Bobbin is billed monthly, and your price depends on the plan you choose. Some plans include a set number of lesson hours each month, while others don’t have a monthly fee and you just pay for the hours you use.
Bobbin pricing
Plan | Monthly fee | Included hours | Each extra hour |
Starter | £79 / $109 | 80 | £1.10 / $1.40 |
Plus | £189 / $259 | 200 | £1.05 / $1.30 |
Pro | £289 / $389 | 320 | £1.00 / $1.25 |
Custom | N/A | N/A | Tiered rates agreed with us |
Any included hours reset at the start of each month, so unused hours don’t carry over.
If you use Bobbin for a high volume of Lessons, our Custom plans may be a better fit. The more hours you use, the lower your hourly rate can be. Get in touch with our sales team to talk through your requirements and pricing.
Note: All prices exclude VAT. UK companies are charged VAT on top, while EU companies should enter a valid VAT number when setting up their billing.
Everything on this page lives under Organization > Settings > Billing in Bobbin.
Your free trial
New companies get 20 free hours of full Bobbin. Your trial ends when you've used those hours, or when two weeks pass without anyone joining a Lesson, whichever comes first. As long as you keep teaching, your trial stays open until the hours are used.
You can see your hours left under Organization > Settings > Billing.
In-person recordings use trial hours too.
If you've already added card details, you aren't locked out when your trial hours run out. Your plan simply starts from that point.
Bobbin Lite trials work differently: they last two weeks from signup, with no hours limit.
What counts as a billable hour
Bobbin charges you for the time a Lesson is open in the Bobbin Lesson space, from when it starts until it ends.
A Lesson is only charged if all of the following are true:
At least two people joined: If a Tutor opens the room on their own to get set up, you won’t be charged.
The Lesson lasted more than a few minutes: Very short sessions aren’t charged.
The Lesson took place in Bobbin: If you run the Lesson on another platform, such as Zoom or Teams, you won’t be charged by Bobbin, even if the Job is set up to use Bobbin.
Your free trial has ended: Lessons during your free trial are free.
Group Lessons
If more than four people are in a Lesson space, each extra person is charged at £0.40/$0.60 per hour. This is charged on top of your Lesson hours and applies even when you're within your included hours.
Co-browser usage
If your plan includes a charge for the co-browser, time spent in it is billed by the participant-hour on top of your Lesson hours. One person in the co-browser for an hour counts as one participant-hour, so two people for 30 minutes also count as one.
Your rate is shown as Co-browser rate under Organization > Settings > Billing. If your plan doesn't charge for the co-browser, the rate isn't shown and there's nothing to pay.
Usage appears on your bill as its own line, for example Co-browser (3.5 participant-hours).
It counts towards your spend limit, along with extra hours and group charges.
In-person recording
If your Tutors record in-person Lessons with the Bobbin mobile app, those recordings are charged by the hour in the same way as online Lessons.
They use your included hours. Online and in-person hours come out of the same monthly allowance.
Extra hours cost the same. Once your included hours are used, in-person hours are charged at your plan's extra-hour rate outlined in the table above.
You're charged for the time recorded. Time while a recording is paused isn't counted.
There's no group charge. The extra-person charge only applies to online Lessons, however many people are in the room.
Recordings under 4½ minutes are discarded and aren't charged.
Recordings during your free trial come out of your trial hours rather than being charged.
You're charged once a recording is transcribed. If a Tutor discards a recording before its transcript is ready, there's no charge. Once it's transcribed, it's charged even if it's discarded or the Lesson is deleted later.
Hours count in the month the recording is processed. For example, a Lesson recorded on March 31st that uploads on April 1st counts towards April.
You can see the split. Organization > Settings > Billing shows online and in-person hours separately, and any extra in-person hours appear as a separate line item on your invoice.
When you're billed
You're billed on the 1st of each month.
Your monthly fee is paid in advance. When you first sign up (or when your trial ends), your first payment covers the time from that date until the 1st of the following month.
Any extra hours, group Lesson or co-browser charges are added to your next bill. These are charged in arrears, so you’re paying for the time you’ve already used.
Your billing currency is set when you create your account and can’t be changed later.
Keeping track of your usage
Administrators get an email when you've used 80% of your included hours, and again at 100%.
You can also set a spend limit if you want to control how much you can be charged beyond your plan each month. We’ll email you when you reach 80% of your limit and again when you reach the full amount.
Once you reach your spend limit, the following applies until your next billing date, or until you increase or remove the limit:
You can’t start new Lessons in Bobbin.
You can’t start new recordings.
AI features, including Lesson insights and reports, are paused.
Any Lessons that are already in progress will continue as normal. However, AI content won’t be generated for Lessons that finish while your spend limit has been reached.
Changing your plan
You can change your plan at any time from Organization > Settings > Billing. Your monthly fee will be adjusted to reflect the change for the rest of the month.
If you switch plans partway through the month:
If you’ve used more than your included hours, you’ll be charged for the extra hours at your current plan’s rate.
If you’ve used fewer than your included hours, you’ll receive a credit for the unused portion of your monthly fee.
Invoices and payment
From Organization > Settings > Billing, you can open the billing portal. There you can view and download invoices, update your payment card, or cancel your subscription.
If an invoice goes unpaid
Your account moves into arrears 5 days after an invoice goes unpaid. Your Administrators are emailed, and your team can't use Bobbin while the account is in arrears.
Paying the invoice restores access straight away. Updating your card on its own isn't enough; the outstanding invoice still needs paying.
If it's still unpaid two weeks after going into arrears, your subscription is canceled.
Once your subscription is canceled, you have 7 days to choose a plan. After that, your account and its data are permanently deleted.
The warning email gives you both dates: when your subscription will be canceled, and when your data will be deleted. These are the earliest dates they can happen, and either can land a day later.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the free trial, and is it billed?
You get 20 free hours. The trial ends when they're used up, or after two weeks with no Lessons, whichever comes first. Nothing is billed during the trial. Bobbin Lite trials last two weeks from signup instead.
Can I change my billing currency?
No. Your currency is set when your account is created and can't be changed.
Is there a charge for storing recordings?
Recordings are kept for up to one year. Storage is free for the first 90 days and then costs £0.10 / $0.14 per GB per month.
How is a group Lesson charged?
You pay for the Lesson hours, plus £0.40/$0.60 per hour for each person over four. For example, a one hour Lesson with six people uses one hour and adds £0.80 (two extra people × £0.40).
Does a Tutor opening the Lesson space early cost anything?
No. A session needs at least two people in it to be billed.
Do unused included hours roll over?
No. Included hours reset on the 1st of each month. For example, if you're on Starter (80 hours a month) and use 60 hours in March, the remaining 20 don't carry over. In April, you start again with 80 hours, not 100.
If a Lesson runs over its scheduled time, what am I charged for?
You're charged for the time the Lesson was actually live in Bobbin, not its scheduled length. A one hour Lesson that runs to 75 minutes is billed as 1.25 hours.
If I upgrade partway through the month, how many included hours do I get?
Your included hours are split by how many days you spend on each plan. For example, moving from Starter (80 hours) to Pro (320 hours) on November 15th gives you about 37 hours for the first 14 days and 171 for the remaining 16. That's 208 hours in total for the month.
Can I make sure I'm never charged more than my monthly fee?
Yes. Set your spend limit to £0/$0. Once you've used your included hours, new Lessons won't be able to start until your next billing date.
If a Job has Bobbin set as the online integration in TutorCruncher, but the Tutor uses another online platform for the Lesson, is it still billed as a Bobbin Lesson?
No. Bobbin only charges for Lessons that actually take place in the Bobbin Lesson space. If no Bobbin session happens, there's nothing to bill, even if the Job is set to use Bobbin and the Lesson is marked complete. If the Tutor and Student join Bobbin for a few minutes before switching to another platform, only that time counts.
Why was I charged for a Lesson my Tutor says didn't happen?
Bobbin bills any session where at least two people were in the Lesson space for more than a few minutes. If a Student and Tutor joined briefly before moving elsewhere, that time is billed. Contact support if you think a charge is wrong.
Is an in-person recording charged at a different rate from an online Lesson?
No. Both use the same included hours and the same extra-hour rate. The only difference is that in-person recordings don't have a group charge.