A new QTRACA account starts with a 15-day free trial, with no credit card needed. During the trial you choose which modules to try, and you can change that choice at any time until the trial ends. This article explains what a trial includes, how to choose and change your modules, and what happens when the trial ends.
Where to find it: the module questions open by themselves the first time you sign in. Afterwards, use Change what you’re trialling in the trial banner at the top of the screen, or on Account Billing in your user profile.
What a trial includes
| Item | During the trial |
|---|---|
| Length | 15 days from sign-up. |
| Modules | The ones you choose — any of the nine, including all of them. |
| Limits | The Starter plan’s: 5 users, 1 site, 500 products, 25 trainees, 5 remote devices. |
| AI credits | 250, in every currency. This is less than Starter’s monthly allowance, because AI is the one part of QTRACA that costs real money each time it is used. |
| Payment | None. You are asked for a card only when you subscribe. |
The trial uses Starter’s limits so that subscribing to Starter is a step, not a cliff: nothing you set up during the trial is too big for the smallest plan. The limits and what they count are explained in Plans, modules and limits.
Quick start
- Sign up with any email address, including a personal one such as Gmail or Hotmail, then confirm your email address. The sign-up page may ask you to tick a short security check first.
- Sign in. You are taken to three short steps: what kind of business this is, anything else you would like to try, and a review of the modules that will be switched on.
- Press Start my trial. You land on the dashboard with those modules in the menu.
- Try things. Change the modules whenever you like with Change what you’re trialling.
- When you are ready, press Subscribe Now in the trial banner, choose a plan and pay.
Choosing your modules
QTRACA looks quite different depending on which modules are on. A distributor does not need batches and recipes; a food-safety consultancy does not need stock. So instead of switching everything on, the trial asks what you do and starts you with the parts that fit.
Step 1 — “What kind of business is this?”
| Answer | Modules switched on |
|---|---|
| We make or process food | Quality, Inventory, Manufacturing |
| We buy and resell, import or distribute | Quality, Inventory, Orders |
| We store and handle stock | Quality, Inventory |
| We don’t hold stock — we manage food safety and compliance | Quality, Training, Document Management, Specifications |
Each answer matches one of the bundles you can later buy, so what you trial is a shape you can subscribe to.
Step 2 — “Anything else you would like to try?”
The modules your answer left out, each with a one-line description. Tick any you want to see. This is how you reach IoT and Demand Planning, which none of the four answers includes.
Step 3 — “Here’s what you’ll see”
All nine modules, ticked according to your answers. “Everything ticked below will be switched on. Untick anything you would rather not see for now.” If you tick a module that needs another, the other is ticked and locked with the reason beside it — for example “Inventory is included because Manufacturing needs it”. Press Start my trial to finish, or Start over to answer again.
You must leave at least one module ticked; the screen says “Pick at least one to continue.”
Changing what you’re trialling
Change what you’re trialling opens the review step directly, headed What you’re trialling, with your current modules ticked. Tick or untick, then press Save changes, or Cancel to leave things as they are. The change applies straight away and costs nothing.
The link is in two places: the trial banner at the top of every screen, and the Your plan panel on Account Billing.
The trial banner
Throughout the trial, billing owners see a banner at the top of the screen reading Trial Ends in with the number of days left, a Change what you’re trialling link and a Subscribe Now button. On a phone-sized screen only a Subscribe button is shown. Account Billing shows the same countdown under the plan name, for example Trial — 9 days left.
Subscribe Now opens the Change plan screen with the modules you are trialling already ticked. Choose a plan, add anything else you need, and press Continue to payment to pay securely by card. See Managing your plan for how the Change plan screen works.
When the trial ends
If you subscribe before the end, nothing interrupts you: your account moves from the trial to your plan.
If you do not, the banner changes to Trial Has Ended and the app is locked. Everyone who signs in sees a screen headed Your subscription has ended:
- A billing owner or administrator sees “Your data is exactly where you left it. Choose a plan and everything comes straight back.” and a Choose a plan button, which opens the Change plan screen.
- Anyone else sees “Your data is exactly where you left it, but only an account owner or administrator can start a subscription. Ask one of them to renew and you will be straight back in.”
Nothing is deleted when a trial ends. Everything you entered is kept, and subscribing restores access to it.
Availability and permissions
- Trials with module selection apply to accounts on QTRACA’s current pricing. Accounts on the previous plan structure never see the module questions.
- The trial banner, Subscribe Now and Account Billing are shown to billing owners. The person who signs up is the account’s first billing owner.
- After the trial ends, a billing owner or an Admin can choose a plan from the locked screen.
Things to know
- Temporary inbox addresses cannot sign up. An address at a throwaway inbox service such as mailinator.com is refused with “Please sign up with a permanent email address. Temporary inbox addresses are not accepted.” Use an address you will keep: it is where your account emails go.
- If the security check fails, the page says “We couldn’t confirm you’re a person. Please refresh the page and try again.” Refreshing gives you a new check.
- There is no “try everything” answer. To trial all nine modules, tick them all at the review step.
- Modules can be changed only during the trial. Once the trial has ended, the Change what you’re trialling link disappears; changing modules after that means choosing a plan.
- The trial’s limits are Starter’s. If you need more users or sites to evaluate properly, subscribe to the plan that fits — or contact QTRACA.
- 250 AI credits is a taster. A label review uses about 26, so expect around ten of them. Paid plans have a much larger monthly allowance; see AI credits.
- Your billing currency is set by your billing country when you subscribe, and is fixed from your first payment. If the currency shown on the Change plan screen is wrong, contact QTRACA support before you pay.