Pricing FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the free trial work?
What is a sample?
What are credits?
What are components?
Can I switch plans at any time?
When do I need a credit card?
How am I billed?
What is an Organization?
What are fair-use limits?
What happens when my trial expires?
What is RBAC + Security?
What is included at no extra cost?
Can you give me a billing example?
Your pricing doesn't work for our use case. What are our options?
Answers
How does the free trial work?
Every new account starts with a free 90-day trial. No credit card required.
The trial includes 1,000 components, 100M samples/month, 5,000 credits, and access
to all features for evaluation.
After 90 days, your account becomes read-only for 60 days while you select a plan.
If no plan is selected after 150 total days, your data may be deleted.
What is a sample?
A sample is a single data point saved into GroveStreams — one value at one point in time
for one stream. If a device sends temperature and humidity every 60 seconds, that's
2 samples per minute, or about 86,400 samples per day. The number of API calls doesn't matter;
only the total number of data points saved counts toward your sample limit.
Only data saves consume sample credits — this includes data ingested via the API as well
as samples generated by derivations. Querying, viewing, exporting, and deleting data
does not consume sample credits.
What are credits?
Credits are the single billing currency for all metered usage on GroveStreams.
Everything — samples, GS SQL CPU, derivation CPU, aggregation CPU, AI queries,
forecast training, SMS, email, and storage — consumes from one unified credit pool.
Each plan includes a monthly credit grant. If you need more, purchase a credit pack
(10,000 credits for $150). Unused grant credits do not roll over.
What are components?
A component represents an entity in your system — a device, meter, customer, asset, location,
or any object you're tracking. Each component has streams (data channels) attached to it.
Your plan determines the maximum number of components. To add more, upgrade your tier.
Can I switch plans at any time?
Yes. Upgrades take effect immediately with prorated billing. Downgrades also take
effect immediately — no proration or refund applies for the remainder of the current
billing cycle, and your credit balance will be capped at the new plan's monthly grant
(excess credits are forfeited). If your component count exceeds the new plan's limit,
data I/O will be paused until you reduce components or upgrade again.
When do I need a credit card?
Not until your 90-day trial ends. When you select a plan, you'll be prompted
to enter payment details. Annual billing saves approximately 17% compared to monthly.
How am I billed?
Your credit card is charged at the start of each billing cycle (monthly or annually)
for your base subscription. All usage — samples, CPU, AI, SMS, email, storage —
consumes credits from your monthly grant. Usage beyond your monthly credit grant is not
billed per-metric — it all comes from one credit pool. If your credits run out, services
continue and your balance goes negative. Overages are charged at the credit pack rate
($0.015/credit) at the start of the next billing cycle. To stay ahead, purchase credit packs
($150 for 10,000 credits) or enable auto-refill.
Credit pack purchases are billed as separate line items. Invoices are managed through Stripe —
view, download, and manage payment methods through the billing portal in your account settings.
What is an Organization?
An organization is a workspace, typically representing a home, business, or project.
Each organization has its own components, streams, dashboards, and settings.
Your plan limits how many organizations you can be a "Payer" for.
You can still be a member of unlimited organizations owned by others.
What are fair-use limits?
Each tier includes a generous monthly credit grant that covers normal usage.
All metered activity (samples, CPU, AI, notifications, storage) consumes credits
from this unified pool.
Trial plans: Services are paused when credits are exhausted. Select a paid plan to continue.
Paid plans: Services are never interrupted due to credit depletion. If your
credits run out, your balance goes negative and all services continue operating normally.
Overages are charged automatically at the start of the next billing cycle at the credit
pack rate ($0.015/credit). You'll receive warnings at 75%, 90%, and 100% usage.
You can also enable auto-refill to avoid overages entirely.
What happens when my trial expires?
Day 1–90: Full access to all features.
Day 90: Account becomes read-only. View dashboards and query data, but ingestion and modifications pause.
Day 90–150: 60-day grace period. Select a plan to restore full access.
Day 150: Account suspended, data may be deleted.
Email warnings are sent at 30, 15, and 5 days before expiration.
What is RBAC + Security?
Role-Based Access Control allows fine-grained permissions (read, write, traverse, execute)
on folders, components, streams, dashboards, and other items for individual users or groups.
Available on Business, Enterprise, and Strategic plans.
What is included at no extra cost?
All plans include: dashboard viewing/editing, HTTP notifications,
data ingestion API calls (sample volume consumes credits, not API call count),
correlation analysis, MQTT connectivity, and OData connector access.
GS SQL queries, derivations, aggregations, email, SMS, AI queries, and storage
all consume credits from your monthly grant — no separate charges.
Can you give me a billing example?
Growth plan, 100 devices, 5 streams each, 60-second intervals:
100 × 5 × 43,200 minutes/month = 21.6M samples/month.
Credit cost: 21.6M ÷ 10M × 200 = 432 credits/month for samples alone.
Well within a typical Growth monthly credit grant. Monthly subscription: $599 (or $499/mo annual).
Same setup, 1,000 devices:
1,000 × 5 × 43,200 = 216M samples/month.
Credit cost: 216M ÷ 10M × 200 = 4,320 credits/month for samples.
Add GS SQL, derivation, and other usage to get total credits consumed.
If total exceeds your monthly grant, purchase a credit pack (10,000 credits for $150).
Your pricing doesn't work for our use case. What are our options?
Our Strategic plan offers custom pricing, limits, and SLAs.
Contact us to discuss your requirements.
