What you get on the SIGNLD free plan

The SIGNLD Free Forever plan gives you full read-only connectors, real Decision Briefs with evidence links and confidence scores, and a limited monthly credit allowance across a limited number of Topics. It is built to prove the mechanism, not to run an entire company's decision-making.

By Christopher Rafter · · 9 min read · Product explained
What you get on the SIGNLD free plan

In this article

What does Free Forever actually include

Free Forever is a permanent tier, not a time-limited trial. On it, you get the same read-only connector library used across every SIGNLD tier, drawing from 800-plus integrations, plus the ability to connect spreadsheets as a first-class source. You can connect your first system in about 15 minutes and get your first answer in minutes. See the setup flow in /how-it-works.

For the wider context, see our overview of what SIGNLD is.

What is limited on Free Forever is volume: a set monthly credit allowance and a set number of Topics you can run at once. The mechanism is not stripped down. The scope of what you can run against it is.

What counts against the monthly credit allowance

Generating a Decision Brief consumes credits from the monthly allowance tied to your account. Each brief still returns the full structure: a finding, evidence linked to the specific source records behind it, a confidence score, and a recommended action. Nothing about the brief itself is a lighter version.

Once the allowance is used, generating further briefs waits until the next cycle or requires moving to a paid tier. This shapes how Free Forever gets used: testing a real question against real data, not running continuous daily questions across a team.

What does the monthly credit allowance actually get spent on

Credits are spent when a Decision Brief is generated, not when you connect a system or open the app. Browsing existing briefs or reviewing a confidence score and its evidence links does not draw down the allowance. The cost sits where SIGNLD walks the Knowledge Graph to produce a new finding, so refreshing a Topic uses the same pool as generating a brief for a second Topic. Teams get more out of Free Forever by being deliberate about triggering new briefs rather than regenerating one for small wording changes.

Why is the number of Topics limited

A Topic is the in-app object where a specific business question lives, connected to the systems relevant to answering it. Free Forever caps how many Topics you can have active at once so the plan stays usable for evaluating the product on one or two real questions rather than standing in for a full deployment. This tends to push a natural choice: pick the question that matters most right now, whether that is late invoices, pipeline slippage, or job costing, and set up a Topic around it with the systems that actually hold that data.

The cap limits how many distinct lines of inquiry run in parallel, not how deep any one goes. A single Topic can still pull from multiple connected systems at once, for example tying an accounts receivable feed to a CRM to answer why a specific account is slow to pay. Teams that want to monitor several unrelated areas at once, such as cash collection, pipeline, and job costing, will need to pick one and treat the others as questions to revisit later.

Are the Decision Briefs on Free Forever real or a demo

They are real. The evidence links, confidence scores, and recommended actions on a Free Forever brief are generated the same way as on any paid tier, from the same read-only connections and the same Knowledge Graph mechanism. There is no separate, simplified answer engine for the free tier. The difference between tiers is volume and scale, not the accuracy or structure of the brief itself.

Are connectors restricted on the free plan

No. The read-only connector library is not gated by tier. Whether you are connecting an accounting system, a CRM, a payroll tool, or a spreadsheet, the same set of 800-plus integrations is available on Free Forever as on any paid plan. What is restricted is how many of those connections you can put to work at one time, since the Topic cap and credit allowance limit how many can actually be queried, not how many can be linked.

What is the free plan not suited to

Free Forever is not suited to a whole leadership team's regular reporting cadence, since the Topic cap and credit allowance are built around a small number of active questions. It is also not suited to several stakeholders generating briefs independently across departments, since that volume exceeds the allowance quickly, or to evaluating SIGNLD across many systems at once, since a limited number of Topics gives a narrow, real test rather than a broad one. A broad test belongs on a higher tier or the trial described below.

When do teams move up a tier

Teams typically move off Free Forever when they hit the credit allowance regularly, need more than the allotted number of active Topics, or need more than one or two people generating briefs on their own rather than relying on a single account holder. Reaching a limit consistently, rather than occasionally, is the clearest signal. Moving up does not change how a Decision Brief is built; it changes how much of that mechanism you can run and how many people can run it. Current tier details, including Plus, Growth, Business, and Enterprise, are on /pricing.

How do you decide between staying free and moving to a paid tier

The decision usually comes down to two questions. First, are you hitting the credit ceiling most months, or only occasionally when something unusual happens. Occasional overages suggest the free tier still fits; consistent overages suggest it doesn't. Second, is one Topic enough, or are two or three separate questions competing for the same slot. A finance lead and an operations lead who each want their own Topics will bump against Free Forever's single-account shape quickly, even if credit usage looks fine. Neither answer requires guessing at future usage; both can be read off how the account has actually been used.

How does the Growth trial fit alongside Free Forever

Separately from Free Forever, SIGNLD offers a 14-day full Growth trial with no credit card required. Where Free Forever is a permanent, limited-volume tier, the Growth trial gives full access to Growth-tier volume and features for two weeks, which suits a team testing a broader set of Topics and systems before committing. A practical path is to start on Free Forever to confirm the mechanism works against your own data, then use the Growth trial when ready to test the volume a full rollout would need. Read what to expect in SIGNLD free trial: what to expect.

What happens when the 14-day Growth trial ends

When the 14-day trial closes, the account does not lose its data or its history of Decision Briefs. What changes is volume: without moving to a paid Growth-tier subscription, the account reverts to Free Forever's credit allowance and Topic cap. Any Topics beyond that cap stay visible, but new briefs against them are paused until older Topics are archived or the account moves to a paid tier. Briefs already generated during the trial remain readable, with evidence links and confidence scores intact, so the effect is a step down in volume, not a loss of what was built. Details are covered in SIGNLD free trial: what to expect.

What data is retained if you stop using the account

If an account goes inactive, whether on Free Forever or after a trial, the connections, Topics, and previously generated Decision Briefs remain associated with the account rather than being deleted immediately. Read-only connections never write back to the connected systems, so stepping away leaves the underlying business systems untouched. For specifics on retention periods and deletion requests, the current policy sits with SIGNLD's account and security documentation rather than in this article, since retention terms get updated independently of product features.

Key takeaways

  • Free Forever is a permanent tier, not a time-limited trial.
  • A Topic is the in-app object where a specific business question lives, connected to the systems relevant to answering it.
  • The decision usually comes down to two questions.
  • When the 14-day trial closes, the account does not lose its data or its history of Decision Briefs.
  • Connect a real system and generate a real Decision Brief on Free Forever.

FAQ

Is Free Forever actually free indefinitely

Yes. It is a permanent tier with a monthly credit allowance and a limited number of Topics. It does not expire on its own.

Do I need a credit card to start on Free Forever or the Growth trial

No. Neither requires a credit card to start.

Does the free plan use a different AI model or a lighter answer engine

No. Decision Briefs on Free Forever use the same mechanism as paid tiers, including evidence links and confidence scores.

Can I connect more than one system on Free Forever

Yes. The connector library is the same across tiers. The limits are the number of active Topics and the monthly credit allowance, not which systems you can connect.

What happens to my Topics if I run out of credits mid-month

Existing Decision Briefs remain accessible. Generating new briefs against the Topic waits until the credit allowance resets the following cycle, or until you move to a paid tier.

Where do I find current pricing for the paid tiers

Current numbers for Plus, Growth, Business, and Enterprise are maintained on /pricing rather than in this article, since tier details can change.

Related reading in this series: Who is SIGNLD for and Can SIGNLD answer questions across QuickBooks and your CRM.

Try SIGNLD free

Connect a real system and generate a real Decision Brief on Free Forever. Try SIGNLD free or compare tiers on /pricing.