Subscription Tiers and Billing Architecture

StateWarden provides transparent, predictable billing tailored for both high-end personal infrastructure (B2C) and massive enterprise deployments (B2B).

Our billing engine, fully integrated with Stripe as our Merchant of Record (MoR), automates proration, tax compliance, and seamless feature upgrades without requiring manual intervention from our support teams.

1. The Billing Philosophy: Hard Upgrades vs. Graceful Degradation

StateWarden subscriptions operate at the Realm Level. Every Device paired to a specific Realm inherits the capabilities and quotas defined by that Realm's active plan.

Upgrading Your Plan (Hard Upgrade)

When you require more aggressive Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) or advanced features (like Global Key Management), you can upgrade your plan instantly via the Dashboard.

• Proration: The StateWarden WebAPI automatically calculates the exact cost difference for the remainder of your current billing cycle.
• Transparency: You are presented with a detailed, localized "Upcoming Invoice" modal detailing the exact prorated charge before confirming the transaction.
• Instant Activation: Upon Stripe's secure webhook confirmation (checkout.session.completed), your Realm is immediately elevated, and new quotas are applied in real-time.

Downgrading or Missed Payments (Graceful Degradation)

We understand that corporate procurement cycles can occasionally delay invoice payments. StateWarden employs a Graceful Degradation policy.

1. The Grace Period: If a subscription lapses, your Realm enters a pro-consumer grace period. Backups continue to run, and data remains fully accessible.
2. Feature Restriction: If the grace period expires without resolution, the Realm is downgraded to a restricted state. Advanced features (like Instant Mount) are locked, and quota limits are reduced to baseline tiers.
3. Data Preservation: We do not delete your cryptographic vaults due to a missed payment. Your existing backups remain securely stored on the Driad nodes and can be fully recovered once the billing issue is resolved.

2. Managing B2B vs. B2C Accounts

StateWarden strictly separates Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) billing logic to ensure absolute tax compliance (VAT/Sales Tax).

When establishing your Realm's billing profile or entering the Checkout flow, you must define your operational context:

• Personal Use (B2C): Standard checkout flow. Taxes are calculated based on your geographical location.
• Business Use (B2B): You will be prompted to provide your corporate Tax Identification Number (e.g., VAT ID, EIN). StateWarden leverages Stripe's tax_id_collection APIs to validate the ID and automatically apply reverse-charge mechanics where legally applicable.

Note: You cannot seamlessly switch a Realm from B2C to B2B mid-cycle without contacting support, as it alters the fundamental tax structure of the generated invoices.

3. The Subscription Management Portal

All billing operations are self-service.

1. Navigate to the Realm Settings -> Billing & Subscriptions.
2. View Current Plan: Review your active tier, limits, and the next billing date.
3. Manage Add-ons: Purchase additional storage blocks or supplementary device licenses as your infrastructure scales.
4. Access Invoices: Download cryptographically signed PDF invoices for your accounting department directly from the Stripe Customer Portal, accessible seamlessly via the StateWarden UI.

StateWarden: Resilience Engineered.