How to Understand and Manage Your Ninety Licenses

Every active Ninety user with a paid role occupies one license. Your license count directly determines your bill: more licenses mean a higher charge each billing cycle. 

Owners, Admins, and Managers can manage licenses, though only Owners and Admins can access the billing page where license adjustments are made. Understanding how licenses work will help you avoid unexpected charges, especially when team members join, leave, or change roles.

What licenses are and how they work

A license in Ninety represents one paid user slot. Each user who has a paid role in the Directory consumes exactly one license, regardless of how many teams they belong to or how many tools they use. Licenses are tied to user roles, not to individual tools or features.

There is no minimum number of licenses required. You can have as few as one paid user on your account, and you can increase or decrease your license count as your team's needs change.

Your license count and your bill are directly connected. When your license count goes up, your next charge increases. When your license count goes down, you receive a prorated credit on your next invoice. For details on how mid-cycle charges and credits are calculated, see Understanding Prorated Billing and Credits.

Which roles require a paid license

Not every user in Ninety requires a paid license. The following breakdown determines which roles count toward your license total.

Paid roles (one license each):

• Owner.
• Admin.
• Manager.
• Team Member (also called Managee).
   

Free roles (no license required):

• Observer.
• Inactive.
• Implementers/Coaches

Implementers/Coaches do not consume a license on client accounts. An Implementer who accesses a client's Ninety account is not counted toward that client's paid license total.

If you have team members who only need to view data without editing anything, consider assigning them the Observer role. Learn more about the Observer role.
 

How to view your current license count

To check how many licenses your account has and how they're allocated:

1. Click your profile icon at the bottom of the left navigation.
2. Click Billing from the popup menu.
    

The billing page displays three numbers:

• Total licenses. The number of paid user slots on your account.
• Assigned. The number of licenses currently occupied by active users with paid roles.
• Available. The number of licenses not currently assigned to a user. Available licenses are still included in your bill.
   

If your available count is greater than zero, you're paying for licenses that aren't being used. You can either invite new users to fill those slots or reduce your license count to stop paying for them.
 

Adding licenses

When you invite a new user with a paid role (Owner, Admin, Manager, or Team Member), Ninety automatically increases your license count. No manual adjustment is needed.

A prorated charge is applied immediately to your payment method, covering the time from the date the user is added until your next renewal. For details on how this charge is calculated, see Understanding Prorated Billing and Credits.

You can also add licenses manually before inviting users:

1. Click your profile icon at the bottom of the left navigation.
2. Click Billing from the popup menu.
3. Click Manage licenses.
4. Increase the quantity.
5. Click Next.
6. Click Confirm on the Confirm your updates page.
    

This is useful if you want to pre-purchase licenses before a batch of new hires joins the platform.
 

Removing licenses

Removing a license requires two steps. Both are required for your bill to decrease.

Step 1: Remove the user from a paid role.

Do one of the following in the Directory:

• Deactivate the user. This removes their access to Ninety but keeps their profile and historical data in the Directory.
• Delete the user. This permanently removes them from the Directory.
• Change their role to Observer or Inactive. This keeps them in the Directory without consuming a paid license.
   

Step 2: Reduce your license count on the billing page.

1. Click your profile icon at the bottom of the left navigation.
2. Click Billing from the popup menu.
3. Click Manage licenses.
4. Reduce the quantity to match your current number of active paid users.
5. Click Next.
6. Click Confirm on the Confirm your updates page.

The system will prevent you from reducing your license count below the number of active users with paid roles. If you see an error when trying to reduce, there are still active paid users consuming those licenses. Check the Directory to identify them.

A prorated credit is applied to your account after you reduce your license count. This credit appears on your next invoice. For details, see Understanding Prorated Billing and Credits.
 

Reassigning a license when replacing a team member

When someone leaves your company and a new person takes their place, follow this sequence to avoid paying for an extra license:

1. Deactivate the departing user first. In the Directory, deactivate or delete the team member who is leaving. This frees up their license.
2. Invite the new user. The new team member will take the license that was just freed. Because you deactivated one user and added one user, the net license count stays the same.
    

If you invite the new user before deactivating the departing user, Ninety will automatically add a license for the new user and charge you for it. You'll then need to deactivate the old user and manually reduce the license count to get back to your original number.

The order matters: deactivate first, then invite. This keeps your license count stable and avoids an unnecessary prorated charge.

For detailed steps on deactivating or deleting a user, see Delete or Deactivate a User. For detailed steps on inviting a new user, see Adding and Inviting Users to Your Account.

Troubleshooting

Issue: You can't reduce your license count and see a "Cannot reduce" error. Solution:

1. Check your Directory for all users with active paid roles (Owner, Admin, Manager, Team Member).
2. You cannot reduce your license count below the number of active paid users. Deactivate users or change their roles to Observer or Inactive first.
3. Then return to Billing > Manage licenses and reduce the quantity.
4. If the error persists after confirming your active user count is lower than your license count, contact support.
    

Issue: You're being billed for more licenses than you think you need. Solution:

1. Open the Directory and count all users with the Owner, Admin, Manager, or Team Member role. Each of those users consumes one license.
2. Only users with the Observer or Inactive role are free.
3. If you find users who no longer need paid access, deactivate them or change their role to Observer.
4. Then, reduce your license count on the billing page to match your active paid users.
    

Issue: You deactivated a user, but your bill didn't change. Solution:

1. Deactivating a user frees up the license but does not remove it from your account. You're still paying for the unused license until you reduce the count.
2. Click your profile icon, click Billing, click Manage licenses, and reduce the quantity.
3. After confirming, a prorated credit will appear on your next invoice.
    

Issue: You accidentally added extra licenses during sign-up or onboarding. Solution:

1. Navigate to Billing > Manage licenses and reduce the quantity to the number you actually need.
2. Click Next, then click Confirm.
3. For a refund of the prorated charge from the extra licenses, contact support with your company name and the date the licenses were added.