Your account, your subscription, and what each tier unlocks. Create an account with email or Google, start on the Free tier, and upgrade when you're ready. Billing runs through Stripe, and you can cancel anytime.
What you'll learn
- How to create an account and sign in
- What the Free, Pro, and Band tiers include
- How pricing works (monthly and annual billing)
- How to upgrade, manage your subscription, and cancel
- Where to find your account details in the app
- How your data syncs across devices
The previous chapter covered collaboration: sharing songs, roles, and sync. This chapter is about the account that holds it all together. Your account is what connects your songs across devices, gates the features available to you, and manages your subscription.
17.1 Creating an account
Song Cage offers two ways to create an account:
Email and password
On the sign-up page, enter your email address and choose a password (minimum 8 characters). You'll confirm the password, and the account is created. No email verification step blocks you from using the app immediately.
Click Continue with Google on the sign-in or sign-up page. Song Cage redirects to Google's authentication page (a full-page redirect, not a popup). After you authorize, you're redirected back and signed in. If you don't have an account yet, one is created automatically using your Google email.
Both methods result in the same kind of account. You can sign in with whichever method you used to create it.
17.2 Signing in
The sign-in page shows an email/password form and a Continue with Google button. Below the form, links take you to password reset and sign-up.
If you've forgotten your password, click Reset password. Enter your email address, and Song Cage sends a recovery link. Click the link in the email, set a new password, and you're back in.
17.3 The three tiers
Every account starts on the Free tier. Two paid tiers, Pro and Band, unlock additional features. All three tiers share the same core songwriting tools. The differences are in how many songs you can create, whether you can export, and whether you can collaborate with editors.
Free
The Free tier is genuinely free, with no credit card required and no time limit. It includes:
- 2 songs. You can create up to two songs with full access to every editing feature.
- Full chord palette. Diatonic, borrowed, and secondary dominant chords in every key and mode.
- Guitar voicings. Browse and select voicings for every chord.
- Modulation panel. Pivot chord routes between any two keys.
- All Word Tools. Rhymes, near rhymes, synonyms, and related words.
- Playback and accompaniment. Hear your song played back with rhythm patterns and melody voice.
- Audio recording. Record voice memos and ideas.
The Free tier is enough to write complete songs. The limit is quantity: once you have two songs, creating a third requires upgrading.
Pro
The Pro tier removes the song limit and adds export and basic sharing:
- Unlimited songs and sections. No cap on how many songs you create.
- PDF chord sheet export. Generate printable A4 chord sheets with voicing diagrams (Chapter 14).
- MIDI export. Export chord and melody tracks as a standard MIDI file (Chapter 14).
- View-only share links. Generate a link that gives someone read-only access to your song (Chapter 16).
Band
The Band tier adds everything in Pro plus full collaboration:
- Editor share links. Generate links that grant editing access, not just viewing.
- Email invitations. Invite collaborators by email directly from the Share dialog.
- Up to 5 editors per song. Multiple people can edit the same song, with changes syncing across devices.
- Manage collaborator roles. Change a collaborator between editor and viewer, or revoke access entirely.
Chapter 16 covers collaboration features in detail.
17.4 Pricing
Song Cage offers monthly and annual billing. Annual billing saves over 30%.
| Monthly | Annual | |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 |
| Pro | $12/month | $8/month ($96/year) |
| Band | $20/month | $14/month ($168/year) |
There are no hidden fees, no usage-based charges, and no overage costs. You can cancel anytime.
17.5 Upgrading
When you hit a feature gate (trying to create a third song on Free, or clicking an export button without a paid plan), a pricing dialog appears showing all three tiers side by side. You can also open this dialog from the user menu: Free users see an Upgrade to Pro option.
Click Get Pro or Get Band to start the checkout flow. Song Cage redirects you to a Stripe checkout page where you enter your payment details. After payment completes, you're redirected back to the app and your new tier is active immediately.
The entire process happens through Stripe. Song Cage does not store your credit card number or payment details.
17.6 Managing your subscription
Once you have an active Pro or Band subscription, the user menu shows Manage subscription. Clicking it opens the Stripe billing portal, where you can:
- Switch billing cycle. Move between monthly and annual billing.
- Upgrade or downgrade. Move between Pro and Band.
- Update payment method. Change your credit card or payment details.
- View invoice history. See past charges and download receipts.
- Cancel your subscription. End your plan at the current billing period.
All billing management happens through Stripe's portal. Song Cage does not have its own billing settings page.
What happens when you cancel
When you cancel, your paid features remain active until the end of your current billing period. After that, your account reverts to the Free tier. Your songs are not deleted. If you had more than two songs, they're all still there, but you won't be able to create new ones until you're back under the limit or resubscribe. Shared songs where you were the owner remain shared; collaborators keep their access.
Payment failures
If a payment fails (expired card, insufficient funds), your subscription status changes to past due. Stripe will retry the charge according to its retry schedule. During this time your paid features remain available. If the charge ultimately fails, the subscription cancels and you revert to Free.
17.7 The user menu
Your account details live in the user menu at the top-right of the toolbar. Click the circular avatar (showing your email initial) to open the menu.
The menu shows:
- Your email address.
- Your current plan (Free, Pro plan, or Band plan).
- Manage subscription (Pro and Band users) or Upgrade to Pro (Free users).
- Sign out.
If you're on a paid plan, a small Pro or Band badge appears next to your avatar in the toolbar, so you can see your tier at a glance without opening the menu.
17.8 Data and sync
Song Cage uses PowerSync for offline-first data sync. Your songs are stored locally in your browser (in a SQLite database) and synced to the cloud in the background. This means:
- You can work offline. Changes save locally and sync when you're back online.
- Your songs follow your account. Sign in on a different device and your songs sync down automatically.
- Sync is automatic. You don't need to save manually or trigger a sync. Changes propagate within a few seconds when you're online.
If you sign out and sign back in on the same device, your local data is still there. Signing in on a new device pulls your songs from the cloud.
17.9 Feature summary by tier
| Feature | Free | Pro | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Songs | 2 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Chord palette, voicings, modulation | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Word Tools | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Playback and accompaniment | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audio recording | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDF chord sheet export | Yes | Yes | |
| MIDI export | Yes | Yes | |
| View-only share links | Yes | Yes | |
| Editor share links | Yes | ||
| Email invitations | Yes | ||
| Up to 5 editors per song | Yes | ||
| Manage collaborator roles | Yes |
That covers accounts, tiers, and billing. The next chapter is a reference for every keyboard shortcut in Song Cage, along with settings, input options, and workflow tips.