Setting Up Your Subscription and Billing
Setting Up Your Subscription and Billing
Category: Shops Reading time: 4 min
Groomera's billing is handled entirely through Stripe — for both your subscription and any paid add-ons. This guide covers your plan options, how to manage your subscription, what the add-ons include, and how to handle billing issues.
Where to Find Billing Settings
- Log in as an owner
- Go to Settings → Subscriptions
- Here you'll see your current plan, next billing date, payment method, and available upgrades
Plan Tiers
Groomera plans differ in three key ways:
Feature | What It Controls |
Max Businesses | How many separate business entities you can manage under one owner account |
Max Team Members | How many specialists you can have active per business |
AI Assistant Included | Whether the AI Voice Assistant add-on is bundled or must be purchased separately |
Visit groomera.com/pricing for current plan names and pricing — plans are updated periodically and the live page always reflects the latest options.
Quick guidance:
- Solo operator or small team (1–3 specialists): Start with the entry plan
- Growing shop (4–10 specialists): Mid-tier plan
- Multi-location owner: Higher plan with multi-business support
- Want AI Assistant included: Choose a plan where aiAssistantEnabled is bundled
How to Subscribe or Upgrade
From your free trial:
- Go to Settings → Subscriptions
- Click Choose a Plan
- Select your plan and click Subscribe
- Complete Stripe checkout — enter payment card details
- Subscription activates immediately
To upgrade an existing subscription:
- Go to Settings → Subscriptions → Change Plan
- Select the higher plan
- Confirm — the upgrade is immediate
- Stripe prorates the cost: you pay the difference for the remainder of the current billing period
Add-Ons
Two features in Groomera are billed separately from your base plan:
SMS Reminders — $5.99/specialist/month
Enables automated SMS reminders for a specific specialist's client bookings. Billed per specialist, so you control which team members have SMS active.
- To enable: Go to Specialists → Specialist Name → toggle SMS Reminders on → complete Stripe checkout
- To disable: Toggle SMS Reminders off in the specialist's profile. Charge stops at next billing cycle.
AI Voice Assistant
Enables your AI-powered phone receptionist with a dedicated inbound number, call logs, and transcripts.
- If not included in your plan: Go to Settings → Billing → Add-Ons → enable AI Voice Assistant → complete Stripe checkout
- If included in your plan: The AI Assistant section in your sidebar will be active — go there to begin configuration
Managing Your Payment Method
To update your credit or debit card:
- Go to Settings → Subscriptions → Payment Method
- Click Update Payment Method
- You'll be redirected to Stripe's secure portal
- Enter the new card details and save
Changes apply immediately to all future billing cycles.
Billing Cycle and Receipts
- Subscriptions bill monthly (or annually if you selected an annual plan)
- Your billing date is the same day each month as when you first subscribed
- Receipts are emailed automatically from Stripe after every charge
- To view your full billing history, go to Settings → Subscriptions → Payment History
What Happens If a Payment Fails
If a payment fails (expired card, insufficient funds, etc.):
- Stripe retries the charge automatically — typically 3 attempts over several days
- You'll receive an email notification after the first failure
- Your account remains active during the retry window
- If all retries fail, your account is suspended until billing is resolved
To resolve a failed payment:
- Update your payment method in Settings → Subscriptions
- Stripe will attempt the charge again with the new card
Downgrading Your Plan
To move to a lower plan:
- Go to Settings → Subscriptions → Change Plan
- Select the lower plan
- The downgrade takes effect at the end of your current billing period — not immediately
- Your full access continues until that date
Before downgrading, check:
- If the lower plan has a lower specialist limit, reduce your active specialists to that number first
- If the lower plan doesn't include the AI Assistant and you're using it, the assistant will be deactivated at downgrade
Cancelling Your Subscription
- Go to Settings → Subscriptions → Cancel Subscription
- Confirm the cancellation
- Your access continues until the end of the current paid period
- After that, your account moves to a read-only state — data is preserved, features are locked
Your data is never deleted. If you resubscribe in the future, everything is exactly where you left it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is there an annual plan discount? Check groomera.com/pricing for current annual plan options. Annual billing is typically offered at a discount compared to month-to-month.
Q: Can I pause my subscription instead of cancelling? Pause functionality is not currently available. If you need to temporarily stop billing, cancel your subscription — your data is preserved and you can reactivate at any time.
Q: I was charged but didn't intend to subscribe. What do I do? Contact Groomera support via the Support section in your dashboard. For billing disputes, refer to the Refund Policy on the website.
Q: Can I have multiple payment methods on file? Stripe supports one active payment method per account. To switch cards, update your payment method — the new card replaces the previous one.
Q: Does the $5.99 SMS fee apply per specialist or per shop? Per specialist. If you have three specialists with SMS enabled, you're charged $17.97/month in SMS add-ons. You can enable SMS for only the specialists where it makes sense to keep costs controlled.
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