Stabilizing Payment and Free Trial Flow Step by Step
We are gradually organizing the payment flow so that plan selection, 30-day free trial, payment processing, and usage display work consistently together.
This update records the process of starting from when the payment system was still in preparation and gradually introducing actual payment and free trial flows. Payment is not a feature of connecting a single button but an area where pricing guidance, account status, free trial, usage, and billing results must use the same contract.
For payment features, whether the user can consistently understand the before and after states is more important than a single scene of successful payment.
What Changed in This Update
- Connected the Paddle-based payment flow to the production environment.
- Reflected the policy of providing a one-time 30-day free trial per account for new accounts selecting monthly or annual plans.
- Using a flow where currency is displayed on the payment screen depending on the region.
- Organized criteria for displaying monthly plan usage and active additional credit usage as separate items.
- Applied a direction to show remaining free trial days and monthly usage together for free trial accounts.
- Continually verifying that payment webhooks, account status, and public pricing guidance do not state different values.
How to Verify
- Check plans and free trial conditions at /pricing.
- Select a monthly or annual plan with a logged-in account.
- Check the start date, scheduled payment, and free trial status on the payment screen and account status.
- Check that usage display in 5by Tools or the account screen matches the current status.
Example in Actual Usage Flow
For example, when the user checks the current improvement status, they check plans and free trial conditions at /pricing. They select a monthly or annual plan with a logged-in account. Then they check that usage display in 5by Tools or the account screen matches the current status. In this process, the following scope should not be confused with the current completion status. The free trial is provided once per account and is not repeatedly applied to all accounts. Checking this way helps distinguish between already provided features and parts still being stabilized.
Before and After the Change
Before the improvement, the currently provided scope and parts still being stabilized could appear mixed within a single sentence. In this update, we are gradually organizing the payment flow so that plan selection, 30-day free trial, payment processing, and usage display work consistently together. Already provided features are preserved as is, and only improvement targets are described separately so users can understand the current status without exaggeration.
Scope and Things to Note
- The free trial is provided once per account and is not repeatedly applied to all accounts.
- Usage limits and payment amounts are different concepts and are displayed separately in the UI.
- The availability of a separate /billing management page is distinguished from payment processing functionality.
- Payment, webhooks, and account permissions are high-risk areas and require Production-level verification when changed.
Why This Change Matters in the Overall 5BY.AI Structure
The purpose of stabilizing the payment flow is not just adding a revenue feature. Users can trust the product only when they can clearly know when they can use it for free, when payment starts, and where their current usage falls.
Criteria for Verifying This Update
- The scope being improved and the scope already stably provided should not be mixed in the same sentence.
- UI and Provider compatibility improvements should not change the memory Core's storage units and user choice contract.
- Items not yet completed should not be expressed as currently provided features and should be updated in subsequent updates.