Billing, plans & platform
The 5 plan tiers
| Tier | Monthly | Annual (per mo) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Founders, ideation, < 1K customers |
| Starter | $99 | $84 | Stores < $1M GMV |
| Pro | $399 | $339 | Stores $1–10M GMV |
| Agency | $799 | $679 | Agencies, multi-store, 3+ shops |
| Enterprise | Custom (from $2,500) | Custom | $10M+ GMV, regulated, custom retention |
Annual billing saves ~15% (≈ two months free). Plans can be upgraded or downgraded anytime; downgrades take effect at the next billing cycle.
What's in each tier
| Capability | Free | Starter | Pro | Agency | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer 360 + segments + GDPR | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Email + SMS campaigns | ✓ (1K/mo) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| WhatsApp campaigns | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in journeys | ✓ (limited) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom journeys | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-touch attribution | basic | full | full | full | full |
| Predictive LTV | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Experiments + multivariate | — | basic A/B | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Holdouts (causal lift) | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Anomaly detection | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI credit allowance/month | 100 | 1,000 | 10,000 | 50,000 | Custom |
| Multi-shop roll-up | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Approval workflows | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| API access | read-only | basic | full | full | full |
| Support SLA | community | 24h email | 4h email | 1h email + Slack | 1h + dedicated CSM |
| Custom retention / SLA / DPA | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
Granular feature breakdowns live on each feature page's "Plan tiers" section.
Outcomes you should expect
| Outcome | Typical experience |
|---|---|
| Time-to-value (Free tier) | < 48 hours, first recovered cart |
| Tier upgrade payback period | < 30 days at most scales |
| Visibility into AI credit usage | Real-time, per-feature |
| Support response (SLA) | 24h Free → 1h Enterprise |
| Plan-tier flexibility | Up/down anytime; pro-rated |
How AI credits work
AI credits power optional AI features — generated content (blog, ad copy, video scripts), AI-suggested segments, churn predictions, and the Copilot.
Credits are consumable, not metered. Monthly allowance per tier; each AI action deducts a known credit cost.
| Feature | Credits per use |
|---|---|
| Blog post generation | 50 |
| Ad copy generation (1 ad) | 5 |
| Email subject line variation | 1 |
| Video script (30s) | 30 |
| AI-suggested segment | 2 |
| AI churn prediction (cohort) | 5 |
| Copilot conversation (1 message) | 1 |
If you exceed allowance: buy add-on packs (10K = $49), upgrade tier, or wait for next cycle. The system warns at 80% of allowance.
When each tier activates
| Platform feature | Tier where it activates |
|---|---|
| First store onboarded | Free |
| Built-in cart recovery | Free (with 1K send/mo cap) |
| Multi-channel orchestration | Starter |
| Predictive forecasting | Pro |
| Experiment / lift measurement | Pro (basic) → Agency (advanced) |
| Multi-store agency operations | Agency |
| Custom data retention / SLAs | Enterprise |
Real merchant scenarios
Scenario A — Bootstrap brand on Free tier for 8 months
Solo founder, beauty brand, 600 customers, $4K/mo revenue. 8-month outcome on Free:
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Customers in Customer 360 | 1,420 |
| Recovered carts | 84 ($6,200 revenue) |
| Welcome series sent | 1,420 |
| Total platform cost | $0 |
| Manual hours saved | ~30 hours/month |
Upgraded to Starter in month 9 when she hit the 1K-send/mo cap.
Scenario B — Mid-market upgrade decision
$4M brand on Starter ($99/mo). Considering Pro upgrade (+$300/mo). What unlocks:
| Feature | Estimated value/month |
|---|---|
| Predictive LTV (better retargeting ROAS) | +$1,200 |
| Custom journeys (replenishment for top 5 SKUs) | +$2,400 |
| Multivariate experiments | +$340 |
| Anomaly detection | caught a pixel break worth ~$3K |
| Higher AI credit allowance | Replaced $800/mo copywriter |
Net: ~$4,500/mo value for $200 in upgrade cost. Payback: ~5 days.
Scenario C — Agency tier rollout (12 brands)
| Item | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Per-brand tool cost | $400–600/month | $0 (shared agency tier) |
| Agency-side platform cost | $0 | $799/month |
| Total tool cost across 12 brands | ~$6,000/month | $799/month |
| Hours saved per brand per week | — | 4 hours |
Margin captured: $5,200/mo. 48 hours/week freed.
Scenario D — Enterprise procurement (10 weeks)
$80M brand. Required SAML SSO, custom DPA, IP allowlist, SOC 2, MSA.
| Week | Activity |
|---|---|
| 1 | Trial Pro ($399/mo, no commitment) |
| 2–4 | Procurement + legal + security in parallel |
| 4 | SOC 2 + DPA cleared |
| 5 | MSA signed; SAML SSO configured |
| 6 | Migration begins (parallel-run with old Klaviyo) |
| 8 | Full cutover; old tools cancelled |
| 10 | First QBR with CSM |
Total spend less than prior tool stack ($14K/mo → $9K/mo).
Scenario E — Brand on Free → Pro in 14 months
| Month | Tier | Why upgraded |
|---|---|---|
| 0–8 | Free | Building store, low send volume |
| 9 | Starter | Hit email cap; needed WhatsApp |
| 12 | Pro | Custom journeys + predictive LTV for ad bid caps |
| 14 | Pro | Stable |
Total spend over 14 months: $1,140. Revenue lift attributable: $84,000. Net ROI ~73×.
Scenario F — Downgrade after a slow quarter
Fashion brand on Pro, tough Q3. One-click downgrade Pro → Starter at next cycle. Custom journeys freeze but don't run; LTV predictions stop refreshing but stored predictions remain. 3 months later: reactivated Pro, journeys resumed.
The downgrade-without-loss matters — right-size spending without losing data or workflow.
Best practices
✅ Start on Free for 30+ days before committing to paid. Real usage tells you what you need.
✅ Watch in-app upgrade prompts. They surface based on your usage.
✅ Set the AI credit threshold alert to avoid surprise overage.
✅ Use annual billing if confident — ~20% savings compound.
✅ For agencies: consolidate clients onto one Agency tier — massive savings.
✅ Audit AI credit usage monthly — some features are credit-heavy.
❌ Don't upgrade before you need it. Wait for visible payback.
❌ Don't pay for shelfware — downgrade if Pro+ features unused for 60+ days.
❌ Don't skip the trial.
Frequently asked
Can I change plans anytime? Yes — upgrades immediate (pro-rated), downgrades at next billing cycle.
What happens to my data if I cancel? 30-day retention then permanent deletion. Reinstall within 30 days picks up exactly where you left off.
Are there overage charges? Only on AI credits if you opt in to "auto-purchase add-on credits." Otherwise the feature pauses until next cycle.
Discount for non-profits or startups? Non-profits 50% off any tier; Y Combinator alums get 6 months free Pro.
Free trial of Pro? Yes — 14-day Pro trial from any Free or Starter account (no credit card).
Shopify revenue share included? Yes — we absorb Shopify's 20% App Store cut on the first $1M ARR. Merchant price unaffected.
Uptime SLA? Free/Starter: best-effort. Pro: 99.5%. Agency: 99.9%. Enterprise: 99.95% with credit-back guarantee.
Custom contract? Enterprise tier only.
Where can I see my bill? Admin → Billing → "Invoices" with full line items. Charges go through Shopify Billing API.
Backend usage charged? No — webhook + API unmetered within reasonable limits. > 100K calls/day requires Pro+; sustained > 1M/day requires Enterprise.
See also
- Install & onboard — getting started flow
- Sales engine overview — the features you're paying for
- GDPR & consent — included free
- Developer docs — API access by tier
Why this exists — the long version
Every SaaS bill is a question of value-for-cost — but most marketing-stack pricing makes that question impossible to answer. You're billed on contact list size whether you message those contacts or not. You're billed on send volume whether sends drove revenue or unsubscribes. You're paying for five separate tools whose prices add up to more than the platform fee for a unified solution.
Sumeru Systems pricing is built around a different idea: price on outcome volume, not on raw inputs. The Free tier covers real value (unified profiles, GDPR, basic email + SMS, 5 segments) — never marketing-only "play with it but can't ship." Paid tiers unlock features that pay for themselves at the scale you're at: WhatsApp + journeys at $1M revenue, predictive LTV + experiments at $5M, holdouts + multi-shop at agency scale.
The result is that the bill stays proportional to the value. You never pay for capabilities you don't use; when you grow into a tier, the new features more than pay for the upgrade. Most upgrades happen because the merchant requested features they didn't realize they wanted — not because they hit a usage cap.