Choose the right plan
Use common workspace situations to decide which ALLO plan to review before buying or upgrading.
Choose a plan by the work the workspace needs to support
The best ALLO plan is not always the biggest plan. It is the plan that matches who needs to work in the workspace, how much room the team needs to grow, whether the workspace needs education or procurement terms, and who can manage billing later.
This article is a decision guide. It does not replace the live Pricing page or the checkout screen. Prices, limits, included credits, promotions, and available checkout actions can change, so use Pricing and Workspace Settings → Billing as the current source of truth before buying.
Availability
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Use this for | Choosing between public workspace plans: Free, Standard, Business, Edu, Edu Pro, Campus, and sales-managed contracts. |
| Current prices and limits | Use Pricing and the live Billing screen. |
| Who can change the plan | Workspace admins or billing admins. |
| Who should help decide | The workspace owner, billing admin, team lead, IT/procurement contact, and anyone responsible for storage-heavy or AI-heavy work. |
| Mobile support | Use web or desktop for plan changes, checkout, invoices, storage add-ons, and AI credit purchases. |
Quick plan guide
| Situation | Start by reviewing | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You are trying ALLO alone or with a small team | Free | You can test the workspace shape before committing to a paid team plan. |
| A team needs shared projects, canvases, members, and recurring collaboration | Standard | Team work usually needs more member capacity and shared workspace controls than an individual setup. |
| A growing team depends on ALLO for client work, cross-functional review, AI usage, or more admin capacity | Business | Business is the plan to review when collaboration, capacity, and included paid features matter more. |
| One teacher runs a class or workshop and students can use canvas sharing or guest access | Edu or Edu Pro | Both plans are single-user and fit an education owner who does not need teammate workspace members. |
| Several teachers or staff need full workspace membership | Standard, Business, or an institutional plan | Edu and Edu Pro cannot add workspace members. Use a multi-member plan or request institutional terms. |
| A campus, university, district, enterprise, government team, lab, or procurement-led organization needs custom terms | Campus, Enterprise, or Contact Sales | Custom contracts can cover purchasing, security review, quote timing, seat commitments, or institutional terms. |
| The current plan is fine but files are over quota | Review storage add-ons, not a different plan first | Storage add-ons increase file capacity without changing the entire plan. |
| AI Studio or Object Chat is blocked by low credits | Review AI credits, not a different plan first | AI credits are separate from file storage and subscription seats. |
If you are deciding between two paid plans, open Pricing next to this guide. The plan card and comparison table show the current included limits and features.
Ask the right question first
| Question | If the answer is yes | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Are you just trying ALLO? | Keep the setup small until the team knows what it needs. | Free on Pricing. |
| Will several workspace members create, edit, and manage shared work every week? | Choose a team plan instead of relying on shared links alone. | Standard or Business. |
| Do you need stronger capacity for client work, AI usage, larger collaboration, or admin needs? | Compare higher paid plans rather than buying isolated fixes. | Business and Change a plan. |
| Are you a school, teacher, class, university, or education program? | Education planning should account for teachers, students, guests, storage, and quotes. | Education plans for schools. |
| Are you blocked only by file storage? | Do not upgrade the whole plan until you check storage add-ons. | Buy storage add-ons. |
| Are you blocked only by AI credits? | Storage and seats will not fix the AI credit balance. | Buy and manage AI credits. |
| Does your organization need an invoice, quote, custom contract, security review, or procurement approval? | Use the managed sales path instead of forcing self-checkout. | Invoices, receipts, and quotes or Contact Sales from Pricing or Billing. |
Common plan questions
| Question | Practical answer |
|---|---|
| "We are only trying ALLO. Should we pay now?" | Start with Free unless the trial needs paid seats, storage, AI credits, or admin controls. Upgrade when the team starts depending on shared work. |
| "We have a small team working together every day. What should we look at?" | Review Standard first, then compare Business if you need stronger collaboration capacity, included paid features, or more room for growth. |
| "Does every teammate need to buy Standard or Business separately?" | No. For both Standard and Business, one workspace admin completes checkout for the workspace. Billing is based on the number of active workspace members who count toward billing: four such members mean four seats. Teammates do not check out individually, and members added later may create a prorated charge. |
| "Can I add workspace members to Edu or Edu Pro?" | No. Edu and Edu Pro are single-user plans, so you cannot add teammates as workspace members. Use canvas sharing or guest access for students and reviewers. If multiple teachers or staff need full workspace membership, compare Standard and Business, or use the education plan guide to request an institutional plan. |
| "We work with clients. Should clients be workspace members?" | Not always. Full workspace members need seats. Guests or shared canvas access may be better for reviewers who only need specific canvases. Plan for members who create, own, and manage work. |
| "We hit a seat limit. Should we upgrade the plan?" | On Standard, Business, or an institutional plan, first check whether the active member list is correct, then add seats or change plans if everyone needs access. Edu and Edu Pro cannot add seats; use sharing or change to a multi-member plan. |
| "We hit a storage limit. Should we upgrade the plan?" | Not automatically. If the plan otherwise works, a storage add-on can be the cleaner fix. If the team also needs more plan features, compare paid plans. |
| "AI Studio says we need credits. Should we upgrade?" | Check AI credits first. Some paid plans include subscription credits, but one-time credit packs or Auto-reload may be the right fix when the plan is otherwise enough. |
| "We need a quote for a school or department." | Use Education plans for schools or Contact Sales. Include teacher count, student/guest count, term length, storage needs, AI usage, and deadline. |
| "Our company requires procurement or security review." | Use Contact Sales from Pricing or Billing. Custom contracts are built for enterprise, campus, government, university, institution, lab, and managed-purchasing cases. |
Choose by workspace shape
| Workspace shape | What to optimize for | Plan path to review |
|---|---|---|
| Individual creator or someone trying ALLO | Low commitment, simple setup, proving the workflow | Free. |
| Small team | Shared work, member capacity, recurring collaboration | Standard. |
| Larger team or client-facing operation | Capacity, admin reliability, paid features, AI usage, storage-heavy workflows | Business. |
| One teacher running a class or workshop | Education features, canvas sharing, guest access, storage | Edu or Edu Pro. |
| Teacher team or education program with several full workspace members | Member capacity, student access model, storage, quotes, school purchasing | Standard, Business, or a managed institutional plan. |
| Enterprise, university, government, institution, or lab | Contract terms, procurement, security, renewal, support, custom capacity | Enterprise or Contact Sales. |
This table is a starting point, not a contract. Compare the current plan cards on Pricing, then confirm the final checkout or Contact Sales path in Billing.
Do not confuse plan, seats, storage, and AI credits
These are separate decisions:
| Decision | What it changes | What it does not fix |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Base workspace features, included limits, billing interval, and plan-level capacity | A wrong member list, a file cleanup problem, or already-spent AI credits. |
| Seats | How many full workspace members can belong to the workspace | Storage quota, AI credit balance, or shared-canvas permissions. |
| Storage add-on | Workspace file storage capacity | AI credits, member seats, or plan features. |
| AI credit pack | Workspace AI credit balance | File upload limits, storage quota, or member capacity. |
| Custom contract | Procurement, institutional terms, negotiated capacity, quotes, or special billing terms | Product access for people who still lack workspace or canvas permission. |
If the symptom is specific, fix the specific limit first. A storage problem does not need an AI purchase. An AI credit problem does not need a storage add-on. A seat problem does not need a higher plan if old members can be removed or deactivated.
When to upgrade
Upgrade or review a higher plan when:
- the team has outgrown Free and needs shared workspace collaboration
- active members exceed the current seat capacity
- the workspace needs paid features included in a higher plan
- the team depends on ALLO for recurring client, campaign, project, or OKR review work
- AI usage, storage needs, or admin workflows are becoming regular operating needs
- the current plan creates repeated support or billing interruptions
Before confirming, review member count, storage usage, billing interval, payment method, invoice preview, and renewal terms. See Change a plan for the upgrade flow.
When not to upgrade yet
Do not upgrade only because one narrow limit is confusing. First identify the limit.
| Problem | Better first move |
|---|---|
| Old teammates still count as members | Review Manage members and Manage seat limits. |
| Files are over quota | Use Fix storage limits or Buy storage add-ons. |
| AI credits are low | Use Buy and manage AI credits. |
| Checkout fails | Use Fix a payment issue. |
| The workspace needs a school quote | Use Education plans for schools. |
| The plan looks wrong after checkout | Refresh Billing, then use Contact support with the workspace name and checkout details. |
Example decisions
A 2-person design team is trying ALLO
Start with Free if the 2 designers only need to learn the basic workflow.
- When both need paid workspace features, one admin upgrades the workspace. 2 active billable members mean 2 seats, not 2 separate checkouts.
- Choose Standard for the smaller team setup. Move to Business only when the team needs its additional collaboration capacity or included paid features.
- Do not buy seats for hypothetical future reviewers before you know how they need to participate.
A creative team has 8 members and client reviewers
Cost model: 8 internal billable members mean 8 paid seats. Dozens of client reviewers can stay outside that seat count when they are not added to the workspace member list.
- Use project external collaborators, canvas sharing, or guest access for clients who only review specific work.
- Choose Standard when comment-only canvas review is enough. Choose Business when outside reviewers need canvas edit access or the team needs other Business features.
- Any client added as a full workspace member counts toward billing. Recheck the member list before checkout instead of assuming every person with a link is free.
A school is planning a semester-long class
- 1 teacher plus students who only use shared canvases or guest access can fit Edu or Edu Pro. The teacher is the single workspace member, and the students stay outside the member list.
- 3 teachers who all need full workspace membership cannot use Edu or Edu Pro. Compare 3 seats on Standard or Business, or request an institutional plan.
- For a quote, send the term length, class size, teacher count, student access model, storage expectations, AI usage, and deadline.
Education boundary: count people who need workspace membership separately from students who only need access to shared work.
A product team is blocked by AI credits
Do not buy storage to fix AI credit exhaustion; storage and AI credits are separate billing resources.
Open Billing and review AI credits and Auto-reload. If the workspace also needs broader paid features, compare plan options on Pricing, but keep the credit decision separate.
A media-heavy workspace is over storage
Check file usage first, then separate the storage decision from the plan decision:
- If the current plan otherwise works, buy a recurring storage add-on.
- If the workspace also needs more seats or plan features, compare plan changes separately.
- Use the live Billing picker for the final price, tier, and renewal terms; trust it over screenshots or this article.
What can go wrong
If you upgrade the wrong workspace, the plan will not help the workspace where the team is working. Switch to the correct workspace before opening Billing.
If you buy AI credits for one workspace, those credits do not automatically move to another workspace under the same account.
If you upgrade when old members still count, the bill may grow without fixing member hygiene. Review the member list before buying capacity.
If you use a shared link for people who should be full members, they may miss workspace-level access, project context, or admin-managed permissions.
If you treat a storage add-on as a one-time purchase, renewal will surprise the billing admin. Storage add-ons are recurring until changed or removed.
If your organization needs a quote, invoice, purchase order, or custom contract, start the document request path early. Procurement takes longer than normal checkout.
Before you confirm checkout
Check these items in Billing:
| Check | Why |
|---|---|
| Workspace name | Plan changes apply only to the selected workspace. |
| Plan name | Confirms you are buying the intended tier. |
| Billing interval | Monthly and annual choices affect renewal and invoice timing. |
| Seat count | The workspace needs enough capacity for active members. |
| Storage state | A lower plan or missing add-on can leave files over quota. |
| AI credits | Included subscription credits and purchased credit packs are separate. |
| Invoice preview | Shows proration, immediate charges, credits, discounts, and renewal terms where available. |
| Contact Sales state | Custom contracts should use the managed path shown in Pricing or Billing. |
Use Pricing for the public plan comparison, then confirm the final price, plan, and renewal terms in Billing for the selected workspace.
Related guides
- Open billing
- Change a plan
- Prepare an education plan for a school or class
- Fair billing and proration
- Manage seat limits
- Fix storage limits
- Buy storage add-ons
- Buy and manage AI credits