Why This Matters
Pay As You Go is a paying plan, but it has the same product allowlist as the trial — the Photos product only. That’s by design: you’re paying per use, not for the Pro creative-tool suite. Knowing exactly where the line falls keeps you from wasting time evaluating something you can’t unlock at this plan level.What You Can Do on Pay As You Go
Run unlimited events
No cap on how many events you can create. You only pay for the photos you process.
Public events
Make any event Public so attendees can find their photos via the public link. Trial events were forced to Private — that restriction is gone.
Full Photos product
Upload, sync, process, brand, and search photos using the complete 9Pic Photos workflow.
9Pic FaceFind
AI face-recognition photo search. Attendees take a selfie to find their photos.
9Pic BibTrack
BIB number search for race events.
9Pic Stamp
Apply your watermark to every processed photo.
Team invites
Add admins and operators from Account & Team → Teams.
Same support as Pro
Email response time matches Pro and Enterprise. Email support@9pic.ai.
What’s Gated Until You Upgrade to Pro
These are the limits the dashboard actually enforces on a Pay As You Go account, sourced fromPLAN_ALLOWED_PRODUCTS in planAccess.ts:
| Limit | What it means | How to remove it |
|---|---|---|
| Only the Photos product | Creative tools (Certify, Flow, Select, Buzz, Motion) are not enabled. | Upgrade to Pro. |
| Custom domain | You stay on app.9pic.ai. Custom subdomains like photos.yourbrand.com are not available. | Upgrade to Pro. |
| Setup Wizard | The guided website-customisation wizard (logo, theme color, footer, contact form, header CTA, team invite) is disabled. The dashboard says it’s “available for Pro and Enterprise plans”. | Upgrade to Pro. |
| Sell event photos online (Checkout) | You cannot sell photos through 9Pic Checkout. | Enterprise plan only. |
| Payment Config and Developer Zone | Payment gateway setup and API keys are gated. | Enterprise plan only. |
None of the above stops you from running successful, professional-looking events on
app.9pic.ai. They only matter once you need branded sites, creative add-ons, or to monetise photos directly.How Credits Work on Pay As You Go
| Concept | What it means |
|---|---|
| What 1 credit pays for | 1 processed photo (upload + AI search indexing + watermark via 9Pic Stamp), when AI search is enabled on the event. |
| AI not enabled | If both BIB Search and Selfie Search are off for an event, processing that event’s photos does not consume credits. |
| Re-running Sync Images | Free for already-processed photos. Only new photos consume credits. |
| Re-processing watermark | Costs 10% of the processed-photo count. Re-processing 5,000 photos uses 500 credits. |
| Storing originals | The Store Original Memories option keeps originals and counts toward usage — leave it off unless you need it. |
| Out of credits | Photo processing pauses on every event in the organisation. Galleries that are already processed keep working. Top up to resume. |
| Minimum top-up | 1,000 credits per purchase. |
| Credit expiry | Credits do not expire. The balance carries forward indefinitely. |
What’s the Same as the Trial
If you came from the trial, the entire Photos product behaves identically. Upload, sync, process, brand, share, search — all unchanged. The only behaviour differences from the trial:- Public events allowed. Platform Visibility is no longer locked to Private on Create New Event.
- Default domain. New events default to
app.9pic.aiinstead oftrial.9pic.ai. - Paid credits. No more free trial credits cushion — you pay for every photo you process with AI enabled.
What’s the Same as Pro
- Photos product is identical to Pro’s.
- FaceFind and BibTrack AI search work at production quality on every event.
app.9pic.aias a default domain is exactly the same as a Pro account that hasn’t connected a custom domain yet.- Support response is the same.
- Credit purchasing flow is the same — same minimum, same currency rules, same checkout pages.
Common Questions
Can I run a paid public event on Pay As You Go?
Can I run a paid public event on Pay As You Go?
Yes. Pay As You Go events can be public. Anyone with the event link can view, search by face, and search by BIB. The only thing PAYG cannot do is sell photos through the dashboard’s Checkout product — that requires Enterprise.
Why don't I see Certify, Flow, Select, Buzz, or Motion in my event nav?
Why don't I see Certify, Flow, Select, Buzz, or Motion in my event nav?
Can I customise my event branding without the Setup Wizard?
Can I customise my event branding without the Setup Wizard?
The Setup Wizard is the guided version that’s gated to Pro. The underlying Settings page is still visible to PAYG, but the items that actually change your customer-facing site (custom domain, branded subdomain, full theme/footer/contact configuration) require Pro to take effect. Basic event-level branding (event name, cover photo, watermark) works for everyone.
What happens if I run out of credits in the middle of a sync?
What happens if I run out of credits in the middle of a sync?
Processing pauses. Already-processed photos stay live in the gallery. New uploads queue and wait. Top up via Credits → Purchase Credits, then resume processing on the affected event. No data is lost.
Is there a per-event credit cap?
Is there a per-event credit cap?
No. Credits are an organisation-level balance. Run as many photos through one event as you want, as long as the balance can cover it.
Next Steps
Run an Event
The end-to-end flow with credit costs called out at every step.
Photo Processing Costs
The full credit-cost cheatsheet.
When to Upgrade
PAYG vs Pro — when the math actually flips.
Talk to Us
Need a beta feature or a larger account? Get in touch.