Billing & Seats

Managing your subscription and seat allocation

NStrim uses a seat-based billing model. This guide explains how seats work and how to manage your subscription.

Understanding Seats

A seat represents the capacity to have one active competitor. Key points:

  • Each competitor you add uses one seat
  • Seats are allocated to your organization, not to specific sessions
  • You can run multiple sessions as long as total competitors don't exceed your seats
  • Seats are billed on a monthly or annual cycle

Viewing Seat Usage

Navigate to Account → Billing to see:

  • Seats Available — Total seats in your subscription
  • Seats Used — Currently active competitors across all sessions
  • Remaining — Available capacity for new competitors

Adding Seats

To increase your capacity:

  1. Go to Account → Billing
  2. Click Add Seats
  3. Choose the number of seats and billing cycle
  4. Complete payment

Payment Methods

Credit Card

Pay instantly with credit or debit card. Your card will be charged immediately for new seats and automatically for renewals.

Bank Transfer

Request an invoice for bank transfer payment. Note that seat activation may take up to 5 business days while payment is processed.

Billing Cycles

  • Monthly — Flexible, pay month-to-month
  • Annual — Commit for a year, often with discounts available

Trial Accounts

New organizations start with a trial account that includes:

  • 1 seat
  • 1 session
  • Full access to all features

Upgrading from Trial

When you're ready to add more seats or sessions, click Upgrade on the Billing page. The upgrade flow will guide you through:

  1. Choose a payment method — Credit Card (instant activation) or Bank Transfer (invoice-based)
  2. Select the number of seats and billing cycle
  3. Confirm and complete payment
Trial accounts have the same features as paid accounts — the only limitation is the number of seats and sessions.

Custom Domain Names

Companies can configure a custom domain suffix for their sessions. When configured, student deployment URLs use your company's domain instead of the default NStrim domain.

Setting Up a Custom Domain

Navigate to Account → Settings to configure your domain. The domain suffix applies to all sessions in your organization.

Domain Migration

If you change your domain, use the Domain Migration tool in Account Settings to update all existing sessions. This ensures student URLs, Git configurations, and deployment targets are updated to the new domain.

Domain migration affects all sessions in your organization. Ensure no sessions are actively running before migrating.

Invoice History

View and download past invoices from the Billing page. Each invoice includes:

  • Billing period
  • Seats purchased
  • Amount paid
  • Payment status