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A new organization on OuterLayer Cloud starts a 14-day trial of the Team plan. This page says what each plan includes, how to subscribe or cancel, and what happens when a trial ends or a payment fails. Only an owner can subscribe, switch the billing interval, update the card, set a spending cap or cancel. An admin can read the billing page. To open the billing page, open the account menu at the bottom left. Then choose Organization settings → Billing.

Plans and limits

OuterLayer Cloud has two plans, Team and Enterprise. Team costs $95 a member a month, or $950 a member a year. For Enterprise, contact OuterLayer. OuterLayer manages an Enterprise plan and its invoices for you. OuterLayer adds no charge to model usage. Builds on your own runners cost nothing extra. Each limit counts for the whole organization. OuterLayer deletes agent session records after the session history period. See How long data is kept.

The trial

A new organization starts a 14-day trial of the Team plan. The billing page shows the days left and the end date. OuterLayer can set a different length when it invites your first owner. The invite email gives the length and the end date. The trial starts when OuterLayer sends the invite. An organization invited with no trial is read-only until an owner subscribes. Each owner gets an email with the date the trial ends. Each owner gets a reminder when 3 days or fewer remain. A trial includes 10 hours of managed builds and runs 1 managed build at a time. See Managed build-hours. When the trial ends with no subscription, the organization is read-only.

Subscribe

  1. Open Organization settings → Billing.
  2. Check the billed members and the price. The page shows the monthly cost and the yearly cost.
  3. Choose Subscribe monthly or Subscribe yearly.
  4. Pay on the Stripe page that opens.
Stripe bills at least one member. If you subscribe during the trial, you keep the free days. Stripe saves the card and makes the first charge when the trial ends. If the trial ends in less than 48 hours, Stripe charges at once.

Billed members

Every active member is billed, whatever their role. Disabled members and pending invites are free. A member with temporary access from a platform admin is free. The billed count follows your members. A new count reaches Stripe in about 5 minutes.
  • A member added is charged for the rest of the billing period.
  • A member removed stays billed until the period ends. The next invoice uses the new count.
The invite dialog shows the charge before you invite a member. The amount is approximate, because the charge happens when the person accepts.

Managed build-hours

A managed build runs on a machine that OuterLayer operates. Each factory chooses a Small or a Large machine in its Settings → Build settings. Builds on your own runners use no build-hours, unless the runner builds in a managed sandbox. Team includes 30 hours of managed builds in each billing period. This included time is the pool. Every factory of the organization uses the same pool. Unused hours do not move to the next period.
  • A yearly plan gets 30 hours each month, not 30 hours a year.
  • A Large build uses 2 hours of the pool for each hour it runs. A Small build uses 1.
  • Time beyond the pool is overage.
  • A trial has one pool of 10 hours for the whole trial. The first billing period after you subscribe starts with the full pool.
  • Enterprise has no included hours unless your contract sets them.

The billing period

The pool resets on your billing cycle date, not on the 1st of the month. A team that subscribed on the 17th has periods from the 17th to the 16th. The billing page and the invoice show the same dates. A build counts in the period where it ends. A switch between monthly and yearly billing starts a new period with a full pool.

How a build is counted

  • The size is the one the factory had when the build started.
  • The billed time is the time the build ran, with a minimum of 60 seconds.
  • A build that ends because OuterLayer lost its host, or because the runner was interrupted, is not billed.
  • When the pool has less time than a build needs, the pool covers what it can. The rest is overage.

Builds in a managed sandbox

A runner on your own machine can build in a sandbox that OuterLayer provides. OuterLayer turns this on for an organization. The build’s time in the sandbox counts as managed build-hours, at the size of the sandbox.
  • The billed time starts when OuterLayer starts the sandbox for the build. It ends when the runner releases the build. The minimum is 60 seconds.
  • Every build that used a sandbox is billed. This includes a build that failed and a build that the runner left. You operate the runner, so OuterLayer cannot tell why a build ended.
  • A build that got no sandbox is not billed.
  • The limits on managed builds apply. See Limits on managed builds.

What overage costs

Stripe adds overage to your invoice each month, on one line for each size. The invoice line says “per month” next to the rate, because Stripe words every metered rate that way. The rate is for one minute.
  • A yearly plan pays for members one time a year. It gets a monthly invoice for overage.
  • A small overage can be under Stripe’s minimum charge of $0.50. Stripe adds the amount to your balance, and a later invoice collects it.
  • A canceled subscription gets a final invoice that includes the overage of the last period.
  • A trial has no overage. Managed builds wait when the trial hours are used.
  • Enterprise overage shows on the billing page. OuterLayer bills it from your contract.

Limits on managed builds

A managed build waits when one of these limits is reached. The Work page shows the reason and a link to the billing page.
  • The trial hours are used. New managed builds wait until the organization subscribes.
  • The spending cap is reached. New managed builds wait until the next billing period, or until an owner raises the cap.
  • The limit on builds at one time is reached. A trial runs 1 managed build at a time. Team runs 5. Enterprise uses the number in your contract.
  • OuterLayer cannot read the usage. The build starts when OuterLayer can read it again.

Set a spending cap

The spending cap is the most overage that a billing period can cost. An organization starts with no cap.
  1. Open Organization settings → Billing.
  2. In the Managed builds section, choose Set a cap.
  3. Choose a preset or enter an amount in dollars, then save.
A cap of $0 allows no overage, so managed builds wait when the included hours are used. OuterLayer does not stop a build that runs. A build can pass the cap by at most its own length.

See your usage

The Managed builds section of the billing page shows the billing period, the included hours used, the overage cost and the spending cap. A table lists each managed build with its work item, size, duration, included time, overage and cost. A work item’s page shows the size and duration of each managed build to every member. Only owners and admins see dollar amounts. OuterLayer emails each owner when the organization uses 80% of its pool, and when it uses all of it. It also emails each owner when the spending cap is reached.

Monthly and yearly billing

An owner chooses Switch to yearly billing or Switch to monthly billing on the billing page. A dialog shows the charge first. Nothing changes until you confirm.
  • Monthly to yearly charges the difference at once. The dialog shows the amount.
  • Yearly to monthly charges nothing at once. The switch happens when the paid year ends, and the dialog shows that date.
To stay on yearly billing, choose Cancel switch before the switch happens. You cannot switch the interval while a cancellation is pending.

Cancel or update the card

Choose Manage billing on the billing page. Stripe’s billing portal opens, where you update the card or cancel. A canceled subscription runs to the end of the period you paid for. The billing page shows the end date. To keep the subscription, choose Manage billing, then Don’t cancel subscription. If you cancel during the trial, the plan ends when the trial ends, and Stripe charges nothing. After the end date, the organization is read-only until it subscribes.

When a payment fails

Stripe retries a failed payment for up to 14 days. This period is called grace. The organization keeps full access during grace. During grace, owners see a banner above every page. To update the card:
  1. Choose Update card in the banner. The billing page opens.
  2. Choose Update card on the billing page. Stripe’s billing portal opens.
  3. Replace the card.
The next successful payment ends grace. When the retries stop, the organization is read-only until an owner updates the card. OuterLayer can extend access after the retries stop. The billing page then shows Access extended until and the date.

When an organization is read-only

A read-only organization cannot start new work or ask an agent to act. Its members can still read, comment and approve. An organization is read-only in these cases:
  • The trial ended and the organization has no subscription.
  • The subscription was canceled and its paid period ended.
  • The payment retries stopped.
OuterLayer refuses these actions:
  • Add work, request a build or claim an item.
  • File a spec.
  • Send a review that requests changes, a fail comment or a message with Send to agent.
  • Open a pull request from a finding. File issue still works.
A build that runs can finish and post its results. A queued managed build waits, and it starts after the organization pays again. To get full access again, an owner subscribes or updates the card on the billing page. Each refusal links to that page:
  • The dashboard shows the reason with a link.
  • outerlayer work prints the reason and Open <billing URL> to subscribe.
  • A runner logs the same reason and link. It tries again at its next request for work.
  • The API returns status 402 with the code billing_read_only. See the API reference.