Billing & Subscription Overview

A few principles apply to every plan:

• No per-seat fees: Unlimited team members on all plans
• No module unlock fees: All features included in your plan tier
• Subscription waiver: Process enough card payments and your monthly fee is waived
• Card surcharges: From 1 October 2026, card surcharging is banned in Australia on eftpos, Visa and Mastercard debit, prepaid and credit cards. See Build fees into your prices

Plan comparison

Quick reference

Calendar Lite: $18/month

The pet-friendly calendar for professionals who handle payments separately.

Who it's for

• Solo operators or small teams
• Businesses taking bookings via phone, email, or in-person
• Those processing payments separately (cash, bank transfer, own terminal)
• Pet professionals who just need scheduling

What's included

Scheduling

• Unlimited appointments
• Day/Week/Month/Timeline calendar views
• Recurring appointments
• Stay appointments for boarding
• Email reminders and notifications

Management

• Customer and pet profiles with notes and preferences
• Service configuration
• Team member scheduling and availability
• Resource management (kennels, stations, equipment)

What's not included

• Self-service online booking portal
• Payment processing (Stripe integration)
• SMS notifications
• Automatic Actions (auto-pay, auto-complete)
• Packages (prepaid bundles)
• Courses (group training management)

Pricing

• Monthly Fee: $18/month (fixed, never waived)
• Transaction Fees: None (no payment processing)
• Team Members: Unlimited (no per-seat charges)

Business Pro: $65/month

For smaller businesses ready to automate bookings, payments, and reminders.

Who it's for

• Growing pet businesses ready to scale
• Businesses wanting online booking and automation
• Teams who want to spend less time on admin
• Operators ready to reduce no-shows with card-on-file

What's included

Everything in Calendar Lite, plus:

Bookings and payments

• 24/7 self-service booking portal
• Stripe payment processing (card on file, SMS links, terminal)
• No-show protection with pre-authorisation
• Automatic invoicing and receipts

Automation

• SMS notifications and reminders (500/month)
• Email reminders
• Automatic Actions (auto-start, auto-complete, auto-pay)
• Lifecycle automation

Growth tools

• Prepaid packages with customer self-service
• Group course management
• Digital agreements and waivers
• Vaccination tracking with eligibility enforcement

Pricing

How to get the plan fee waived

Process $7,500 or more in card payments through Stripe in a billing month → your plan fee is waived for the following month. A billing month starts on your subscription's renewal date. The booking fee still applies.

Each billing month counts separately (not cumulative):

• Process $7,500 via Stripe in one billing month → the next month's plan fee = $0
• Process $7,500 via Stripe in the billing month after that → the following plan fee = $0
• And so on

What counts: Stripe payments only (Card on File, payment links, Stripe Terminal)

What doesn't count: Cash, bank transfers, External Payment Machine (your own terminal)

Card surcharges: From 1 October 2026, card surcharging is banned in Australia on eftpos, Visa and Mastercard debit, prepaid and credit cards. See Build fees into your prices.

Business Flex: $135/month

For smaller businesses that need more capacity, including those using their own EFTPOS terminal.

Who it's for

• Teams outgrowing Pro's appointment limits
• Businesses using their own EFTPOS terminal alongside Stripe
• Mid-size operations needing more SMS and appointments

What's included

Everything in Business Pro, plus:

Flex benefits

• 650 appointments/month (vs Pro's 450)
• 700 SMS/month (vs Pro's 500)
• The same Petboost transaction fee as Pro (1.4%)

Pricing

Business Max: $240/month

For established, high-volume operations that want no appointment allowance to go over.

Who it's for

• Established pet businesses with high appointment volume
• Operations wanting predictable pricing with no appointment overage
• Businesses processing $20,000+/month in card payments
• Teams who want the lowest transaction rates

What's included

Everything in Business Pro, plus:

Max exclusive benefits

• Lowest transaction rate (1.2% vs Pro's 1.4%)
• Unlimited appointments (no caps, no overage fees)
• 1,000 SMS/month (double Pro's allocation)
• Priority support with dedicated account manager

Pricing

How to get the plan fee waived

Process $20,000 or more in card payments through Stripe in a billing month → your plan fee is waived for the following month. A billing month starts on your subscription's renewal date. The booking fee still applies.

Each billing month counts separately (not cumulative):

• Process $20,000 via Stripe in one billing month → the next month's plan fee = $0
• Process $20,000 via Stripe in the billing month after that → the following plan fee = $0
• And so on

What counts: Stripe payments only (Card on File, payment links, Stripe Terminal)

What doesn't count: Cash, bank transfers, External Payment Machine (your own terminal)

Free trial and upgrades

14-day free trial

Every new account starts with a 14-day free trial, and no card is needed. The trial runs on Calendar Lite. Nothing is charged during it. If you do not choose a plan, the trial ends after 14 days and you are not charged.

The trial includes:

• Unlimited appointments and scheduling
• Customer and pet profiles with notes and preferences
• Team member scheduling and availability
• Resource management (kennels, stations, equipment)
• Recurring appointments and stay appointments
• Forms: create, edit and send them during the trial

Self-service online booking, payment processing, SMS and Automatic Actions need a paid plan. They switch on when you choose Business Pro, Flex or Max in Billing. Online booking and payment processing also need Stripe Connect connected, which takes about 5-8 minutes.

These do not run during the trial:

• Appointment reminder emails and SMS, Friday reminders, vaccination reminders and rebooking reminders. They start once you are on a paid plan that includes them.
• Communications Booster, Trips Booster and Booking X-Ray Booster. They unlock once you choose Business Pro, Flex or Max.

Upgrading to Business Pro, Flex, or Max

The 14-day trial runs on Calendar Lite. Business Pro, Business Flex and Business Max do not have their own trial periods. All paid plans require connecting Stripe Connect to enable self-service bookings and payment processing. Stripe Connect setup takes about 5-8 minutes during onboarding. The full-screen setup step stays until Stripe is connected. That is a required step, not a bug.

Your launch period runs from the day you sign up, not from the day your plan starts, so the 14-day trial sits inside it. During the launch period there is no Petboost booking fee:

• 0% Petboost booking fee
• Your plan's monthly subscription is charged from the day you choose a plan
• Stripe's processing fee (1.7% + $0.30) applies as normal

This gives you time to onboard customers and build payment volume before the standard booking fee applies. Your monthly subscription is a separate mechanic: reach your plan's threshold in card payments through Petboost in a billing month and the following month's plan fee is waived.

What if I start the upgrade but don't finish?

If you start an upgrade during your Calendar Lite trial but don't complete the Stripe Connect setup or checkout, your Calendar Lite trial may appear as cancelled even though you haven't actually subscribed to a paid plan. This can happen if you start the upgrade flow and then close the page or navigate away before completing checkout.

If your account is less than 14 days old and you didn't complete the upgrade, contact the team via chat or email. We can reinstate your remaining trial days so you can continue exploring Petboost. You won't lose any data, customers, pets, or settings you've already configured.

Transaction fees explained

Petboost transaction fee

This is Petboost's platform fee for processing payments:

This fee only applies when a customer pays. No payment = no fee.

Stripe processing fee

Stripe charges for card processing. Australian businesses pay domestic rates:

• Online/Payment Link: 1.7% + $0.30 per transaction
• In-Person Terminal: 1.7% + $0.10 per transaction (lower fixed fee)

Fee pass-through

Pass Stripe fee to customer and Pass platform fee to customer, on the Fee Configuration card of Pricing & Payments, control whether each fee is added to invoices paid by card. When a switch is off, that fee comes out of your payout. The badge beside each switch shows your own rate.

From 1 October 2026, card surcharging is banned in Australia on eftpos, Visa and Mastercard debit, prepaid and credit cards. Most businesses build their processing costs into their service prices. See Build fees into your prices.

Power-ups

Power-ups are optional paid add-ons on top of your plan. Each one is billed monthly, pro-rated for the days left in the cycle when you switch it on, and you only pay for it while it is on.

Owners and admins can activate a power-up, and Plan & Power-Ups shows the prices.

Power-ups are not available on Calendar Lite or during a trial. Trips Booster is included on Enterprise. See Watching an unfinished booking and Getting started with Trips.

Turn a power-up on or off

Do this to add a power-up to your plan, or to change or stop one.

1. Open Billing and choose Plan & Power-Ups.
2. To turn a power-up on, select Activate on its card.
3. To change or turn off an active power-up, select Manage on its card.

SMS allocations

Monthly limits

SMS top-up packs

If you exceed your monthly allocation, buy a credit top-up pack in Billing: select Top up to open SMS Credits. Top up shows on Plan & Power-Ups once you have used half your monthly SMS. Top-up packs never expire, and Auto top-up charges your selected pack when you run out.

What uses SMS?

• Appointment reminders (configurable)
• Booking confirmations (optional)
• Payment links
• Appointment changes/cancellations
• Custom notifications

Appointment limits

Monthly limits

How it works (Business Pro)

• First 450 appointments each month are included
• Each appointment beyond 450 incurs a $0.40 fee
• Resets at the start of each billing cycle
• Track your usage on Appointments in the billing dashboard

Capacity planning

Business Pro's 450 appointments/month means approximately:

• ~22 appointments/day (5-day week)
• ~15 appointments/day (7-day week)

If you consistently exceed this, Business Max may be more cost-effective.

View your billing

Do this to check your plan, your usage and your invoices.

1. Open Billing. It is also in the sidebar, under Settings & account.
2. Choose Overview, Plan & Power-Ups, Invoices & Payment or SMS Usage.

Billing shows your current subscription plan, the monthly fee and status, your card payment volume towards the threshold and your Pro Status progress, the upcoming invoice, your payment history and your SMS usage.

Subscription waiver status

The Overview tab shows your progress towards the subscription waiver threshold:

• This billing month's card payment volume
• Threshold amount ($7,500 for Pro, $13,500 for Flex, $20,000 for Max)
• Whether you've reached the threshold this billing month
• Impact on next month's plan fee

Change your plan

Upgrade

Do this to move from Calendar Lite to Business Pro, Flex or Max, or up between paid plans.

1. Open Billing and choose Plan & Power-Ups.
2. On the plan you want, select Upgrade. From Calendar Lite the button reads Choose Pro, Choose Flex or Choose Max.
3. Check the details in the dialog, then continue to Stripe and confirm the change there.

Upgrades take effect immediately. You'll be prorated for the current billing period.

Downgrade

Do this to move to a lower plan.

1. Open Billing and choose Plan & Power-Ups.
2. On the lower plan, select Downgrade.
3. Review what the new plan includes and does not include, then select Continue to Switch and confirm the change in Stripe.

Downgrades take effect at the end of your current billing period. If you downgrade from Pro, Flex or Max to Calendar Lite, you'll lose access to:

• Self-service online booking
• Payment processing
• SMS notifications
• Automatic Actions
• Packages
• Courses

Charge a cancellation fee

Do this when a customer cancels within your cancellation policy window. The fee is the amount your policy sets.

1. Open the booking from Appointments.
2. Select Manage, then Cancel.
3. Under Charge customer a cancellation fee?, choose Charge Cancellation Fee.
4. Select Cancel Appointment.
5. In the confirmation, select the button that names the fee, such as Charge and the amount.

The fee question appears only when the service has a cancellation fee and the free cancellation window has passed. With a card on file, Petboost charges the card. With no card, the fee still applies: the cancelled booking shows Cancellation Fee Outstanding, and Collect fee lets you choose how to collect it, including a payment link sent by SMS.

Cancellation fees are processed through Stripe and appear in your payment history.

Common questions

What happens if I don't reach the fee waiver threshold?

You pay the standard monthly fee. The threshold is a benefit, not a requirement.

Do cash and bank transfer payments count towards the threshold?

No, only card payments processed through Petboost count. This includes online payments, payment links, and terminal transactions.

Can I change plans mid-month?

Yes. Upgrades take effect immediately with prorated billing. Downgrades take effect at the end of your billing period.

Is there a contract or commitment?

No long-term contracts. Cancel anytime. Monthly billing with no cancellation fees.

Are team members extra?

No. Unlimited team members are included on all plans at no extra cost.

Related articles

• Subscription Waiver (Pro Status): How to get your plan fee waived
• Billing FAQ: Common billing questions
• Invoice Troubleshooting: Fix invoice problems, refunds, and payment issues
• Card Reader Setup: In-person payments with a Stripe card reader
• Payment Settings: Configure payment processing
• When to Contact Stripe Support: Disputes, payouts, verification, and other Stripe matters

Need help? Contact support or select Get Help in your dashboard to chat with our team.