Trial, license & your account

The free trial

Every new account gets the full app — every van, every feature — for 15 minutes of active planning time. Active means exactly that: the meter only counts a second while the editor tab is visible and you have clicked, moved the mouse, scrolled or pressed a key within the last 30 seconds. Read a guide, answer a message, walk away — the countdown pauses. The chip in the toolbar shows what's left as Free · 12:40; click it any time to see the unlock offer.

The trial belongs to your account, not your browser: the time you use is written to your account every half minute, so signing out, clearing cookies or switching computers changes nothing. When the minutes are gone, editing locks and a bar at the bottom of the canvas says View only — your plan is saved. Nothing is deleted: every project stays saved and viewable for as long as you like, and one payment picks up exactly where you stopped.

What the license unlocks

The license is $39, paid once, for the lifetime of the product — no renewal, no upsell, and every van and feature I add later is included. The first 500 founding seats get that price; after them it is $59. With it the timer disappears and the account menu reads Licensed — lifetime.

Concretely, the license opens the doors that take a plan *out* of the app: every Build Sheet export (the printable Build Pack, the cut-list CSV, the copy-to-clipboard), the permanent remix link and Open replay & record in the Share modal, 3D model import, and watermark-free photos — on the trial, photo-mode captures carry a small "made with vanplot.com" mark in the corner. Everything else — reading the Build Sheet, share links, photo mode itself, the Layout Roast card — works on the trial.

Buying and receipts

Checkout is handled by Polar, my merchant of record: it takes the payment, adds any VAT for your country and shows the final price before you pay. The checkout is tied to the account you are signed in with, so the license lands on that account automatically — usually within seconds of paying.

1. Sign in and press the Free chip in the toolbar (or Unlock for $39 on the lock bar), then Get lifetime access.
2. Pay on the Polar page — card details never touch VanPlot.
3. You land back on your dashboard. Polar emails the receipt; I send a short licence-and-getting-started email to your account address.
4. Open the account menu (the round initial top-right): it now says Licensed — lifetime.

Refunds — the Plywood Guarantee

If VanPlot doesn't save you at least the cost of one sheet of birch ply, you get your money back: 14 days from the purchase, the full price, no questions — and it holds even if you've logged in and planned the whole van. You keep every export you made: the Build Sheet, the cut list, the PNGs. They were made from your layout of your van, and they're yours.

1. Email support@vanplot.com from the address you bought with, within 14 days of purchase. "I'd like a refund" is a complete message.
2. I refund it in Polar; the money goes back to the original payment method within 5 business days.
3. The license switches itself off — the account returns to its trial state, your projects stay where they are.

Signing in: email or Google

Two ways in, one account. Email + password (at least 6 characters) asks you to confirm the address once via the activation link. Continue with Google skips the password entirely — press it, pick the Google account, land on the dashboard. Both work with the same email address, so you can use whichever is closer at hand.

Lost the password? The login page resets it by email.

1. On the login page press Forgot password?, type your email and press Send reset link.
2. Open the email and follow the link — it brings you to Set a new password.
3. Type the new password twice and press Update password — you're signed in and on the dashboard.

Your data and your account

Your account holds your projects and their version history, custom components, uploaded 3D models and textures, share links, notes pinned on them, your license and the trial counter. Only you can read them — every table is locked to its owner. The account menu — the round initial in the top-right corner of the dashboard, the editor and the designer — shows the signed-in email and the license status, and holds Sign out and Delete account.

There is no self-serve way to change the email address on an account yet. Email support@vanplot.com from the current address and I'll change it for you.

Deleting the account is self-serve, immediate and irreversible: it removes the account, every project and its history, custom components, uploaded models and textures, all share links (they stop opening at once) — and the license, if there is one. Export what you want to keep first.

1. Open the account menu and press Delete account.
2. Type DELETE into the confirmation field.
3. Press Delete my account — you are signed out and returned to the login page.

What a share link reveals

A share link opens a snapshot of the layout to anyone who has the link — no account needed. The viewer shows the van model and variant, every visible item in place with its dimensions, the openings and build-up, the build replay, and a Remix this layout button that copies the plan into the viewer's own dashboard. Whoever opens it can also Pin a note for you, signed with a name or left anonymous.

What it does *not* carry: your name, your email, the project name, or any other project — the viewer receives the layout of that one link and nothing else. In the Share modal each link shows its view count and can be turned off (visitors see a closed-door page and notes close), turned on again, or deleted for good. The permanent remix link is the exception: the plan lives inside the URL itself, so it can never be switched off — hand it out only where you want it to live forever. Read Sharing your build for the whole picture.