After account setup, the first visit to the dashboard stops at one screen: Choose how you pay. Both routes use Stripe, and switching later is a plan change.
A free month of Pro
The recommended path is badged on the screen as Start free trial. It is £0 on day one: the card is saved but nothing is charged until day 30. The month includes:
- £45 of calling credit, applied immediately. It covers calls, model usage and speech at Pro's per-minute rate.
- Everything in Pro: three phone numbers, Workspace integrations, six months of call history. The full plan table is in Plans & limits.
From day 30 the trial becomes a normal Pro subscription at £45 + VAT (£54) a month on the saved card, unless it is cancelled during the trial, which costs nothing. During private beta, standard invites are for UK-based organisations; the trial screen therefore assumes UK billing and shows UK VAT (how VAT works). Cancelling keeps Pro and the credit until the trial's last day; whatever promotional credit remains then lapses. The exact end date is on screen from the moment the trial starts. One trial per organisation, ever. The trial is not transferable to other accounts or organisations.
Why a card is required
Every standard account needs a saved payment method, trial included. Nothing is charged until day 30 unless extra credit is bought before then, and the trial can be cancelled any time before that. Taking the card before the trial begins means bank verification happens on day one rather than mid-service, and agents do not stop answering on day 30 because no card is available. The form is Stripe's own; card details go to Stripe, not to polite.ai. It accepts cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Pay as you go instead
The plan screen links to pay-as-you-go setup for accounts that prefer no subscription: a first top-up of £25, £50 or £100. One payment both funds the balance and saves the card for future top-ups. Calls draw the balance down; at zero they stop. Calling can never run up a bill unless auto top-ups are enabled.
An auto top-up option is pre-ticked: £25 whenever the balance falls below £5. It can be changed or turned off any time in Billing, which is also where an optional monthly limit caps what automatic top-ups can add. See Credit & top-ups.
If checkout is interrupted after payment, check the plan screen before trying again; the payment may already have completed.
Tester and complimentary accounts
Some invites are tester invites for known customers and partners. They skip the payment screen entirely at this point and land on A month of Pro, on us: complimentary Pro until a stated date, £45 of credit already applied, no card needed. A reminder arrives as the month ends; subscribing then is the normal plan choice in Billing.
Switching later
Nothing here is final. Trial to pay as you go, pay as you go to Pro, Pro to Scale: all of it is a plan change from the Billing page. Whatever the choice, calling stays prepaid and billed in 6-second increments. See Credit & top-ups.