Plans and pricing

Which plan is right for me?

Free is for typing: after your 3 free minutes of live voice, you type to Ducky and it answers in writing, with the same boards, diagrams and quizzes, up to 60 messages a day. Every paid plan gives you a set amount of live talking time in three windows: each hour, every 5 hours and each week. The weekly number is the one to look at first. These are minutes of live talking with Ducky, the same numbers the app shows in Settings > Plan & billing, and you can type to Ducky on every plan too.

Prices are in US dollars. Taxes, where they apply, are added and shown before you pay. Your plan belongs to your DuckyHelper account, so one plan covers both ways to use Ducky: in your browser at app.duckyhelper.com, including on a Chromebook, and in the Mac app.

How credits work

Everything Ducky does is measured in credits: talking, Ducky's thinking, reading your screen, tests, reports and pictures. One credit is 1 cent of what it costs us to run Ducky. About 8 credits are 1 minute of talking. That is why the plans above are shown in minutes.

The minutes are a guide. The meter counts what you really use, so a quiet session that is mostly talking costs about 8 credits a minute, and asking for a picture uses more. Settings > Plan & billing lists what used your credits, by kind.

The 1-hour, 5-hour and weekly windows

Your plan's time comes in three windows that run at the same time. Everything you use counts against all three. Each window starts with your first use after the last one ended, and resets a fixed time later.

• 1-hour window: stops one long session from using up your whole day. On Plus that is about 11 minutes of talking.
• 5-hour window: spreads your time across a study afternoon. On Plus that is about 18 minutes.
• Weekly window: the total for the week. On Plus that is about 27 minutes.

Example on Plus: you talk with Ducky for 11 minutes at 4 pm. The hour is used up, so you either wait for it to reset or keep going on credits. At 5 pm you get another hour, but you only have about 7 minutes left in your 5-hour window, and those minutes also count toward your 27 for the week.

Near a limit, the pill tells you, for example "4 min left this hour". When a window is full, Ducky finishes its sentence and stops until the window resets, unless you have credits and Keep going on credits is on. Unlimited has no 1-hour or 5-hour window, only the weekly fair-use cap.

Credit packs and custom top-ups

Credits are for when a window runs out. You can buy them on any plan, including Free. On a paid plan they are used only after a window is full and Keep going on credits is on, oldest credits first. On Free, credits are what live voice runs on after your 3 free minutes. They last 12 months from when you buy them.

You can also pick any whole-dollar amount from $5 to $500. The app shows how many credits an amount buys before you pay: $5 buys 227 credits (about 28 minutes), $100 buys 4,840 (about 10 hours) and $500 buys 24,260 (about 50 hours).

One-tap top-ups and auto top-up

Your first payment goes through Stripe's secure checkout page and saves your card. After that, when talk time runs out, the pill shows $10, $25 and $50. Tap one, then tap again to confirm, and keep talking. The second tap is there so nothing is charged by accident.

Auto top-up is off unless you turn it on in Settings > Plan & billing ("When I run out, add" an amount you pick). When it is on and a live session would stop because a limit ran out and your credits are almost gone, it charges your card on file and adds the credits. It runs at most 3 times in any 24 hours, never on a card whose last charge failed, and you get a receipt each time.

Upgrading, switching and cancelling

1. Open DuckyHelper and go to Settings > Plan & billing.
2. To move to a bigger plan, pick it there. With a card on file it takes one tap, and you pay only the difference for the rest of the period.
3. To cancel, switch to a smaller plan, change your card or see past invoices, click Manage billing. It opens Stripe's secure page, where cancelling takes a couple of clicks.
4. After you cancel, your plan stays on until the end of the period you paid for. Then you are on Free. Credits you bought stay yours until they expire.

Paid plans renew automatically (every month for Plus and Pro, every week for Unlimited) until you cancel. Charges show on your card statement as MINGLLM, with "DUCKY" or "DUCKYHELPER" when there is room.

Refunds

If a plan is not for you, or you were charged by mistake, email support@duckyhelper.com before you dispute the charge with your bank; we can usually fix it faster. Who can get a refund, and by when, is set out in Billing, Subscriptions & Refunds.

Students and families

There is no separate student discount, family plan or school plan right now. Free is the way to try DuckyHelper, and every plan works the same for any learner.

• One account per person. Accounts can't be shared, so each learner in a family needs their own.
• 13 to 17: a teen can have their own account with a parent's or guardian's OK.
• Under 13: a child can use DuckyHelper only after a parent gives verifiable consent, as the Children's Privacy Notice explains. Children's accounts can't make payments; a parent who wants to pay for a plan should email support@duckyhelper.com.
• Parents can read what Ducky does and doesn't do on DuckyHelper for parents.