Plans

It’s a real product. The Launch plan gives you up to 10 paying subscribers — plus up to 250 total subscribers (paying + free combined) — with the full premium feature set: token-based private RSS feeds, per-tier episode scheduling, subscriber management, deep links to podcast apps, the subscriber account dashboard, everything. No time limit. No “free trial” expiry. No hidden capability restrictions.

The only limits are subscriber counts. When you hit 10 paying subscribers, you’re ready for Starter.

Only subscribers with an active token on a paid tier count toward your plan’s paying subscriber limit. Free-tier subscribers — anyone holding a token who isn’t paying you, whether they signed up on a free membership level or joined as a follower — do not count toward this limit. Subscribers in a free trial period count — they’re on a paid tier with an active token and a scheduled first payment.

Each plan also has a total subscriber cap covering all active tokens, paying and free combined (Free: 250, Starter: 500, Growth: 2,500, Pro and above: unlimited). Free-tier subscribers count toward this secondary cap but not the primary paying limit. The total cap exists to keep free-tier usage proportionate to the plan — a podcaster with hundreds of free marketing-list subscribers and a handful of paying ones is getting real value and should be on an appropriate plan.

Churned subscribers are removed from both counts immediately on cancellation. Both counts are based on currently active tokens, not your historical high watermark.

Anonymous listeners to your public feed have no token and don’t count toward either cap. Note that followers are not in that group — a follower has a token and a private feed URL, so they count toward the total cap the same as any other free-tier subscriber.

At 8 subscribers — 80% of Launch’s limit — you’ll get a friendly heads-up with a one-click path to upgrade. At 10 you have hit the cap, and from subscriber 11 onward new subscribers receive your public feed instead of their private one. Your existing 10 keep their private feeds.

They are still being billed while that is true — paying for private access and receiving public episodes. That is the part worth acting on.

On the default preference, staying over for 24 continuous hours moves you to Starter monthly. Launch is the one plan where the money moves that day — there is no subscription to reprice, so one is created and the card you saved at signup is charged. If that card can’t be charged, nothing bad happens: no suspension and no charge, and you stay on Launch.

How Subscriber Limits Work → explains what counts toward the limit and what each enforcement setting does. Launch’s own three limits are on Launch Plan Subscriber Limits →.

Your subscribers’ feeds are never affected by a plan change — their token URLs keep working regardless of what plan you are on.

Upgrading works immediately, with no restrictions.

Downgrading requires you to fall within the target plan’s limits for 30 continuous days, on every limit that plan sets. The clock never runs while you are over anything — you come inside its limits first, and the 30 days count from there.

Benecaster notifies you when you’re eligible, and you then make the change yourself from My Account → Change your plan. It takes effect at the end of the period you have already paid for.

How Subscriber Limits Work → has which limits apply to which plan, including the total-listener cap that catches people out because it counts listeners who pay them nothing.

At 80% of your cap you’ll get a heads-up in your dashboard — a milestone, not an alarm. Past the limit, subscribers who join after it receive your public feed instead of their private one, immediately. Everyone already under the limit is unaffected.

They are still being billed by your membership plugin while that is true. That is the reason to act, rather than the limit itself.

What resolves it is your upgrade preference. On the default — auto-upgrade — staying over for 24 continuous hours moves you to the next tier. On cap, nothing is scheduled and you upgrade when you choose. Either way you can upgrade yourself at any point and end it straight away.

The prorated difference is charged to your card on the day, covering the rest of your current period. Your renewal date doesn’t change. Moving off Launch differs only in the amount — there is no subscription to reprice, so one is created and the card you saved at signup is charged the full first invoice rather than a proration.

How Subscriber Limits Work → has both windows, both enforcement settings, and what your subscribers see in each case.

Yes. There are two limits — paying subscribers, and total tokens (paying plus free-tier subscribers combined) — and each carries its own enforcement preference. You set them during onboarding and can change either at any time in Settings → Account.

Each preference decides one thing: whether going over raises your plan automatically, or leaves the move to you.

The paying subscriber limit defaults to auto-upgrade; the token cap defaults to cap. If you set one deliberately, check the other — it does not follow along.

What your listeners experience differs by limit, and the difference is worth knowing before it happens: an over-limit paying subscriber is moved to your public feed, while an over-cap free subscriber has their feed switched off entirely.

How Subscriber Limits Work → covers what counts toward each limit, what each setting does, and how either situation resolves.

Yes — once you are within the lower tier’s limits for 30 continuous days, on every limit that tier sets rather than subscribers alone. The 30 days start when you come inside those limits, not when you ask. The clock never runs while you are over, and if you stop fitting within any limit, the clock clears and starts again the next time you are inside them all.

Benecaster notifies you when you’re eligible, and you make the change yourself from My Account → Change your plan. Downgrading to Launch works the same way — Launch is the lowest licensed plan and works like the others, just without a bill.

The change is scheduled rather than immediate. You keep the higher tier through the end of the period you have already paid for, and the smaller plan’s price takes over from that renewal.

If you grow past the smaller plan’s limits before that renewal, the downgrade does not go through. We recheck your eligibility every day while the change is pending, not only on the day you request it — and if you no longer fit, we cancel the scheduled change before it happens rather than letting it apply and undoing it afterwards. You stay on your current plan, nothing is charged, you keep every add-on, and we email you to explain which limit you are now over. Nothing is interrupted for your subscribers. You can ask for the downgrade again once you are back inside the limits for 30 continuous days.

The recheck looks at every limit the smaller plan sets, not just your paying subscriber count — that plan’s active-show limit and its total listener cap count too, and the listener cap includes your free-tier listeners. So it is possible to be held back by an audience that isn’t paying you, and the email names the specific limit and your own number against it so you are not left guessing.

Benecaster never downgrades you automatically, on any tier. An upgrade can be automatic because being over your limit means subscribers are not getting what they pay for. A downgrade is different: we cannot predict where your audience is heading or what your own marketing is about to do. We want you on the plan that gives you the best value, without either of us bouncing you between tiers — so the move is always yours to initiate.

How Subscriber Limits Work → has the per-plan limits you need to be inside.

Multi-Show supports up to 3 shows and unlimited subscribers. Studio supports unlimited shows and unlimited subscribers, includes all current and future podcaster add-ons, priority support, and Migration + Setup Service.

Choose Multi-Show if you’re running 2–3 shows and want to select your add-ons individually.

Choose Studio if you need more than 3 shows, want every podcaster add-on without managing purchases, or want the Migration + Setup Service included.

Support is included on every plan, so Studio isn’t buying you access to it — what Studio adds is priority: your questions go to the front of the queue when you do have one.

Growth, Pro, Multi-Show, and Studio all include Migration Wizard at no extra cost. For Launch and Starter, it’s available as a one-time add-on purchase ($79). Migration Wizard is a one-time-use tool — you pay once for the migration event, not annually.

If your plan includes it, there is nothing to buy — the entitlement is granted with the plan, and you’ll never be charged for it separately.

No free trial, but there’s a genuinely free tier (up to 10 paying subscribers, no time limit) and a 30-day money-back guarantee on new paid plan purchases (renewals and upgrade charges are not covered). A trial period isn’t long enough to set up, migrate subscribers, and evaluate real performance. The guarantee removes purchase risk without the complexity of managing trial accounts.