Payments and Premium Upgrades

Purpose

Explain how the Stripe upgrade flow works, when you need an account before paying, and what to expect while premium access is activating.

Who this is for

signed-in users who want to upgrade from the free plan
guest users deciding whether to create an account before paying
anyone who sees a pending or delayed activation message after payment

What you can do here

Use this guide to:

understand when the upgrade flow is available
see the fixed lifetime access price and open the secure Stripe form
confirm a one-time payment without leaving Styx
understand the waiting state after payment
know what to do if premium access takes longer than expected to appear

This page is about the payment flow itself. The app's upgrade and settings screens show the current premium features attached to your account.

Step-by-step instructions

Start from a signed-in account

Sign in or create an account.
Open the upgrade page from Settings or the upgrade prompts shown in the app.

Premium access is attached to an authenticated account. If you are still in guest mode, create or sign in to an account before entering payment details.

Review the price and start checkout

Review the upgrade screen. Lifetime access is a fixed one-time price (currently $49.00, shown on the upgrade screen).
Select Continue to secure payment.

Lifetime access has a fixed price — there is no amount to enter. Optional donations elsewhere in Styx remain pay-what-you-want and still let you choose an amount (minimum $5.00), but donations do not unlock or replace premium access.

Complete the secure Stripe form

Wait for the secure form to load.
Enter your payment details in the Stripe Elements form.
Select Confirm payment.

The payment form is embedded in Styx, but the payment details are still handled by Stripe.

Wait for premium activation

After payment confirmation, stay on the page while Styx checks whether premium access has been activated on your account.
If activation finishes quickly, you will see a success message and your account status will update.
If activation takes longer, Styx may show a message telling you to refresh the page or check back shortly.

This waiting step is normal. Premium access is applied after the payment is confirmed and the account status is updated in the background.

Check your account status later

Refresh the page if Styx says activation is taking longer than expected.
Reopen Settings or the upgrade page and check whether premium is active on your account.

Do not start a second payment just because activation is still catching up. Wait for the account status to update first.

Important caveats or limitations

You must be signed in before paying. Guest mode cannot complete the upgrade flow by itself.
Premium access is attached to the account that was signed in during checkout.
Lifetime access is a fixed price (currently $49.00); optional donations remain pay-what-you-want with a $5.00 minimum.
After you confirm payment, there may be a short delay before premium appears on the account.
If activation is delayed, Styx may keep the checkout flow locked while it waits for the account status to catch up.
English is the only supported documentation language right now.

Common mistakes

Entering payment details while expecting the purchase to attach to guest-mode data instead of an account.
Treating the secure-form step and the final account activation step like the same thing.
Refreshing too aggressively or attempting another payment before the first account update finishes.
Assuming a delayed activation message means the payment failed immediately.