Billing notices
Which billing messages come from Stripe and which from Spectrace, who receives them, and how often each one can arrive.
This page tells you which billing emails a workspace receives, who they go to, and what the app shows in Settings → Billing, so you can tell a message from Spectrace apart from a message from Stripe.
Who sends what
Two senders, split on one line: Stripe knows amounts, cards and invoices, and Spectrace knows what a plan includes and counts pull request checks and AI credits. No message is sent by both.
| Message | Sender | Goes to |
|---|---|---|
| Payment receipt | Stripe | The billing contact on the Stripe customer |
| Payment failed, with the link that updates the card | Stripe | The billing contact on the Stripe customer |
| Renewal coming up | Stripe | The billing contact on the Stripe customer |
| Card about to expire | Stripe | The billing contact on the Stripe customer |
| Trial ending | Spectrace | Every owner and admin |
| Plan changed | Spectrace | Every owner and admin |
| Most of the monthly allowance used | Spectrace | Every owner and admin |
| Monthly allowance used up | Spectrace | Every owner and admin |
Spectrace sends no failed-payment email of its own. Stripe's carries the link that updates the card and is sent again on each retry, so a second copy from Spectrace would be the same message from two senders.
Trial ending
A card-up-front trial runs for 7 days. Three days before it converts, Spectrace emails every owner and admin, naming the plan and the date the card is charged.
Spectrace sends this one rather than Stripe. Stripe's own trial reminder reaches only the billing contact on the Stripe customer, which is whoever checked out, and the notice has to reach everyone who can act on it. Stripe's trial reminder stays switched off, so nobody receives it twice.
Plan changed
When a workspace's plan tier changes, every owner and admin gets one email naming the new plan. On a downgrade it also names what stops taking new work: the features the old plan had, and the monthly allowances and project limit as they now stand.
One email arrives however the plan was changed, whether someone switched it in Settings → Billing or it changed in Stripe.
Three things do not produce this email:
- A first purchase. Stripe's receipt already confirms it.
- A switch between monthly and annual at the same tier. What the plan includes does not change; the amount and the renewal date do, and those are on Stripe's receipt.
- Anything that leaves the tier alone, such as a seat count changing, a subscription moving from trialing to active, or a cancellation being scheduled or undone.
Allowance notices
Pull request checks and AI credits are monthly allowances that reset on the first day of the month, UTC. Spectrace sends two messages for each:
- One when a set share of the allowance is used and some is left.
- One when it runs out.
Each message goes out at most once per calendar month for each allowance, so a workspace hears about its checks and its credits separately, and hears about running low and running out separately. The share is the same for both allowances.
The count these messages read is the one in Settings → Billing. MCP call limits are not covered; they are an abuse guard rather than an allowance a plan sells.
Failed payments in the app
While a subscription is past due, owners and admins see a notice at the top of Settings → Billing with a button that opens the Stripe billing portal, where the card is updated. The plan keeps working during the retries Stripe schedules.
A past-due workspace keeps its paid plan, so without that notice the billing page looks the same as a healthy one.
What you cannot turn off
There is no per-person setting for these emails. Every owner and admin of a workspace receives them for as long as they hold that role. Changing a person's role to member stops them.