beanies.family is built and paid for by one family, for families. There are no ads and nothing is sold on, so at some point a plan is what keeps the lights on. This article explains what the trial includes, exactly what changes when it ends, and how to choose a plan when you are ready. The short version: everything you add is always yours, export always works, and nothing is ever deleted.
The 90-day trial
Every family gets 90 days with everything included: every feature, every member, every device, and one magic bean a day for reading paperwork. Nothing is charged during the trial, and no card is asked for. In Settings → Your beanies Plan you can see which day of the trial you are on and the date it ends.
If you choose a plan during the trial, billing begins that day. If you wait, nothing is charged until you decide.
What read-only means
When the trial ends without a plan, beanies.family goes read-only. Everything stays exactly where it was: your accounts, activities, recipes, lists, photos and cards are all still there to look at, and every member can still sign in and sync. What changes is that nothing new can be added or edited until a plan is chosen. A small band at the top of the app says so, and any change you try is gently declined rather than lost.
- Signing in, on every device
- Reading everything your family has added
- Export My Data (your whole family file, encrypted, from the band or from Settings)
- Changing the look of the app: theme, language, text size
- Receiving changes from a family member who is still adding
Read-only is a pause, not a countdown. A family that stays read-only for a year loses nothing. Choosing a plan later picks up exactly where you left off.
The two plans
- beanies basic: the whole app for the whole family, sold by the year. Includes one magic bean a month, so the paperwork reader is there when you need it.
- the magic beans plan: everything in basic, plus a daily allowance of magic beans, so statements, invitations, recipes and itineraries can be read straight into the app. Monthly or yearly.
Magic beans are counted per family, not per person, and reset on a UTC day; the app shows the reset in your local time. If you use your own AI key (Settings → AI) there is no limit at all, on any plan, because the reading happens with your key rather than ours.
Choosing a plan
Open app.beanies.family in a web browser and sign in.
Go to Settings → Your beanies Plan and tap See Plans.
Pick your currency, then a plan. On the magic beans plan you can also pick Yearly or Monthly.
Pay in the box on the same page. It is Stripe’s secure checkout; beanies.family never sees your card.
That’s it. The page switches to your active plan, and every device in the family picks it up the next time it checks in.
The iOS and Android apps show your plan but cannot start or change one. Open beanies.family in any browser, sign in as usual, and everything is there.
Changing your card, switching plan, cancelling
On the plan page, Manage Plan opens Stripe’s secure portal where you can update your card, switch between the two plans, download Receipts, or cancel. Cancelling stops the next payment; your plan runs to the end of what you have paid for, and Your beanies Plan shows the date it ends with a Restart Plan button in case you change your mind. After that date beanies.family goes read-only. Nothing is deleted, and you can come back any time.
Switching plans takes effect straight away. Moving up (basic to the magic beans plan) charges the difference today, with the unused part of your old plan taken off; moving down credits the unused part against your next bill. The confirmation screen shows what is due today and what each renewal will cost from then on. If you have already cancelled and want a different plan, choose Renew in the portal first, then Update plan.
If a payment fails, Stripe emails you and retries for a while before the plan ends. During those retries everything stays included; the card says Payment Issue and offers Update Card.
Self-hosting beanies.family stays free, and always will. Plans are for the hosted service at beanies.family.
Related: Sharing feedback if anything about your plan looks wrong, and How your data is encrypted for what is stored where.