How Does Billing for BATS Subscription Work?

Subscription to BATS software is a monthly subscription that is renewed automatically at the beginning of each billing cycle. This is commonly referred to as a “Month To Month” agreement. Both parties can cancel this agreement at any time by written notice. Cancellation will be effective at the end of the then current billing cycle. Partial refunds of monthly fees are not allowed. Monthly fee is calculated based on the number of users who have logged into the software in the previous monthly billing period, but the payment that is applied to the account covers the license fees for the current monthly billing cycle. Minimum monthly charge is $200/month even if no users have logged in during the previous billing cycle.

Few other things to consider are:

BATS is a prepaid service, which means that you will be billed for the current billing cycle on the first day of the billing cycle
BATS does not prorate or charge for partial monthly usage
Invoice payment is due on the date that the invoice is generated

Here are some examples to clarify this billing model.

If you subscribe to BATS service on the 17th day of the month, then your billing date, and the beginning of the billing cycle, will be on the 17th day of each month. For the first billing cycle you will pay only the base account fee and one user fee, totaling $200. This fee of $200 is the minimum that will be charged every month to maintain the account for your company on the BATS system. Even if no users have logged into BATS in a billing cycle, the $200 minimum fee will apply.

In the second billing cycle, which will start on the 17th day of the following month if we use the example from above, your invoice will show all active users who have logged into BATS system in the previous billing cycle. Based on that number of users BATS will calculate the total cost for the current billing cycle. For example, if there were 4 users logged into BATS in the previous billing cycle, the total invoice amount for the current billing cycle will be $350, calculated as follows:

First User	$200
Additional 3 users	$150
Total	$350

It is important to understand that BATS does not use the strict "license" model like some other SaaS services. In that model you have to purchase licenses and then apply those licenses to user accounts for those users to be able to use the system. In that model, even if you don't use all the licenses you are still paying for the number of provisioned licenses.

BATS uses the "usage" model for billing. Using this model BATS calculates the total fee for usage of BATS system based on the number of the users that have used the system in the previous billing cycle. This is the most fair model in our opinion, because you pay for actual usage, and are not required to keep track and manage licenses every month. Additionally, if you forget to disable user accounts you will not be charged for that user indefinitely. But, the "usage" model can be confusing in those months in which user stops using BATS. Let's explain that case below.

Using our example from above where your renewal date is the 17th day of the month, if you add a new user to your organization on the 25th day of the month, you will not be charged for that user's usage of the system until the following renewal date. If this same user leaves your organization on the 31st day of the month, you will still be charged for that user's usage on the following billing cycle's invoice. This charge covers the usage for that user because BATS does not charge for partial monthly usage. Even thought that user has used BATS for only 6 days, you will still be charged for the full monthly fee for that user.

Frequently asked questions about billing:

How does BATS calculate the invoice amount?

Invoice amount for the current billing cycle is based on the number of active users in the previous billing cycle. BATS does not prorate or charge for partial monthly usage. Under this billing plan it may seem that some months you are paying less than the total number of users in that billing cycle, while in other months it may seem that you are paying more.

What are some things that you can do to optimize your BATS subscription cost?

Even if you forget to deactivate a user, if that user did not log in to BATS in the previous 30 days you would not be charged for that user. However, if a user logs in to BATS, for even one day in that 30 day period, you will be charged for that user for a one month license.

BATS also allows you to replace a user. In other words, if you replace someone at your company and want to use the previous account, you can rename an existing user which will save you little bit of money on licensing for that month. Keep in mind that in this case your "new" user would inherit all of the previous user's records.