Plans and Billing

AwardKit billing is organization-level and there is exactly one plan: $1,995 per year, billed annually, covering unlimited programs, entries, and judges in your organization. There is no per-program billing, no per-seat pricing, nothing metered, and no commission on entry fees.

Build free, pay when you go live

Building is free and unlimited. Create programs, categories, entry forms, judging rounds, and test entries for as long as you like; nothing is capped and nothing expires. The only paid step is taking a program live so real entrants can submit.

Until your organization subscribes, the Billing page explains that subscribing is what opens submissions and publishes your program, and shows the plan card with its price and a Subscribe button:

• Unlimited programs, entries, and judges
• Zero commission on entry fees
• Email announcements

Every program starts in Test mode; see Test mode and going live. Subscribe first, then go live on each program when it's ready. One plan covers every program in the organization. Subscribing here, from the Subscribe to go live card on a program's Overview, or from the sidebar's Test mode pill is the same subscription, and it never takes a program live on its own.

Subscribing

From Settings > Billing, click Subscribe. Inside a program, the top bar names your organization with its plan, Free or Pro. On Free, clicking the badge opens the same offer (members, who cannot subscribe, are asked to reach an admin); on Pro, it shows when the plan renews and links to Billing. Checkout runs on Stripe: enter a card and your billing address, confirm, and you return to the Billing page with the plan active. The change is immediate, so you can take programs live right after.

If AwardKit has arranged a different first-year price with your organization, that price replaces the list price on the Billing page and in the go-live confirmation, and Checkout applies it. The plan card states what the renewal costs: either "then $1,995 / year", or, when the arranged price also covers renewals, "billed annually, arranged for your organization". There is nothing to enter at Checkout.

The subscription is billed to your organization, not to the person who clicks Subscribe. Checkout asks for your Business name (the legal name you want on invoices; it can differ from the organization name shown on your program pages) and your billing address. For billing addresses in the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Australia, and other countries with a business tax ID, an I'm purchasing as a business option lets you enter your VAT or tax ID. Stripe prints the business name, address, and tax ID on every invoice, starting with the first one. You can update them later from the Billing Portal; renaming your organization in AwardKit does not change the name on your invoices.

Only organization owners and admins can manage billing. Members see a note saying so in place of the actions.

Managing the subscription

With an active subscription, the plan card shows the status, the Current Billing Cycle with days remaining, and these actions:

• Cancel plan: the status becomes Canceling and the subscription runs to the end of the paid year ("Your subscription will be canceled at the end of the billing cycle."). Live programs stay live until then.
• Reactivate plan: undoes a pending cancellation before the cycle ends.
• Update payment method: shown when a payment needs attention.

Once a subscription has ended, whether it ran to the end of a cancellation or was stopped outright, the card goes back to the plan card with a Subscribe button and a line naming the date the plan ended ("Subscribe again to take programs live."). Your past invoices stay listed below. A new subscription starts a new year from the day you pay.

Invoices

The Invoices card lists every invoice. Each row's menu offers View invoice and receipt, which opens Stripe's invoice page with the paid status and both the invoice and the receipt PDF, and Download invoice PDF. Open Billing Portal opens Stripe's portal for the payment method on file and billing details. Until the first payment it reads "No invoices received yet."

Subscription emails

AwardKit emails the billing contact at each step: a welcome email on subscribing, then one when the subscription renews, when a cancellation is scheduled, when it is reactivated, and when it ends.

Payment problems

If a renewal fails, the Pro badge in each program's top bar carries a red dot, and its panel says the last payment failed. On the Billing page the status shows Past Due and asks you to update your payment method. Stripe retries the card on its own schedule, and you keep full access during those retries, so a busy program is never interrupted by a card expiry. If the retries run out, the subscription becomes Unpaid or Canceled. A canceled subscription shows the plan card with Subscribe again, and you subscribe again before taking another program live.

You may also see Trial, Incomplete, or Paused on the card.

Why no commission on entry fees

Most platforms in this space take a cut of every entry fee on top of the subscription. AwardKit does not. Entry fees are collected through Stripe Connect and land directly in your Stripe account; AwardKit never touches the money. Stripe's standard processing fees apply, and that is all.

A program with 400 entries at $250 per entry collects $100,000. A 5% platform commission would cost $5,000. On AwardKit the whole organization costs $1,995 a year and the commission is zero. See Payments.

Refunds

Your first year is covered by the first-cycle guarantee. If AwardKit fails you during your first cycle, at entries, judging or results, tell us within 30 days of your judging closing and we refund the year. It covers AwardKit failing to do its job at one of those steps, whether you announce winners on AwardKit or at your ceremony. There is also a 14-day money-back window from the day you pay, no questions asked.

Questions about a subscription refund go to support@awardkit.io.