StudyStream has a Free tier and paid plans — Basic and Premium (monthly or annual). Not every account is offered every plan: your own Plans and pricing page shows the plans available to you, and some newer accounts don't see Basic on the website (it stays available in the mobile app). You can see the plans, prices and a full feature comparison for your own account at any time:
- On the web: click your profile picture (top-right) → "Manage subscription", or go to app.studystream.live/plans-and-pricing.
- On the mobile app: tap your profile picture (top-left) → "Settings" → "Manage subscription", or tap "Upgrade" anywhere it appears. There's also a "Subscription FAQs" entry in Settings.
Daily focus room time
The biggest difference between plans is how long you can spend in focus rooms each day:
- Free — up to 1 hour of focus room time per day.
- Basic — up to 4 hours per day (older accounts keep the daily limit they signed up with, which can be higher).
- Premium — unlimited focus room time.
Browsing without an account? Guests can only preview rooms for a few minutes before signing up.
When you hit your daily limit you'll see "You've used your daily time in the rooms. Come back tomorrow or upgrade your plan for more time." (On plans with a daily limit, the time you have left also shows as "Daily time left" in the header.) Your time resets every 24 hours.
When does my daily focus room time reset?
Your daily time resets at midnight in the time zone set on your StudyStream account — not your phone's clock and not the country you're in. Many accounts are still on the default UTC, so if your reset seems to happen at an odd hour, check your time zone: on the web, click your profile picture (top-right) → "Profile settings" → "Time zone"; in the mobile app, tap your profile picture (top-left) → "Settings" → "Personal details" → "Time zone" (changeable once every 7 days).
All your focus room time that day adds up, including time with your camera off or with the room open in a background tab. If the same room is open in two tabs or on two devices at once, each one uses up your time, so it runs out faster than the on-screen counter suggests.
Exact limits shown in the app for your account are the ones that apply to you — limits have changed over time and older accounts sometimes keep better terms.
What paid plans include
Basic (on top of Free):
- No ads
- More daily focus room time (4h vs 1h; older accounts keep the limit they signed up with)
- Pin up to 20 people (Free: 4)
- Full access to channels
- Start new chats (Free accounts can't start new conversations)
- 60 encouragements per day (Free: 20), 2 feed posts a day and unlimited comments (Free: 1 post and 1 comment)
Premium (everything in Basic, plus):
- Unlimited time in focus rooms
- Pin up to 40 people
- See who's pinning you (live) and why — the breakdown shows who left most reasons over the last 30 days (see: Pins and pin reasons explained)
- Premium checkmark, super boost for your video tile, choose your streaming quality
- Extra streak freezes (see: Streaks: how they work)
- 300 encouragements per day, no limits on DMs & feed, auto-sort favorites & pin-for-pin
"Please upgrade to be able to…": do I need to update the app?
No. Messages that start with "Please upgrade to be able to…" (for example "…start new chats with other users." or "…comment on feed posts.") or end with "Upgrade or try again later." are about your plan, not the app version, so updating the app from the store won't change them. They mean your plan doesn't include that action, or you've used today's allowance for it.
Daily limits on the community feed and on group feeds (each counted separately):
- Free: 1 post and 1 comment a day. The second comment shows "On your current plan, you can only create 1 feed post comment(s) per day. Upgrade or try again later."
- Basic: 2 posts a day, unlimited comments.
- Premium: no limits.
The allowance resets at midnight in the time zone set on your account. To raise it, upgrade (web: profile picture (top-right) → "Manage subscription"; mobile: "Upgrade" anywhere it appears).
Why can't I message anyone?
Starting new chats is a paid-plan feature: Free accounts can't start new conversations — that's the most common reason the app won't let you message someone. Upgrading to a paid plan (Basic where offered, or Premium) unlocks it (web: profile picture (top-right) → "Manage subscription"; mobile: "Upgrade" anywhere it appears).
If you're on a paid plan and still can't message a specific person: for safety, Professionals and Pre-University students can't message each other, and every user can restrict who is allowed to message them in their Privacy settings.
Buddy — Premium for you and a friend on one subscription. It's sold on the website only — you won't find it in the App Store or Google Play subscription list, so start it at app.studystream.live: click your profile picture (top-right) → "Manage subscription" and pick the Buddy plan (it then works in the mobile app too). If you currently pay through the App Store or Google Play, the website can't start a new plan until that store subscription has run out: cancel it in the store, keep using it until its end date, then subscribe to Buddy on the web. How it works:
- The plan owner adds their buddy from Manage subscription (by the friend's StudyStream account).
- The friend receives an invitation email — the invite shows as "Awaiting confirmation" until then.
- The friend opens the confirmation link while logged in to their own StudyStream account and confirms — their Premium starts at that moment.
If the invite is stuck: the friend can't confirm while they're on another plan (they need to leave/cancel it first), and if they've lost access to their email, the owner can remove and re-add them to send a fresh invite. (Note: if you leave a plan someone added you to, you lose its paid features.)
The in-app "Compare" view lists the full, current feature table for each plan.
Don't want a subscription? Buy focus room hours
If you just need more time occasionally, you can buy a one-time pack of focus room hours instead of subscribing:
- On the web: click your profile picture (top-right) → "Purchase hours" (hour packs can only be bought on the web).
- Purchased hours never expire and are only used after your free daily time runs out.
- If the page says "There are no hourly packs available at the moment.", packs are temporarily off sale — check back later.
- Note: hour packs add time only — they don't include the other Basic/Premium benefits (no-ads, extra pins, etc.).
Annual vs monthly
Annual billing offers a discount over monthly (the exact percentage is shown on the plans page). You can switch between monthly and annual from Manage subscription — see: Cancelling or changing your subscription.
Gifting and extra accounts
- Gift subscriptions aren't offered (for studying together, the Buddy plan is the closest thing).
- One account per person: extra accounts created to get around daily time limits get suspended.
Do you offer discounts, student pricing, or free Premium?
We don't currently offer student discounts, regional discounts, free trials, or free access to paid plans — and this is fixed policy, so support can't grant individual exceptions. What we do offer to keep StudyStream affordable:
- The Free plan — always available, with daily focus room time included.
- Hour packs (web only): one-time bundles of focus room hours — click your profile picture (top-right) → "Purchase hours". They never expire and are used only after your daily free time runs out, so they're often the cheapest option if you just need extra time now and then.
- Annual billing: paying yearly is discounted compared to monthly — the exact discount for your account is shown on your own plans page.
- The Buddy plan: Premium for you and a friend on one subscription — two people effectively share the cost.
- On the mobile app, subscriptions are billed by the App Store / Google Play in your local currency, which in many countries works out differently from the web price.
Your own prices and the full comparison are always on the Plans and pricing page (see the top of this article for how to get there on each platform).
If an offer or promotion was shown to you on your own plans page, in the app, or by email, it is tied to your account and is genuine; if you're not sure whether it was applied, ask support and we'll check your account.
A note on prices
Prices depend on your currency and platform (web prices are shown in USD, or in your local currency where we offer it; App Store / Google Play bill in your local currency), and long-time subscribers may have grandfathered rates. The prices shown on your plans page are the ones that apply to your account.