Subscription Management Guide

This guide shows you where subscription management lives in preparAItor, how upgrading and cancelling actually work, what happens after a downgrade, and how to buy extra credits or download invoices.

Where to Manage Your Subscription

Everything lives on the Billing & Usage page — open Billing in the app menu. At the top you'll see summary cards for your Current Plan, Billing Cycle, Usage Cycle, and Next Payment, plus two buttons:

• Manage Billing — opens the Stripe Customer Portal, where you cancel, reactivate, update your payment method, and view invoices. It's available once you have an active subscription.
• View Pricing — takes you to the plan comparison to start or change a subscription.

Below the summary are two tabs: Payments (your full transaction history) and Credit Usage (every credit deduction, itemized).

The Dashboard's Current Plan card offers the same shortcuts: Upgrade Plan, Buy Credits, and Manage Billing.

Plans and Prices

All plans draw from a single credit pool: Job Analyzing costs 10 credits, CV Analyzing 15, Document Generation 100, and Interview Practice 150 per session (every account also includes 2 free trial sessions). See the credit system guide for details and the pricing page for the full feature comparison — output formats, languages, storage limits, and Application Tracker quotas differ per plan.

The Free plan needs no card — you get credits every month to try the platform.

Billing Periods

On the pricing page, a toggle lets you pay for 1 mo, 3 mo (−10%), or 6 mo (−20%). There is no 12-month plan — preparAItor is built so you shouldn't need it that long.

Two things to know:

• Your usage cycle is always monthly. Even on 3- or 6-month billing, monthly credits refresh every month and unused monthly credits don't roll over. The Billing page shows Billing Cycle and Usage Cycle as separate cards for exactly this reason.
• Switching to a longer period resets your billing cycle. The upgrade dialog warns you: your new cycle starts today, and the unused days of your current cycle are credited against the new charge. Switching to a shorter period isn't possible during an active subscription — cancel, let the period run out, then resubscribe.

Starting a Subscription

1. Open the pricing page and pick a billing period with the 1 mo / 3 mo / 6 mo toggle.
2. Click Get Started on the plan you want.
3. You're redirected to Stripe Checkout to pay — TWINT and credit card are supported.
4. After payment you land on a confirmation page while the payment is verified — this usually takes 1–2 minutes, then your plan and credits are active.

Upgrading

Upgrades are self-service and take effect immediately. When you pick a higher plan, an Upgrade Subscription dialog previews everything before you pay:

• Current Plan → New Plan, with billing periods for both.
• Charge Today (Prorated) — what you pay now, covering the remaining days of your current billing cycle.
• A Proration Breakdown: the new plan's price minus a credit for the unused days of your current plan.
• Future Billing — the regular amount and the date it starts.

You must tick a consent checkbox ("I understand that I will be charged … immediately upon confirmation") before Confirm Upgrade activates. The charge goes to the payment method on your subscription right away — your bank may ask for 3D Secure confirmation. After confirming, a processing page tracks the change; it typically completes within a minute, and your new features and credits apply immediately.

If you upgrade within the same billing period, your renewal date is preserved. If you also change the billing period, the dialog shows an "Important: Billing Cycle Will Reset" warning — your cycle restarts today.

Downgrading

There is no direct downgrade between paid plans. On the pricing table, lower plans show a locked Downgrade button with the message "Downgrades not supported. Cancel your subscription to switch to a lower plan."

The supported path:

1. Cancel your current subscription (see below).
2. Keep full access until the paid period ends.
3. Resubscribe on the lower plan afterwards.

What happens if you're over the lower plan's limits

• Stored CVs and jobs are not deleted. They stay visible, but you can't add new ones while over the limit — the app tells you how many to remove (e.g. "You have 5 jobs but your plan allows 1. Delete at least 4 to add new ones."). When you upload anyway, a CV Storage Full / Job Storage Full dialog lets you pick which existing items to replace.
• Feature restrictions apply immediately once the lower plan is active — output formats, languages, and watermarking follow the new plan.
• Purchased credits survive the whole process. If you used more credits in the current month than the lower plan's allowance covers, the overage is deducted from your purchased credit balance when the downgrade takes effect.

Cancelling

Cancel any time via Manage Billing (Billing page or Dashboard), which opens the Stripe Customer Portal. What happens:

• You keep full access until the end of your current billing period. Your plan card shows a Canceling status with "You have access until …" and the end date.
• After the period ends, your account moves to the Free plan. Monthly credits stop renewing; purchased credits remain and never expire.
• You can reactivate before the period ends — again via Manage Billing. Note that while a cancellation is pending, you can't upgrade; reactivate first.

There are no cancellation fees and no long-term contracts.

Failed Payments

If a renewal charge fails, your plan status changes to Past Due and the app shows a "Payment Failed - Action Required" alert with a deadline. You get a 24-hour grace period: your benefits continue, and you receive a warning email. Update your card via Manage Billing within that window.

If the payment isn't resolved, the subscription is cancelled and your account reverts to the Free plan. Purchased credits stay in your balance; any credits used beyond the Free allowance that month are deducted from them.

Credit Packages

If you run low mid-cycle, buy a one-time package instead of changing plans. Open the credit shop via Buy Credits on the Dashboard, or the Credits tab on the pricing page, then click Buy Now on a package — payment runs through Stripe Checkout like everything else.

How purchased credits behave:

• One-time payment, no subscription — and they never expire.
• Consumed after your monthly credits: the system always spends your monthly allowance first, then overflows into purchased credits.
• Kept across plan changes — upgrades, downgrades, and cancellation all leave them untouched.
• Available on every plan, including Free.

The shop also shows your current balance and how many days remain until your next monthly credit refresh, so you can judge whether you really need a top-up.

Payments, Invoices, and Receipts

All payments are processed by Stripe — preparAItor never stores your card details. TWINT and credit cards are accepted for subscriptions and credit packages alike; prices are in CHF.

To review transactions, open the Payments tab on the Billing page:

• Filter by All, Subscriptions, Payments, Credit Purchases, or Refunds, search, and sort by date or amount.
• Expand any row for Transaction Details — including the Proration breakdown on upgrades (unused credit, new plan charge, net charge) and credits received on package purchases.
• Click View Invoice on a transaction to open the Stripe-hosted invoice, or Export CSV for your whole history.

The Stripe Customer Portal (via Manage Billing) is the place to update your payment method and browse invoices directly.

The Credit Usage tab next to Payments shows where every credit went — generation, CV analysis, job analysis — for the current period and past ones.

Getting Help

For questions about your subscription, billing, or credits, email admin@preparaitor.ch — see the feedback and help guide for all support options. We're happy to help with plan recommendations or billing issues.