Billing & Subscription FAQ
Everything you need to know about Ship Guard's pricing, billing, and plan management. Our transparent, installation based pricing model keeps costs predictable—no per-seat charges, no surprises.
📋 Table of Contents
- Available Plans
- Pricing Model
- Plan Comparison
- Managing Your Subscription
- Usage & Quotas
- Payment & Billing Cycles
- Refunds & Cancellations
- Enterprise & Custom Plans
Available Plans
Ship Guard offers three tiers with simple, flat-rate pricing per GitHub account installation. No per-seat charges unlimited developers can commit to your repositories.
🎯 Hobby – $15/month
Perfect for solo developers and small side projects.
| Feature | Included |
|---|---|
| Private Repositories | Up to 10 |
| AI Reviews/Month | 500 (pooled across all repos) |
| Rules per Config | 2 max |
| Analytics History | 90 days |
| RAG Knowledge Base | ✅ Basic sync |
| Incident Memory | ❌ Not included |
| Incident Analytics | ❌ Not included |
| Notifications | ❌ Not included |
| Support | Community (GitHub issues) |
Best for:
- Solo developers
- Personal projects
- Small teams testing Ship Guard
- Open-source projects
🚀 Pro – $29/month
For growing teams that need capacity and incident prevention.
| Feature | Included |
|---|---|
| Private Repositories | Unlimited |
| AI Reviews/Month | 1,500 (pooled across all repos) |
| Rules per Config | 4 max |
| Analytics History | 1 year |
| RAG Knowledge Base | ✅ On-demand sync |
| Incident Memory | ✅ Incidents Memory |
| Incident Analytics | ❌ Not included |
| Notifications | ✅ Slack, Discord + Email |
| Support | Priority email |
Best for:
- Small to mid-size teams
- Startups scaling their codebase
- Teams that have experienced production incidents
- Projects with moderate AI review needs
🔥 Key Feature: Incident Memory lets you document past production failures and prevent them in future PRs.
⚡ Scale – $45/month
For high-velocity teams that need maximum capacity and insights.
| Feature | Included |
|---|---|
| Private Repositories | Unlimited |
| AI Reviews/Month | 5,000 (pooled across all repos) |
| Rules per Config | 6 max |
| Analytics History | Unlimited (never deleted) |
| RAG Knowledge Base | ✅ Advanced controls, on-demand sync |
| Incident Memory | ✅ Unlimited incidents |
| Incident Dashboard and Analytics | ✅ trends |
| Notifications | ✅ Slack, Discord + Email |
| Support | Dedicated channel |
Best for:
- Large engineering teams
- Organizations with frequent production incidents
- High-velocity development workflows
- Teams requiring incident ROI tracking
- Companies needing compliance documentation
🔥 Unique Feature: Incident Analytics shows you exactly how much money Ship Guard has saved by preventing repeat bugs.
💰 Pricing Model
Installation-Based Pricing (Not Per-Seat)
Ship Guard charges per GitHub account installation, not per developer. This means:
✅ Unlimited developers can commit to your repositories
✅ One flat monthly fee regardless of team size
✅ Predictable costs - no surprise bills as your team grows
✅ Fair pricing - perfect for teams with contractors, part-time devs, or fluctuating contributors
Monthly Pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Yearly (Save 10%) | Effective Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hobby | $15 | $162 | $13.50 |
| Pro | $29 | $313 | $26.08 |
| Scale | $45 | $486 | $40.50 |
💡 Annual billing saves you 10% (equivalent to 2 free months per year)
Example Scenarios
Scenario 1: Startup with 5 developers
Plan: Pro ($29/month)
Developers: 5
Repositories: 8 private repos
Monthly cost: $29 (flat)
✅ All 5 developers get unlimited access
✅ All 8 repos monitored
✅ 1,500 AI reviews shared across team
Scenario 2: Growing team adds 10 more developers
Plan: Pro ($29/month)
Developers: 15 (was 5, now 15)
Repositories: 12 private repos
Monthly cost: $29 (SAME PRICE!)
✅ No additional charges for new developers
✅ All 15 developers get unlimited access
✅ Still sharing the same 1,500 AI reviews
Scenario 3: Need more AI reviews
Plan: Pro → Scale ($45/month)
Developers: 15
Repositories: 12 private repos
Monthly cost: $45 (upgrade for capacity, not team size)
✅ Now have 5,000 AI reviews/month
✅ Unlock Incident Analytics
✅ Unlimited analytics history
✅ Still unlimited developers
What's Included in All Plans
✅ GitHub App integration - Seamless workflow integration
✅ Deterministic rules - Fast, free checks (unlimited)
✅ AI-powered reviews - Context-aware code analysis
✅ RAG knowledge base - Train Ship Guard on your docs
✅ Branch protection - Block merges on failed checks
✅ Check runs & PR comments - Inline feedback
✅ Dashboard & analytics - Track review metrics
✅ Unlimited developers - No per-seat charges
📊 Plan Comparison
Feature Matrix
| Feature | Hobby | Pro | Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | $15 | $29 | $45 |
| Private Repos | 10 max | ∞ | ∞ |
| AI Reviews/Month | 500 | 1,500 | 5,000 |
| Rules per Config | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Analytics Retention | 90 days | 1 year | Forever |
| RAG Sync | Basic | Advanced | Advanced |
| Incident Memory | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Incident Analytics | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Slack Notifications | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Discord Notifications | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Email Notifications | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Webhook Notifications | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Data Export | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ CSV + JSON |
Incident Memory vs Incident Analytics
What's the difference?
| Feature | Pro | Scale | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incident Memory | ✅ | ✅ | Document past incidents and prevent them in future PRs |
| Add incidents via UI | ✅ | ✅ | Simple form to log production failures |
| Semantic similarity search | ✅ | ✅ | AI finds similar code patterns |
| PR warnings | ✅ | ✅ | Automatic alerts when similar code appears |
| Incident Analytics | ❌ | ✅ | Track ROI and effectiveness |
| PRs flagged per incident | ❌ | ✅ | Which incidents caught the most bugs |
| Trend analysis | ❌ | ✅ | Incident patterns over time |
| Data export | ❌ | ✅ | Export incident reports for compliance |
Which Plan Should You Choose?
Choose Hobby if:
- Solo developer or tiny team
- < 10 private repositories
- Testing Ship Guard capabilities
- Budget-conscious
- Don't have production incidents yet
Choose Pro if:
- Team of any size (1-100+ developers)
- Need unlimited private repos
- Have experienced production incidents
- Want to prevent repeat bugs with Incident Memory
- Need Slack/email notifications
- Moderate AI review needs (1,500/month)
Choose Scale if:
- High-volume AI review needs (5,000/month)
- Want to track ROI of incident prevention
- Need compliance documentation (who, what, when)
- Want trend analysis and cost savings reports
- Require dedicated support (1-hour SLA)
- Need to export incident data
💡 Most teams start with Pro and upgrade to Scale when they need ROI tracking or higher AI volume.
🔄 Managing Your Subscription
How to Upgrade Your Plan
Upgrading unlocks more capacity and premium features instantly.
Via Web Dashboard
- Go to Billing Page
- Click "Upgrade Plan"
- Select your desired tier (Pro or Scale)
- Choose billing frequency (monthly or yearly)
- Complete payment via Polar.sh
- Features activate immediately ⚡
What Happens After Upgrade
- ✅ Instant access to new limits and features
- ✅ Prorated billing - Only pay for remaining days in cycle
- ✅ No service interruption - Seamless transition
- ✅ Permissions auto-update across all repos
Example: Upgrading mid-cycle
Current plan: Hobby ($15/month), 15 days remaining
Upgrade to: Pro ($29/month)
Prorated charge: $7 (50% of $14 difference)
Next full bill: $29 on Jan 1
How to Downgrade Your Plan
Downgrades take effect at the end of your current billing period.
Via Web Dashboard
- Go to Billing Page
- Click Manage Plan
- Select lower tier
- Confirm downgrade
- Current features remain active until period ends
What Happens at Downgrade
Scale → Pro:
- ⚠️ Incident Analytics disabled (Incident Memory remains active)
- ⚠️ AI quota drops to 1,500/month
- ⚠️ Rule limit reduces to 4 per config
- ⚠️ Analytics capped at 1-year history
- ⚠️ Webhook notifications disabled
- ✅ Incident Memory still works (you keep this!)
- ✅ All incidents preserved
Pro → Hobby:
- ⚠️ Private repos limited to 10 (excess become read-only)
- ⚠️ Incident Memory disabled (incidents archived, not deleted)
- ⚠️ AI quota drops to 500/month
- ⚠️ Notifications disabled (Slack, email)
- ⚠️ Rule limit reduces to 2 per config
- ⚠️ Analytics capped at 90-day history
💡 No data is deleted when downgrading. Incidents are archived and can be reactivated by upgrading.
How to Cancel Your Subscription
Cancel anytime with no penalties or fees.
Via Web Dashboard
- Go to Billing Page
- Click "Manage Subscrition"
- (Optional) Tell us why you're leaving
- Confirm cancellation
Via Email
Email: Customer Support with:
- Your GitHub username or organization name
- Reason for cancellation (optional)
We'll process within 24 hours.
What Happens After Cancellation
- ✅ Keep all features until current period ends
- ✅ No immediate disruption to workflows
- ✅ Access to dashboard remains until period end
- ⚠️ Auto-downgrade to free tier at period end
- ⚠️ Private repos stop being monitored (public repos unaffected)
- ⚠️ Incidents archived (can be reactivated anytime)
- 📧 Confirmation email with final billing date
📈 Usage & Quotas
AI Review Quotas
How AI reviews are counted:
| Rule Type | Counts Against Quota? | Cost per Execution |
|---|---|---|
Deterministic (banned-terms, require-changelog) | ❌ No | Free (unlimited) |
AI Review (ai-review) | ✅ Yes | ~1 review |
Policy Question (policy-question) | ✅ Yes | ~1 review |
Your quota is pooled across all repositories in your GitHub account installation.
Example (Pro plan, 1,500 reviews/month):
Organization: ShipGuard
Developers: 12 (doesn't affect price)
Repositories: 8 private repos
Total AI quota: 1,500 reviews/month (shared across all repos)
Usage breakdown:
- backend-api: 600 reviews (40%)
- frontend-web: 450 reviews (30%)
- mobile-app: 300 reviews (20%)
- admin-panel: 150 reviews (10%)
───────────────────────────────
Total: 1,500 reviews (100% of quota)
✅ All 12 developers can trigger reviews
✅ No per-developer limits
What Happens When You Hit Your Limit
At 75% of quota:
- 📧 Email warning to account owner
- 💡 Dashboard notification
At 90% of quota:
- 📧 Second warning email
- 🔔 Dashboard alert badge
- ⚠️ "Approaching limit" banner
At 100% of quota:
- ❌ AI rules pause until next billing cycle
- ✅ Deterministic rules continue working normally till 7 days graced period
- 📧 Limit reached notification
- 💡 Upgrade prompt in dashboard
- 🔔 PR comments explain quota exhaustion
How to Check Your Usage
Dashboard → Settings → Billing → Usage Tab
Private Repository Limits
Hobby plan only: Limited to 10 private repositories.
What happens if you exceed 10 private repos:
Current status: 12 private repos installed
Plan: Hobby (10 repo limit)
✅ First 10 repos: Ship Guard active
⚠️ Repos 11-12: Disabled (showing as "quota exceeded")
Action required:
1. Upgrade to Pro for unlimited repos, OR
2. Remove Ship Guard from 2 repos to stay under limit
Ship Guard will prioritize repositories by:
- Most recently added
- Most active (highest PR volume)
To manually choose which repos to monitor:
- Dashboard → Repositories
- Toggle Ship Guard on/off per repo
- Keep your 10 most important repos active
💳 Payment & Billing Cycles
Billing Frequency
Monthly Billing (Default):
- Charged on the same day each month
- Example: Install Dec 15 → billed 15th of every month
Annual Billing (Save 10%):
- One upfront payment for 12 months
- Example: Pay $162 instead of $180 for Hobby (saves $18/year)
- Equivalent to 2 months free
Payment Methods
We accept:
- ✅ All major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover)
- ✅ Debit cards
- ✅ PayPal
- ✅ Bank transfer (Enterprise plans only)
Secure processing via Polar.sh:
- 🔒 PCI DSS compliant
- 🔒 Your payment info never touches our servers
- 🔒 Encrypted at rest and in transit
Invoices & Receipts
Automatic invoicing:
- 📧 Email invoice sent within 24 hours of payment
- 🧾 Includes: Date, amount, plan, GitHub account, billing period
Refunds & Cancellations
Refund Policy
7-Day Money-Back Guarantee:
- ✅ Full refund if canceled within 7 days of first payment
- ✅ No questions asked
- ✅ Processed within 5-7 business days
After 7 days:
- ❌ No refunds for partial months
- ✅ You keep access until period ends
- 💡 Cancel before renewal to avoid next charge
How to request a refund (within 7 days):
Email: support@shipguard.com
Subject: Refund Request
Body:
GitHub username/org: myorg
Plan: Pro
Signup date: December 1, 2024
Reason (optional): [your reason]
We'll process within 24 hours.
Cancellation Policy
No penalties or fees:
- ✅ Cancel anytime for any reason
- ✅ Keep access until period ends
- ✅ No termination fees
- ✅ No data deletion
What happens to your data:
- ✅ Config files (
.github/ship-guard.yml) stay in your repos - ✅ GitHub App can be uninstalled separately
- ✅ Analytics data archived for 90 days (exportable)
- ✅ Incidents archived (not deleted) - reactivate anytime
Reactivating after cancellation:
- Just upgrade/subscribe again
- All archived data restored
- No setup required
🏢 Enterprise & Custom Plans
Enterprise Pricing
For organizations with complex requirements:
Custom features available:
- ✅ Self-hosted deployment (on-premises or private cloud)
- ✅ Custom AI quotas (10k, 50k, unlimited reviews/month)
- ✅ SLA guarantees (99.9% uptime commitment)
- ✅ SOC 2 compliance documentation
- ✅ Custom integrations (JIRA, PagerDuty, ServiceNow)
- ✅ Professional services (rule consulting, team training)
- ✅ Invoice billing (NET 30/60 payment terms)
- ✅ Multi-org support (consolidated billing)
- ✅ Dedicated infrastructure (isolated instances)
- ✅ Custom SLAs (response times, uptime guarantees)
Contact sales: