Signing Up and Starting a Subscription

Signing up isn't one step — it's account creation, email verification, and Stripe checkout, each handing off to the next. Nothing is charged until the last one, and each step has a specific job. Here's what actually happens at each one.

You always pick a plan first

There's no "create an account, decide on a plan later" path. The signup page requires a plan to already be selected — arriving there without one redirects straight to pricing instead of showing a form. Once a plan is selected, the signup form displays it above the fields so it's clear what you're signing up for.

Creating the account

The form asks for a username, email, and password. All three rules are enforced on the server, not just suggested by the form:

• Username: 3–20 characters, lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores only. Usernames are case-insensitive — JSmith and jsmith are the same username.
• Password: at least 8 characters, with at least one uppercase letter, one number, and one special character.
• Email: must be a valid address and not already registered.

Repeated failed attempts are rate-limited — more than 5 failed submissions in one browser session blocks further attempts with a generic "too many attempts" message. Signing up successfully doesn't count against this limit; only failures do.

Submitting a valid form creates the account right away, with your selected plan attached to it — but you're not logged in yet, and nothing has been charged. A verification email goes out immediately.

Verifying your email is what starts checkout

Clicking the link in that email does three things at once: marks your email verified, logs you in, and immediately opens a Stripe Checkout session for the plan you picked at signup. The next screen you see is Stripe's own payment page, not a page on this site.

After you pay: usually instant, occasionally a short wait

Stripe sends you back to your dashboard with a one-time checkout reference in the URL. What happens next depends on timing:

• Most of the time — your subscription is already active by the time you land back on the page, and the dashboard loads normally.
• Occasionally — there's a brief gap between Stripe confirming your payment and our system finishing activation. You're sent to a short processing screen that checks every few seconds and moves you to the dashboard automatically the moment it's ready — no action needed.

That processing screen doesn't wait forever — if activation takes longer than about two minutes, you're signed out and sent back to login so you can try again, rather than being left on an endless spinner.

If you already have an account

Changing or adding a plan later doesn't go through this same signup flow — that's a logged-in action from your plan page, covered in comparing plan tiers and what changes when you downgrade a plan.