent to Alfred each calendar month. - **Plagiarism checks** - Reports generated each calendar month. - **Telescope analyses** - Cross-paper analyses started each calendar month (3 on Pro, 10 on Lab). Citations and manuscripts are unlimited on all plans. ### Daily fair-use caps To keep the platform fast for everyone, paid plans have daily soft caps on AI messages: | Plan | Daily cap | | ------- | ---------------------- | | **Pro** | 1,000 messages per day | | **Lab** | 3,000 messages per day | If you hit the daily cap, you can continue the next day. These caps are generous and rarely reached during normal research activity. ## Bring your own key If you would rather run AI on your own provider account, the workspace owner can connect an API key from Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter, or Amazon Bedrock under **Settings** > **AI keys**. This is available on paid plans and during the 3-day trial. While a key is active, it powers all of your AI (chat, Telescope, and the writing assists), and the monthly message limits above stop applying. Two things always stay on Alfred Scholar's shared engine, key or no key: **embeddings** (document search and grounding) and **originality checks** (plagiarism detection). See [Bring Your Own Key](/docs/v1.x/bring-your-own-key) for the full setup. ## Gift codes A gift code grants a stretch of plan time that you can redeem into your workspace. 1. Go to **Settings** > **Billing**. 2. Enter your **gift code** in the redemption field. 3. Confirm. The plan time is added to your workspace. If you received a code from us or from a colleague, redeeming it is all it takes to activate the access it carries. ## Upgrading your plan You can upgrade your plan at any time: 1. Go to **Settings** > **Billing**. 2. Review your current plan and available upgrades. 3. Click **Upgrade** on the plan you want. 4. Complete the payment (UPI, cards, and net banking accepted). When upgrading, you are charged the new plan at its normal price. Your new plan activates immediately after payment with instant access to the higher plan's features and limits. Available options: - Trial to Pro - Trial to Lab - Pro to Lab - Monthly to annual billing (same plan) ## Downgrading or cancelling To cancel your subscription: 1. Go to **Settings** > **Billing**. 2. Click **Cancel Subscription**. 3. Confirm the cancellation. After cancelling: - Your paid plan **stays active until the end of your current billing cycle**. You keep full access until the expiration date shown on your billing page. - After the cycle ends, your workspace has no active plan until you resubscribe. - **Your data is never deleted.** All your documents, manuscripts, citations, and chat history remain in your workspace. - Without an active plan, you can keep your workspace data, but plan-limited actions such as uploading documents, sending AI messages, and running plagiarism checks require an active subscription. > **Note:** There is no direct downgrade from Lab to Pro. To switch, cancel your Lab subscription and subscribe to Pro after it expires. You can resubscribe to any paid plan at any time from the billing settings page. ## Billing cycles Alfred Scholar offers two billing cycles: - **Monthly** - Charged every month on the date you subscribed. - **Annual** - Charged once per year on the date you subscribed. Switching from monthly to annual billing on the same plan is treated as an upgrade and takes effect immediately. ## Checking your usage To see how much of your plan you have used: 1. Go to **Settings** > **Billing**. 2. The **Usage** section shows your current consumption: - **Documents** - How many documents you have out of your plan's limit. - **AI messages this month** - Messages sent this calendar month. - **Plagiarism checks this month** - Reports generated this calendar month. - **Telescope analyses this month** - Cross-paper analyses started this calendar month. - **AI model** - The model tier available on your plan (Standard, Advanced, or Frontier). ## Frequently asked questions **Can I get a refund?** We offer a full refund within the first 7 days of any paid plan. No questions asked. After that, you can cancel anytime and your plan stays active until the end of the billing cycle. **What payment methods are accepted?** In India, we accept UPI, credit cards, debit cards, and net banking. For the Founding Scholar edition outside India, we accept PayPal and major international credit and debit cards. **Can I get a GST invoice?** Yes, for INR payments in India. Add your GSTIN in billing settings and we will generate a GST-compliant invoice for every INR payment. GST does not apply to the $349 international price. **What happens to my data if I cancel?** Nothing. Your documents, manuscripts, citations, and chat history are never deleted. Without an active plan, existing content remains available in your workspace, but plan-limited actions require an active subscription. **Can I switch plans mid-cycle?** Upgrades happen immediately, and you are charged the new plan at its normal price going forward. Cancellations take effect at the end of your current billing cycle. **Who owns my data?** You do. Your documents, citations, manuscripts, and all research data belong to you. We never use your data to train AI models. You can export everything at any time. **What is the difference between AI models?** - **Standard** - Fast and handles everyday questions well. - **Advanced** - More capable for nuanced research queries and complex citations. - **Frontier** - The most powerful model, ideal for systematic reviews and multi-paper analysis. Model names are generic because we regularly evaluate and switch to the best available provider. ## Next steps - **[View pricing](/pricing)** - Compare plans side by side on the pricing page. - **[Manage your workspace](/docs/v1.x/workspaces)** - Understand workspace settings and team management. - **[Invite team members](/docs/v1.x/team-members)** - Add colleagues to your Lab workspace.