# Choosing a plan

Every HostTracker account runs on a **package** (what the billing pages call a plan). The package decides how
many monitors you can run, how often they can check, and which features are unlocked - it's worth understanding
what it governs before you pick one.

## What a plan governs

A package is not just "how many monitors" - it sets several independent limits and entitlements at once:

- **Monitor count** - the maximum number of monitors on the account, with an optional per-extra-monitor price
  once you go over (some plans hard-cap instead).
- **Check interval floor** - the fastest a monitor is allowed to run. A free-tier account might floor at a few
  minutes; a paid plan unlocks a 1-minute (or faster) interval. See [Check intervals](/monitors/intervals/).
- **Per-type overrides** - some monitor types (Waterfall/transaction checks, database, SNMP...) can carry their
  own interval floor and count cap, separate from the account-wide numbers.
- **Feature entitlements** - keyword/content checks, [assertion rules](/monitors/advanced/assertions/) (and how
  many per check), [cron scheduling](/monitors/advanced/cron-scheduling/), custom/public DNS resolver choice,
  [TLS handshake policy](/monitors/advanced/tls-policy/) switches, attached sub-checks (SSL/domain
  expiry, DNSBL, Web Risk), subaccounts, and API access.
- **Contacts and reports** - how many alert contacts you can have (sometimes broken down per contact type, e.g.
  voice calls), and which report frequencies (daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly/yearly) are available.

Changing plans never deletes your data - a downgrade that puts you over a new, lower cap doesn't remove
monitors; it just stops you creating more until you're back under the limit.

## The plan families

- **Free** - a small number of monitors, longer check intervals, the core feature set. No card required, no
  expiry.
- **Personal** - a small step up from Free: more monitors, still at a relaxed interval.
- **Solo** - a single-monitor entry paid plan with the fastest interval, priced per extra monitor beyond the
  first - the right choice when you care about one site above everything else.
- **Webmaster / Business** - the everyday paid tiers for a handful to dozens of sites, with fast intervals,
  keyword/content checks, assertions, cron scheduling and more contacts. Business is HostTracker's most
  commonly chosen paid tier.
- **Enterprise** (offered in a few sizes) - the largest monitor counts, the highest assertion caps,
  subaccounts and the full feature set, sized to how many monitors you actually need.

Exact monitor counts and prices are shown live on the plans page, since they're the part most likely to change -
see **[Plans & packages](/account/plans/)** for the current lineup.

## The 30-day free trial

New accounts start on a **30-day trial** with up to **100 monitors** and no credit card required. It's meant to
let you actually try the product at a realistic scale - a handful of monitors rarely surfaces intermittent
issues, but a hundred usually does.

:::note[What happens when the trial ends]
For 7 days after the trial ends everything keeps running as it was. From day 37 the two monitors that were checked
the most keep running every 30 minutes with email alerts, and the rest pause. Sign-in locks 83 days after the trial
ends, and the account and its data are deleted 3 months after it ends unless you choose a plan or switch to Free
before then. Choosing a plan at any point brings the paused monitors back and restores their intervals (see
[Trial](/account/trial/) for the full timeline).
:::

## Choosing between plans

A rough way to think about it:

- Watching **one or two sites**, checking every few minutes is fine → **Free**.
- Watching **one important site** that needs a fast interval and full validation features → **Solo**.
- Running a **small business's** handful of properties, want SMS/voice alerts and assertions → **Webmaster** or
  **Business**.
- Managing **many sites or a team** (subaccounts, high assertion caps, the largest monitor counts) →
  **Enterprise**.

You can change plans at any time from **Billing → Packages**; see **[Plans & packages](/account/plans/)** to
compare the current tiers and limits in detail.

## Related

- [Set your default locations](/monitors/default-locations/)
- [Check intervals](/monitors/intervals/)
- [Assertions & validation rules](/monitors/advanced/assertions/)