How minutes and billing work

What you pay for, where your minutes come from, and what teams cost.

The short version

  • Everything you buy is yours. Nobody else can use your minutes unless you own a team and set its members to use yours.
  • Scribe is a monthly plan. The allowance resets each billing month, and unused minutes don't roll over.
  • Cue minutes are prepaid by the hour. They never expire.
  • Prep is free while it's in beta.
  • Every new account gets 20 free minutes that work in any product.
  • You're only charged while a session is running.

What each product costs

Scribe

A monthly subscription with a set number of minutes:

  • Starter: $9 a month for 600 minutes
  • Pro: $19 a month for 1500 minutes
  • Business: $39 a month for 3500 minutes

Your allowance resets on your billing date each month. Unused minutes don't roll over. You can have one Scribe plan at a time.

Cue

Prepaid minutes at $5.99 an hour, less when you buy more at once ($5.49/hr from 5 hours, $4.99/hr from 10 hours, $4.49/hr from 25 hours). They never expire and only work in Cue.

Prep

Free while it's in beta: no card and no minutes needed. We'll publish the price before it leaves beta.

Prices are shown in US dollars. See prices, currency and tax. Full pricing.

Where your minutes come from

When you start a session, we check these in order and use the first one that has minutes left:

  1. Free access. The product is in beta, or VivaPro has given your account unlimited access. Nothing is counted against you.
  2. Your team owner's minutes. Only if you're in a team and set to "Uses the owner's minutes", and only up to any limit they set. More on teams.
  3. Your Scribe plan. This month's allowance, in Scribe only.
  4. Prepaid minutes for that product. Minutes you bought, or that VivaPro added to your account. They only work in the product they're for.
  5. Your free minutes balance. The 20 minutes every account starts with, plus any credit from the old system. Works in any product.
  6. Nothing left. The session can't start until you add minutes.

Your plan is spent before your prepaid minutes, and both before your free balance, so the minutes that never expire are kept as a backup.

How minutes are counted

  • Minutes are counted only while a session is running.
  • They're taken from the balance that was covering the session: yours, or your team owner's.
  • If that runs out, the session carries on with the next balance in the list above. It stops only when none of them has minutes left; add minutes to carry on.

Plans: changing, renewing and cancelling

  • A plan renews every month on the date you subscribed, and its allowance resets then.
  • Changing plan: pick another plan on the pricing page. Upgrading starts straight away: you pay the new plan's monthly price less credit for the unused time on your old one, your billing date moves to today, and minutes you already used this month still count against the new allowance. It applies once that payment goes through. Downgrading starts on your next billing date and costs nothing now, so you keep what you've paid for until then. A plan that is set to end can't be changed.
  • Cancelling: you keep the plan and what's left of its minutes until the end of the month you've paid for. It doesn't renew after that.
  • A failed renewal: the payment is retried and you keep access for a short grace period. If it still hasn't gone through, the plan pauses until it does. Your prepaid and free minutes keep working meanwhile.
  • In India, renewals go through an RBI e-mandate and can take up to about 48 hours to settle. Your plan keeps working while it does.
  • You can have one active plan per product.

Refunds

  • A full refund removes that purchase's unused minutes. Minutes you already used aren't charged again.
  • A partial refund, such as a goodwill refund, leaves your minutes as they are.
  • A chargeback (a dispute through your bank) decided in your favour is treated like a full refund.
  • A full refund, or a chargeback decided in your favour, on a plan payment ends that plan straight away.
  • To ask for a refund, contact support.

Prices, currency and tax

  • Checkout is priced in US dollars. Prices shown in ₹ are approximate: Dodo Payments converts at the live rate when you pay, and a small conversion fee may apply.
  • Tax may be added at checkout, depending on your country. Dodo Payments is the merchant of record, so they charge you and handle the tax.
  • Card details go to Dodo Payments. We never see or store your card number.

Refer a friend

  • A friend who signs up with your code or link gets a discount on their first paid purchase ($5 off prepaid minutes of $10 or more).
  • When their payment goes through, you get 60 minutes of whichever product they bought.
  • If their payment is refunded, your reward is withdrawn.

Get your referral link

Teams: using the owner's minutes

  • Any account can create a team. A team holds no minutes of its own; every purchase belongs to a person.
  • The owner or an admin sets each member to Uses the owner's minutes or Uses their own minutes.
  • A member can switch themselves to their own minutes at any time. Only an owner or admin can switch them back.
  • On the owner's minutes, a member draws on everything the owner has (plan, prepaid and free balance), up to a monthly limit if one is set. The limit is per calendar month, across all products. Leave it blank for no limit.
  • Once the member reaches their limit, or the owner has nothing left, they use their own minutes. They're only stopped if they have none.
  • If VivaPro has given the owner unlimited access, that isn't passed on. Members only draw on minutes the owner actually has.
  • Only one team pays for a person at a time: the earliest one they joined, set to use the owner's minutes, whose owner can cover that product. If it can't, the next one is tried.

What it costs the owner

Every minute a member or guest uses on your minutes comes off your own balance, exactly as if you'd used it. A member can use up your Scribe allowance for the month, or your Cue minutes. Set a monthly limit if you want to cap it; the team's Usage page shows who used what.

Questions

Will my team use up my minutes?

Only members set to "Uses the owner's minutes", and people who joined through a share link that uses them. Every minute they use comes off your own balance, as if you had used it, so they can use up your Scribe allowance for the month or your Cue minutes. Give each one a monthly limit, or put them on their own minutes, to cap it.

What happens if I cancel?

Your plan keeps working, with whatever minutes are left, until the end of the month you've paid for. It doesn't renew. Prepaid and free minutes aren't affected.

Do unused Scribe minutes roll over?

No. The allowance resets on your billing date each month.

Do Cue minutes expire?

No. Prepaid minutes stay on your account until you use them.

Why is the ₹ price at checkout different?

Checkout is priced in US dollars. The ₹ figure on our pages is an estimate; Dodo Payments converts at the live rate when you pay, may add a small conversion fee, and adds tax where your country requires it.

Do guests need an account?

People joining through a team share link do: they sign in or sign up, then come back to the link. People you let into a single Scribe session to watch or speak don't, and their minutes count against you as the host.

What happens when my minutes run out during a session?

The session stops. Add minutes, or switch to a balance that still has some, and start again.

I'm in a team. Why am I using my own minutes?

Either you're set to use your own, you've reached your monthly limit (or your share link's budget), the link has expired or been withdrawn, or the owner has no minutes left for this product. Ask the team's owner or an admin if you're not sure which.

How do I get a refund?

Contact support. A full refund removes that purchase's unused minutes; minutes you already used aren't charged again.

Something not covered here? Contact support.