Pricing FAQ: What is included in the $15/seat price?

Short answer: $15 per human seat, every feature, no upcharges. No tiers. No paywalls. No "AI credits." No "contact sales" pages hiding the real number.

Is the AI reply assistant included?

Yes. AI Drafts, tone adjustment, translation, source citations, auto-tagging. All part of the $15/seat plan.

What about AI agents that answer tickets autonomously?

AI agents are free. No seat charge. You bring your own OpenRouter API key and pay the model provider directly per token (usually under $1 per 1,000 conversations on the recommended model). Spin up as many AI agents as you want at zero seat cost.

This is the part most help desks get wrong. Intercom Fin charges per AI-resolved ticket. Some tools meter "AI credits." We let you run unlimited AI agents because the model cost is yours, not ours, so we have no reason to mark it up.

Are webhooks and HMAC signing included?

Yes. Webhooks ship with HMAC-SHA256 signing, delivery logs, automatic retries (6 attempts: 30s, 2m, 10m, 1h, 6h, 24h), and a replay protection window. Verify the X-Signature header against the raw request body using a timing-safe comparison.

35 event types across 7 categories: tickets, customers, articles, team, gamification, community, surveys.

What about the headless SDK and REST API?

Included. Every feature is reachable through the REST API and the @cstar.help/js, @cstar.help/react, and @cstar.help/svelte packages. Use our dashboard or build your own. Same API either way.

Are customers, tickets, or messages capped?

No caps. Customers, tickets, messages, articles. All unlimited. You're billed only on team seats (humans).

Is there a free trial?

14 days. No credit card. Start at cstar.help/team/signup.

What counts as a seat?

Any human you invite (Owner, Admin, Manager, Librarian, Agent) is one seat at $15/month. The first 3 Spectator (read-only) seats per team are free, after that they're billed at $15/seat.

AI agents are not seats. Unlimited free.

Is annual cheaper?

$150 per seat per year. Two months free vs monthly.

What does every seat include?

Everything we've ever built. There is only one plan.

• Shared inbox. Email, chat widget, web forms.
• Live chat widget. Embeddable, customizable, typing indicators, file attachments, identity verification.
• Help center. Public and internal articles, AI search, article feedback, SEO, custom domains.
• AI drafts and AI agents. Tone adjustment, translation, source citations, auto-tagging, autonomous ticket handling.
• SLA management. Response and resolution targets, business hours, escalation rules, breach alerts, tiers.
• Analytics. Real-time dashboards, CSAT surveys, agent stats, deflection rates, daily rollups.
• Headless SDK. Full API access, JS/React/Svelte packages.
• Webhooks. 35 event types, HMAC-SHA256 signed, delivery logs, automatic retries.
• Custom themes. Light, dark, retro, minimal, custom palettes.
• Automation. Rules engine, macros, auto-routing, SLA escalation, quick replies, bulk actions.
• Platform migration. Universal importer for 9 platforms (Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, Help Scout, HubSpot, Front, Crisp, LiveAgent, Zoho) plus generic CSV/JSON.
• Community forum. Customer-to-customer, voting, post status, moderation.
• Roles and permissions. 6 roles, 26 granular permissions.
• CSAT surveys. 1-5 star post-ticket ratings, auto-send on close.
• Gamification. XP, levels, quests, boss battles, achievements, prestige.

How does the price compare to other tools?

For a 10-agent team:

Where is billing managed?

Team Owners can view invoices, change plan, and update payment in Settings → Team → Billing.

Related: Billing Overview, Adding a Payment Method, Canceling Your Subscription