Seats and roles
Which roles use a paid seat, which are free, and what happens when the Free plan runs out of paid seats.
A paid seat is billed monthly per person. Whether a role uses one depends only on the role, not on the plan.
Who uses a seat
Owner, Admin, and Member each use a paid seat. Viewer is free and never uses one, no matter how many Viewers you invite.
The organization's Stripe subscription quantity is kept in sync automatically: it updates whenever someone is invited and accepts, changes role to or from Viewer, is removed, or is deactivated or reactivated. A deactivated Member or Admin stops using a paid seat while deactivated.
The Free plan's seat limit
The Free plan includes exactly one paid seat, held by the organization's Owner. You can invite as many Viewers as you want at no cost. Inviting a second Member or Admin, or promoting an existing Viewer to one of those roles, is blocked until you upgrade.
Trying it shows this notice in the invite dialog:
Upgrade to add paid members
Members and admins use paid seats. Viewers are always free - switch the role to Viewer to invite at no cost, or upgrade your plan to add paid members.
The dialog's send button turns into an Upgrade plan link in that case, taking you to Settings > Billing. The same rule applies when promoting a Viewer's role from the team page, with the server rejecting the change if the organization is still on Free.
Promoting a Viewer on a paid plan
On Pro or Unlimited, promoting a Viewer to Member or Admin is allowed, but it immediately adds a billed seat. VoiceCap asks you to confirm first, since Stripe charges a prorated amount for the new seat right away:
Currently a Viewer (free). Members and admins use a paid seat. This adds a billed seat to your subscription and you'll be charged a prorated amount right away. You can change the role back anytime.