Skip to main content

​
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 from PLAN_ALLOWED_PRODUCTS in planAccess.ts:
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

For the full credit-cost cheatsheet, see Photo Processing Costs.

​
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.ai instead of trial.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.ai as 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.
The honest difference is the Pro creative-tool suite, the custom domain, the Setup Wizard, and the included annual subscription “all-you-can-set-up” experience. See When to Upgrade for the math on whether that’s worth $200/year for your volume.

​
Common Questions

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.
Those products are gated to Pro and Enterprise. The product selector in event navigation only shows what your plan unlocks. Upgrade to Pro to enable them — see Upgrade to Pro.
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.
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.
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.