Move to a paid plan

A site on the Free plan can move to Starter or Premium at any time, from the Plans section of your account page. This page is for the account holder. If you followed a See plans link from your site's admin panel, this is where it led.

Not sure which plan you need? See What each plan includes.

Before you start

• You need a site. If the Hosted site card still shows the form, create your site first.
• Your account needs a country, because it decides the currency you are billed in. If the section reads "To see plans and prices, choose your country under "Your details" below.", do that first: see Your details and country.

Choose a plan and pay

1. Sign in to your account. In the Hosted site card, find Plans. It begins "Your site is on the Free plan. Paid plans are per choir, and you can change or cancel at any time."

2. There are two boxes, Starter and Premium, each with a line saying what it adds and two buttons: the price a month and the price a year. Press the button for the plan and the billing period you want.

3. You are taken to a payment page run by Stripe, our payment provider. Enter your billing address and card there. Taxes, where they apply, are shown before you pay.

4. When the payment is done, you are returned to your account page with the notice "Thank you. Your site moves to its new plan within a minute: reload this page to see it."

5. Reload the page after a moment. The card now reads "on the Starter plan" (or Premium), and Plans has become Plan, with your renewal date and a Manage billing button.

As the page says, "Payment is taken by Stripe; we never see your card."

The plan changes when Stripe confirms it

Your site's plan is changed when Stripe tells us the payment has gone through, not when your browser returns to the account page. That normally takes a few seconds. If the page still says Free after a couple of minutes, reload it once more, then get help: do not pay a second time.

If you leave Stripe's page without paying, you are returned to your account page and nothing has changed.

The currency you are billed in

Your account's country	You are billed in
Canada	Canadian dollars (CAD)
Anywhere else	US dollars (USD)

The prices on the buttons are already in your currency. It is fixed the first time you go to pay and does not change if you change your country afterwards. See Your details and country.

Monthly or yearly

Both are paid in advance and renew by themselves until you cancel. You can switch between them later from Manage billing: see Invoices, changing plan and cancelling. The exact terms on renewal are quoted on that page.

To pay by cheque or bank transfer instead of by card, see Pay by cheque or bank transfer.

What changes in the admin panel

Log in to your site's admin panel again, or reload it. The foot of the menu shows the new plan.

On Starter, the menu gains Members, Announcements, Schedule, Rehearsal Tracks, Member Files and Useful Links, and:

• the notice on the dashboard about the Free plan goes away;
• the member portal switches in Site Settings, Features take effect, as you last left them;
• contact form messages are emailed to you as well as being kept under Messages;
• the Email page offers its form, for sending announcements from your own address;
• you can connect a domain of your own from your account page.

On Premium, the menu also gains Ticketing and Donors, and:

• Taking payments on your account page offers Connect with Stripe;
• Site Settings, Footer lets you switch off the "Powered by Choir Master CMS" link.

If a menu item you expected is missing, check its switch in Site Settings, Features: see Switch pages and features on or off.

Good next steps: Set up the member portal, Use your own domain name, Take card payments: connect Stripe.

If something goes wrong

These appear in red at the top of your account page.

Message	What it means	What to do
"Choose your country under "Your details" first: it decides whether you are billed in Canadian or US dollars."	Your account has no country.	Choose one under Your details, press Save, and try again.
"Create your site first, then choose a plan for it."	Your account has no site.	Create your site, then come back.
"Your site already has a subscription. Use "Manage billing" to change it."	The site is already on a paid plan. A site has one subscription.	Change it from Manage billing: see Invoices, changing plan and cancelling.
"That did not go through to our payment provider. Nothing was charged: try again in a minute."	Stripe's page could not be opened.	Wait a minute and press the button again.

A card that is declined is reported on Stripe's own page, in Stripe's words, and you can try another card there.

Going from Starter to Premium

Once a site has a plan, the two boxes are no longer shown. Move between Starter and Premium from Manage billing: see Invoices, changing plan and cancelling.