How the Ody free trial works

Every Ody plan — Starter, Growth, and Enterprise — starts with a 7-day free trial: you add a card up front, it's verified without being charged, and your first payment happens only when the trial ends.

How it works, step by step

1. During signup, pick a plan on the Choose plan step (each card shows a FREE TRIAL badge) and enter your card in the secure payment form. Nothing is charged at this point — the card is only saved. In the iPhone app, the plan step instead opens the App Store payment sheet: Apple starts a 7-day free trial on your Apple ID, there is no separate card check, and Apple charges the plan when the trial ends unless you cancel in iPhone Settings → Subscriptions (Billing on iOS).

2. You're taken to the card verification page, which runs two quick authorization checks on your card — one for the full plan amount and one for $1. Each hold is cancelled the moment it's approved, so you are never charged. See Why you see a card authorization hold.

3. Once your card passes, you see "Your free trial is approved" and you're asked to verify your identity — a one-minute ID and selfie check handled by Stripe. Submitting it unlocks your workspace with full access to your plan's features.

4. In Settings → Billing, your plan shows a Trialing badge and the date your trial ends.

What happens at the end of the trial

• If you keep your plan: on day 7, your saved card is charged for the first billing period (monthly or annual, whichever you chose) and your subscription becomes active. Nothing changes in the app.
• If you cancel first: your subscription stops at the end of the trial and you're never charged. Cancel from Settings → Billing → Cancel plan — trials never owe an early-termination fee.
• If you never completed identity verification: Ody closes the trial for you one hour before it would have ended, and your card is not charged. You'll receive an email titled "Your Ody trial has ended — you were not charged". Your account stays; to try again, sign in and pick a plan — a new 7-day trial starts, and this time finish the identity check so it can convert.

Reminder emails during the trial

If your card passed but the identity check is still pending, we send a short series of reminders over the 7 days (the first about an hour after your trial starts). They stop the moment you submit your ID. If you'd rather not receive them, use the Email preferences link at the bottom of any of them — but note that an unverified trial will still close without a charge, as described above.

Emails if you never start a trial

If you created an account but did not pick a plan, or a trial signup closed before it started, we send a handful of short emails over the following weeks with links to get set up, and later a longer series that walks through one Ody feature at a time (calling, texting, voicemail transcripts, Astra the AI receptionist, phone menus, analytics, integrations, the API). They stop the moment you start a trial, and every one has an Unsubscribe link at the bottom.

Before you start

• The trial requires a real, reusable card. Prepaid or single-use cards fail the verification step, and a declined card cancels the trial signup so you can start over with a different card.
• If you close the card-verification page without finishing it, the trial has not started yet. We email you about an hour later, and again 12 hours later, with a link to finish the card check. If it is still unfinished after 24 hours the pending signup closes on its own, nothing is charged, and you get a short note saying so. Pick a plan again when you come back.
• Identity verification is required to use the workspace and to keep the trial. "In review" counts as done — you don't need to wait for Stripe's result.

Troubleshooting

• My card was declined at verification — the page shows the exact reason from your bank (for example, insufficient funds). Try another card, or contact your bank and pick a plan again.
• The page says my card is "still being saved" — that's not a decline; cards can take a minute to attach after checkout. Use the Check again button.
• I got "Your Ody trial has ended — you were not charged" but I wanted to keep going — the trial closed because identity verification wasn't completed in time. Nothing was billed. Sign in, choose a plan to start a new trial, and complete the identity check right after the card step.
• I got "Your Ody trial never started (no charge)" — this note is sent only when a pending signup sat unfinished for the full 24 hours after you picked a plan and the card check was never completed. Nothing was billed. If you have since finished the card check and see a Trialing badge in Settings → Billing, your trial is active and you can ignore the note. (Before 22 September 2026 the same email could go out by mistake to people who picked a plan again while finishing signup; that has been fixed, and those trials were never affected.)

Related articles

• Verify your identity
• Why you see a card authorization hold
• Ody plans and pricing
• Cancel your subscription