Aloware is a cloud-based telephony software system. As such, our billing mechanism has two components: Subscription and Usage. In this article, we will go deep into our billing practices, and explain the terms you'd see on your invoices, inside the application, and while talking with your account managers.

In short, your subscription is a recurring charge (monthly, quarterly, annually) that gives your team members access to our platform, to make and receive calls and send and receive text messages. Your subscription also covers your à la carte items such as local and toll-free phone numbers, and local presence packages.

Your usage covers any automated action that you may or may not do within our platform. Aloware, considering it's highly advanced integrations, allows you to create SMS marketing campaigns, bulk messages, automatic 2-legged calls and the like originating not by your agents, but by your CRMs. These items are billed in the "usage" category.

Unlike our competitors, all of our iPro, uPro and xPro plans come with unlimited calling and texting on local lines for your agents, inbound and outbound. It's important to understand what this covers, and what it does NOT cover.

Our unlimited inbound & outbound calling pledge covers any call, or text, that is initiated by a consumer to a local phone number on Aloware, or is initiated by a human agent on Aloware, on a local phone number to a consumer.

By that definition:

Our current plans are detailed on our pricing page.

Like most Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies, we have a Pay Per License model. This means that each user on your account counts as one license and is billed according to your plan term. This is your recurring cost of using Aloware.

Each user that logs in to Aloware needs a license. This license allows your user to interact with our platform, make calls, and send texts.

Your license is on a Plan (iPro, uPro, xPro) that has a Term (monthly, quarterly, or annual). All Aloware licenses are non-refundable during their term and automatically renew for the next term, unless deleted. You can add licenses as needed.

If a user leaves your team, their license can be reassigned to another user until the end of the term. For more details about suspending or deleting users, see this guide billing implication of paused and suspended users.

Your plan covers the features you can use within our product. In general, we have 3 prime plans, iPro, uPro, and xPro, detailed on our pricing page. Higher plans give you more advanced features, such as Power Dialer, advanced queues, drip campaigns, and reduce your per-minute rates for automations.

Your plan consists of 4 things:

When you sign a quote or contract with Aloware, you agree to purchase and renew a minimum number of licenses. This guide explains how the minimum license count works and what it means for your billing and user management.

Add-ons are additional products or packages that you buy from Aloware and renew based on your plan's term. Generally, there are 3 types of add-ons to Aloware:

When you go on a plan, it comes with pre-defined rates for your add-ons that are visible on our pricing page. For example:

So far, we have covered all the charges pertaining to your users making calls and texts on the Aloware platform, plus your "telco" expenses (phone numbers, local presence) and additional products you buy from us.

Now, we're going dive deep into ad-hoc charges that apply only when you use our platform for automated calling and messaging, (e.g., drop campaigns and CRM-driven broadcasts), API, A2P compliance fees, and the like.

As a billing admin, when you login to Aloware, you'd see a (usually blue) box showing your credits. These are funds you have deposited into Aloware to be used for ad-hoc charges. Check out this guide for managing your credits.

There are various costs and fees that apply to your actual everyday use of Aloware. These charges only apply when you actually use the product (for example send a bulk message or take calls on a toll-free number) and are not a subscription that renew. These charges will "deduct" your Aloware credits, until your credits hit zero. For more details on ad-hoc charges, see our comprehensive guide to ad-hoc charges.

Example: Aloware iPro Plan + Outbound calls

For a small business with 5 agents making about 10,000 calls a month:

Total monthly cost = $260. You may save more with quarterly or annual billing.

Example: Aloware uPro Plan + SMS blasts

For a business sending SMS blasts:

Total monthly cost = $410. Higher plans offer better rates.

Example: Aloware xPro Plan + Power dialing campaigns

For a sales team using the Power Dialer:

Total monthly cost = $1,600. The xPro plan includes unlimited outbound calls.