Transparent Pricing Designed Around the Way You Work
Usage-Based Research. A Modest Monthly Infrastructure Fee.
Professional research is rarely predictable. One month you may be conducting a major acquisition, supporting complex litigation, or completing an extensive industry analysis. The next month your research activity may be considerably lighter. Traditional subscription models often fail to reflect those changing demands, forcing organizations to pay for capacity they may never use or limiting access when additional research is needed most.
The Franchise Intelligence Platform was designed with a different philosophy. Our prepaid funding model combines usage-based research charges with a modest monthly infrastructure fee. Usage-based research fees are deducted from your available balance as you use the platform. The monthly infrastructure fee supports the ongoing storage and availability of your research history, conversations, uploaded documents, and other project materials, including during periods when you are not actively conducting research.
You control how your account is funded, with adjustable automatic replenishment or manual deposits as needed. The result is a pricing model that is straightforward, transparent, and scalable for both individual professionals and large organizations.
Simple for Individual Professionals
Individual accounts are designed to make getting started as easy as possible. Opening an account requires an initial payment of $25, credited in full to your available balance. As research is performed and monthly infrastructure fees are assessed, charges are deducted from that balance.
By default, automatic replenishment adds $25 when the available balance reaches the $5 replenishment threshold. Users may adjust both the replenishment amount and the balance at which replenishment occurs, or turn off automatic replenishment and add funds manually as needed.
Automatic replenishment helps keep your account funded and your research moving without interruption. Users are notified whenever an automatic replenishment occurs, and account settings can be updated at any time through the account management portal.
For most individual users, the experience feels less like managing invoices and more like keeping a research account ready whenever it is needed.
Built for Professional Organizations
Organizations often have very different requirements than individual users. A law firm may have multiple attorneys working on separate client matters. A consulting firm may manage several engagements simultaneously. An investment firm may have analysts researching different industries while sharing the same administrative account.
Organizational accounts were designed to support those environments. Rather than maintaining separate payment methods for each individual user, organizations establish a single funding account managed by their designated administrator. Individual users receive their own secure accounts, maintain separate research histories, and work independently within their own project environments, while research charges and infrastructure fees are deducted from the organization’s shared prepaid balance.
Organizational accounts require an initial payment of $100, credited in full to the shared balance. By default, when the available balance reaches the $10 replenishment threshold, the account is automatically replenished back to $100. Organizations may adjust their replenishment settings, including the funding level and the balance at which replenishment occurs, to better match their expected research activity. Automatic replenishment may also be turned off entirely, allowing the organization to add funds manually whenever it chooses.
This flexibility allows organizations to fund their accounts according to their needs while retaining control over how and when additional funds are added. The platform can therefore scale naturally from a single professional to an enterprise research team.
A Small Monthly Fee to Keep Your Research Available
In addition to usage-based research charges, accounts are subject to a monthly infrastructure fee:
- Individual accounts: $5 per month.
- Organizational accounts: $10 per month, plus $5 per sub-user.
This fee supports the ongoing infrastructure required to maintain your account and store your research history, conversations, uploaded documents, and other project materials so that your work remains available when you return to the platform.
The infrastructure fee is deducted directly from your available account balance on the first day of each month, beginning the month after you open your account. There is no infrastructure fee for the remainder of the calendar month in which you sign up.
The fee applies even during months when you do not conduct research. Turning off automatic replenishment stops automatic deposits; it does not stop infrastructure fees from being deducted while your account remains active. Monthly infrastructure fees stop when you close your account or your account becomes inactive.
Account Inactivity, Reactivation, and Research Retention
If your available balance reaches zero or is insufficient to cover the monthly infrastructure fee when it is due, and the balance is not replenished, your account becomes inactive. Any remaining funds stay in your account. No additional monthly infrastructure fees accrue while the account is inactive.
To reactivate your account, add enough funds to bring your balance to an amount sufficient to cover the applicable monthly infrastructure fee and resume use of the platform.
Your stored research is retained for three months from the date your account becomes inactive. Adding funds automatically reactivates your account. If your account remains inactive for three consecutive months, stored research history, conversations, uploaded documents, and other project content will be permanently deleted and cannot be restored. The account itself remains available for future reactivation, but adding funds after deletion will not recover your previous research.
Complete Visibility into Every Dollar Spent
Professional organizations need more than accurate billing—they need accountability. Every research activity performed within the Franchise Intelligence Platform is recorded and reflected within a detailed usage history. Administrators can review account activity, monitor available balances, view automatic replenishments, and understand how research resources are being used across the organization.
For organizations with multiple users, usage reporting provides visibility into individual research activity while preserving the separation of each user’s private projects. This allows firms to understand how platform resources are being used and, when appropriate, allocate research expenses to specific clients, matters, or internal initiatives.
Our goal is simple: every charge should be understandable, traceable, and transparent.
Pricing That Grows with Your Organization
Research needs change over time. A professional may begin with occasional industry research and later expand into larger due diligence projects. A law firm may add attorneys as its franchise practice grows. An investment firm may increase research activity as new opportunities emerge.
The pricing model was designed to accommodate that growth without requiring organizations to renegotiate licenses or purchase additional software packages. As usage increases, organizations simply fund their accounts at levels appropriate for their expected research activity and applicable infrastructure fees. The platform scales naturally alongside the business, allowing firms to focus on their work rather than their software licensing.
Built Around Fairness and Transparency
We believe professional software should be easy to understand. There are no long-term contracts required to begin using the Franchise Intelligence Platform. Usage-based research charges and monthly infrastructure fees are clearly identified, with no complicated licensing structures. You maintain control over your account funding, monitor your usage at any time, and can see how your account balance is being used.
Funds added to your account are nonrefundable, including unused balances if you stop using the platform or close your account. You may adjust or disable automatic replenishment at any time to control future deposits. If you believe a charge was made in error, please contact our support team for review.
It is a simple approach, but one we believe better reflects the way professional organizations work.
Ready to Get Started?
Whether you are an independent professional exploring franchise opportunities or an organization managing research across multiple teams, the Franchise Intelligence Platform provides a pricing model designed to be transparent, flexible, and aligned with the way professionals actually work.
Create your account, add funds, and begin researching with confidence.