Available Plans

Choose the plan that fits your practice. Every paid plan includes core bookkeeping — transactions, journal entries, invoices, bills, reconciliation, and reports — while the tier you pick sets your monthly AI usage quota and whether add-on modules are bundled or bought separately. Solo operators and SMBs subscribe directly through Stripe; advisory firms pick a graduated firm tier and their client businesses inherit access. Every new business starts on a 30-day free trial with all add-ons unlocked so you can evaluate the full product before committing.

Key capabilities

• Free — evaluate DayZero with a small AI allowance (50 AI requests/month)
• Self-Directed — full self-service bookkeeping for solo users and SMBs, 500 AI requests/month
• Fully Managed — hands-off bookkeeping with a dedicated DayZero accountant and unlimited AI
• Advisory Firm Client — the tier assigned to businesses managed by a DayZero advisory firm; billed through the firm, not the business
• Grandfathered — early-adopter accounts that keep all add-on modules for free with no payment method required
• Three graduated firm tiers — Starter, Professional, Enterprise — priced per managed client with optional platform fees
• Per-tier AI quotas: 50 (Free), 500 (Self-Directed), unlimited (Managed); firm clients get 200 / 500 / 1,500 by firm tier
• Firm tiers bundle add-ons automatically (Professional and Enterprise) so you don't buy them per client
• 30-day free trial with every add-on enabled, billed to the card on file when the trial ends
• Self-serve Stripe Checkout, Stripe Billing Portal, and prorated plan changes
• Downgrades and cancellations preserve all data — you only lose access to higher-tier features

How it works

Your plan tier and (for firm clients) your advisory firm's tier together determine your AI quota and which features are unlocked. Billing status is driven by your Stripe subscription; the trial period unlocks everything until it expires.

flowchart TD
  start["New business"] --> trial["30-day trial (all add-ons unlocked)"]
  trial --> pick{"Who manages the books?"}
  pick -->|"Solo / in-house"| solo["Self-Directed or Fully Managed"]
  pick -->|"Advisory firm"| firm["Firm Starter / Professional / Enterprise"]
  firm --> client["Client businesses billed as Advisory Firm Client"]
  solo --> gate["Plan tier + add-ons set entitlements"]
  client --> gate
  gate --> stripe["Stripe subscription + billing_status"]

How to use it

1. Open Settings > Billing to see your current plan, trial days remaining, and billing status badge.
2. During the trial, click Add Payment Method to start Stripe Checkout — your selected plan and add-ons are billed when the trial ends.
3. Free / Self-Directed suit solo bookkeepers and SMBs; Fully Managed adds a dedicated accountant and unlimited AI.
4. Advisory firms choose a firm tier during onboarding (Starter, Professional, or Enterprise) — each client business then shows as Advisory Firm Client with billing handled at the firm level.
5. Once subscribed, use Manage Payment Method to open the Stripe Billing Portal for cards, invoices, and cancellation.
6. Grandfathered accounts see a "Your Grandfathered Access" panel and can optionally migrate to Self-Directed or Fully Managed via Choose This Plan.

Pro tips

• Use the trial deliberately: every add-on is on, so test Commerce, CFO Suite, AP Automation, and AI Pro before deciding what to keep — unused add-ons simply won't be billed if you turn them off before the trial ends.
• Solo bookkeepers and small businesses get the complete core suite on Self-Directed — you only need Fully Managed if you want DayZero staff doing the books for you.
• Advisory firms should never put clients on solo plans; pick a firm tier so client billing, AI quotas, and bundled add-ons are managed centrally.
• Professional and Enterprise firm tiers bundle add-ons, so check the bundle before paying for the same module per client.
• Watch your AI quota in Settings > Billing: on metered plans (Self-Directed, firm clients) requests beyond the quota bill as overage rather than hard-stopping.
• Demo businesses can't manage billing — switch to a real business first.

In-depth guide

Available plans and what each includes

The figures below are the published monthly prices.

• Fully Managed is effectively unlimited AI (no quota is enforced).
• Grandfathered businesses keep perpetual access regardless of billing status.

Advisory firm tiers and what each includes

Advisory firms are billed on a graduated, per-client model. Each client business they manage appears as an Advisory Firm Client and inherits the firm tier's AI quota and bundled add-ons.

• Bundled add-ons are granted automatically — a client of a Professional firm gets CFO Suite, Fixed Assets, and Tax Advisory without anyone purchasing them per business.
• The firm tier's quota overrides the default firm-client quota (200).

How plans and tiers gate features

Two independent gates run on every action:

• Billing gate: a soft gate that allows reads always but blocks write operations once the trial has expired and no active subscription exists. Firm-client, grandfathered, demo, and superuser businesses bypass it.
• Add-on gate: an entitlement check applied to add-on-specific features (CFO Suite, Commerce, AP Automation, etc.). It passes during an active trial, for demo businesses, when the add-on is among the business's active or grandfathered add-ons, or when the business's firm tier bundles that add-on.

Your plan tier mainly governs AI quota and the billing gate; add-on entitlements govern which specialized modules are unlocked (see the Feature Add-Ons doc).

Billing cycle, trial, and proration

• New businesses get a 30-day trial from creation, with all add-ons unlocked. About 3 days before the trial ends, DayZero sends a reminder email and an in-app notification.
• Subscriptions bill monthly. The Billing page shows your monthly total, base plan price, active add-ons, and the next billing date pulled live from Stripe.
• Plan changes swap the base subscription and prorate immediately. Adding an add-on prorates the remainder of the period; removing one is not prorated and isn't refunded — access continues to period end.

Upgrade / downgrade behavior

• Upgrade (e.g. Self-Directed → Fully Managed): pick the plan in Stripe Checkout or the Billing Portal; proration invoices the difference immediately and the new AI quota applies right away.
• Downgrade / cancel: data is preserved. You keep higher-tier features until the end of the paid period, then lose access to anything the lower tier or fewer add-ons no longer entitle you to. Canceling marks the subscription canceled and posts a notification; active features remain until period end.
• Grandfathered transfer: grandfathered businesses can move to Self-Directed or Fully Managed via Checkout. The new tier takes effect once payment succeeds — grandfathered access stays live until then.

Stripe billing integration

• Catalog-driven pricing — plans, firm tiers, and add-ons map to Stripe products and prices, so pricing can change without an app update.
• Automatic sync — your subscription state (creation, updates, cancellation, payments, refunds, and trial-ending reminders) stays in sync with Stripe automatically.
• Failed payments — move the business to past-due status and email the owner; a later successful payment restores active status.

Edge cases

• Firm clients never self-checkout: their billing gate is bypassed and billing is managed by the advisory firm; the Billing page reflects firm-level state.
• Grandfathered + new modules: grandfathered accounts include all current add-ons for free, but modules added later are not auto-granted and require a paid upgrade.
• Demo / sandbox businesses: treated like grandfathered for access but cannot open Checkout or the Portal.
• Past due: writes are blocked until payment succeeds, but your data and read access remain intact.