Free plan limits & what upgrading unlocks
A clear breakdown of what the free plan includes, where each limit shows up, and what the Maker and Studio plans unlock.
Hi Ellie has a free plan that gives you access to the core features. A few things are capped or locked until you upgrade. Here's exactly what those limits are and where you'll run into them.
Free plan limits
| What | Free limit |
|---|---|
| Pantry items | 50 total (colorants + resins + supplies combined) |
| AI recipe sessions | 3 per month |
| Inspire sessions | 3 per month |
| Custom molds | 5 |
| Material cost (COGS) | Locked |
Pantry items — 50 combined
Your pantry can hold up to 50 items in total across all four categories (colorants, resins, molds, and supplies). When you hit the limit, you'll see an error when you try to add a new item. The pantry page doesn't show a counter — if you're not sure how many items you have, check the Pantry tab and count across all four categories.
Note: The 50-item limit doesn't show a warning as you approach it — it only surfaces when you try to save item number 51. If you get an unexpected save error in the pantry, this is likely the reason.
To make room, remove items you no longer use.
AI recipe sessions — 3 per month
Every time Ellie generates a new recipe in the wizard — including when you refine or resubmit — it counts as one session. The counter resets on the 1st of every month. You can see your remaining sessions on the wizard's opening screen.
When you're out of sessions, the wizard shows a soft wall explaining the limit and when it resets.
Inspire sessions — 3 per month
Each time you run a photo through Inspire, it counts as one session. This is a separate counter from your recipe sessions — running Inspire doesn't touch your recipe quota, and vice versa. The counter resets on the 1st of the month. Your remaining Inspire sessions appear as dots on the Inspire page.
Custom molds — 5
You can create up to 5 custom molds (molds you've added yourself, not from the template library). The Molds tab shows a Custom X/5 counter. If you've used all 5 slots, you can free one up by restoring a custom mold back to its original template.
Template molds (the ones from Hi Ellie's library) don't count toward this limit.
Material cost (COGS) — locked on free plan
The Material cost panel on recipes and pour sessions calculates your cost of goods and suggests a selling price. This feature is locked on the free plan — you'll see an upgrade prompt where the cost panel would appear.
What upgrading unlocks
Maker plan
- Unlimited pantry items
- Unlimited AI recipe sessions
- Unlimited Inspire sessions
- Unlimited custom molds
- Material cost (COGS) on all recipes and pours
- Spreadsheet import (bulk adding pantry items)
Studio plan
Everything in Maker, plus Team — bring other people into your studio so you share one set of recipes, pantry, and pour history:
- Invite people by email, with a role for each (Owner, Editor, or Viewer)
- Up to 5 members total, including you
- Role-based access — owners control studio settings and the team; editors have read/write on recipes, pantry, and pours; viewers are read-only
- A workspace switcher near the top of the app, so anyone who belongs to more than one studio can move between them
For the full walkthrough — inviting, roles, and accepting an invite — see Team: inviting people and what each role can do.
Beta workspaces
If your workspace is on the beta plan, the free-tier limits and the Maker/Studio upgrade prompts don't apply to you — beta lifts your usage limits so you can exercise the whole product.
Note: Beta does not grant Studio. Studio features like Team (inviting members, roles, the workspace switcher) still require the Studio plan — beta only lifts the limits, it doesn't change your tier.
Upgrading
Paid plans are coming soon. If you'd like to be notified when Maker and Studio are available, get in touch.