Settledge is 3 months free for companies created before 1 April 2027, otherwise 30 days, then £24 a month including VAT. You can subscribe at any time, and your books are never deleted if you stop.
- Open Company, then Settings, then Billing. Only owners and admins can see it.
- During the free trial the screen reads Free trial, "Free until" with the date, and how many days are left. No card is needed until you subscribe.
- Press Subscribe. Stripe's secure page opens, where you enter your card and, if you have one, your VAT number. Your card details go to Stripe and never reach Settledge.
- When you come back, the screen says "Thanks, Stripe is confirming your payment. This page updates when it arrives." It changes to Subscribed and shows when the current period ends.
- To change your card, see your invoices or cancel, press Manage billing. That opens Stripe's page too.
What read-only means
- Read-only means you can read and export your books but not change them. Nothing you add is saved, and the screen tells you so.
- Your company becomes read-only when the free trial ends with no subscription, when a payment stays unpaid after Stripe's retries, or when a subscription is cancelled and its paid month has ended.
- If a payment fails, Stripe retries it for 14 days. Nothing changes while it does, and a banner on every screen asks you to update your card.
- Subscribe, or update your card, and the company can be edited again.
Cases
- Export everything stays available to anyone who can export, even when the company is read-only.
- Your account settings, two-step sign-in, switching company and leaving stay open too.
- A member who cannot open Billing is told to ask the company's owner or an admin.
- An owner-granted free period shows as Free period. The screen reads "Your free period. Subscribe before it ends to carry on without a break."
- A first payment that Stripe has not finished reads Payment waiting. Subscribe is not offered again: press Finish your payment instead.
- A failed payment reads Payment failed, with "Update your card to keep the books editable."
- Accounting firms can have an agreement with Settledge: the firm adds its own clients, those clients get no bill of their own, and Settledge bills the firm at a discount. Ask us if you are a firm.
Good practice
- Export everything before you cancel, and keep the file somewhere safe.
- Subscribe before the last day of the free period, so you can carry on without a break.