---
source: https://carbone.io/pricing.html
title: "Carbone - Pricing"
description: "Take a look at the very attractive prices for using the Carbone report and document generator."
generated_at: "2026-07-13"
---

# Pricing

Carbone is offered under four deployment options. All prices below are in **EUR, excluding VAT** (French VAT applies; intra-Community customers can be exempt with a valid VAT number). The live page is at https://carbone.io/pricing.html.

**AI Document Generation is included free on every plan, on every deployment option** — Cloud (including the Free tier), On-Premise (including the free Community tier), Private Cloud, and the open-source Embedded library: connect any AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Copilot...) through the official [MCP server](https://carbone.io/documentation/developer/ai/mcp.md), and use the open-source [Carbone Skill](https://carbone.io/documentation/developer/ai/skills.md) so AI agents design accurate templates from natural language.

## 1. Carbone Cloud — managed REST API, EU-hosted in Paris

Hosted on European cloud providers (OVHCloud, Scaleway, BunnyCDN). No setup required: send JSON + template to https://api.carbone.io. Six tiers, all priced per month (monthly or annual billing — annual is cheaper per-month and unused documents roll over across the 12 months).

| Plan            | Monthly  | Yearly (per month) | Docs / month | Docs / year | Templates | Parallel renders | SLA   | Chat support           | Analytics retention |
|-----------------|----------|--------------------|--------------|-------------|-----------|------------------|-------|------------------------|---------------------|
| Free            | €0       | €0                 | 100          | 1,200       | 100       | 1                | —     | —                      | 15 days             |
| Essential       | €29      | €26                | 1,000        | 12,000      | 500       | 2                | 99.5% | P1 (~24h resolution)   | 30 days             |
| Essential Plus  | €95      | €85                | 5,000        | 60,000      | 1,000     | 5                | 99.9% | P1 (~24h resolution)   | 60 days             |
| Advanced        | €159     | €149               | 20,000       | 240,000     | 2,000     | 10               | 99.9% | P2 (~1h resolution)    | 90 days             |
| Advanced Plus   | €295     | €265               | 100,000      | 1,200,000   | 5,000     | 50               | 99.9% | P2 (~1h resolution)    | 180 days            |
| Advanced Ultra  | €595     | €529               | 500,000      | 6,000,000   | 10,000    | 50               | 99.9% | P2 + extended hours    | 360 days            |

**Extra-document fees (when you exceed your plan's monthly quota):**

| Plan            | Per extra document |
|-----------------|--------------------|
| Free            | €0.05              |
| Essential       | €0.02              |
| Essential Plus  | €0.005             |
| Advanced        | €0.002             |
| Advanced Plus   | €0.001             |
| Advanced Ultra  | €0.001             |

**Extra-template fees:** €0.10 / template above the plan quota for Free and Essential; €0.05 for Essential Plus; €0.01 for Advanced, Advanced Plus, and Advanced Ultra.

**Counting rule for documents:** one document is counted per render when the injected JSON + images payload is **under 1 MB**. Beyond 1 MB the count scales linearly (0.5 MB = 1 document, 1.2 MB = 2 documents, 2.3 MB = 3 documents). Page count is irrelevant — Carbone bills per document, not per page.

**What's included on every Cloud tier** (Free included): all 100+ output formats, unlimited page count, unlimited document previews (PDFs with watermarks via the test token), Carbone Studio designer, template manager + versioning + categories + tags, REST APIs, SDKs, API versioning, Single Sign On (Azure OAuth, Google OAuth), AI Document Generation (MCP server + Carbone Skill), integrations with Zapier, Airtable, Bubble, n8n, Make and Odoo, full Enterprise feature set in rendering (dynamic colors, images, charts, barcodes, HTML rendering, forms, JS charts via ECharts, smart conditions, stored variables, JSON transformation, aggregate functions, hyperlinks, table-of-contents updates), ISO 19005 PDF/A export, ISO 14289 PDF/UA accessibility export, PDF Merge / Append, PDF Signature, PDF Attachment (Factur-X), PDF Watermark, PDF Password Protection & Encryption, full i18n (text, number, currency, date, duration, RTL languages).

**Cloud-specific add-ons by tier:**

- **AI assistant** (template authoring help in Studio): Essential and above.
- **AI template generator**: Advanced and above.
- **Multi-users in Studio**: Advanced and above.
- **Studio Web Component** (embed Studio in your own app with your branding): Advanced and above.
- **Integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce**: Advanced and above (coming soon).
- **Expert support** (onboarding + 10 hours/year of template-design assistance): Advanced and above.
- **Roadmap impact** (we adapt the roadmap to your needs): Advanced and above.
- **Extended support hours**: Advanced Ultra.
- **2% for the planet** (2% of revenue donated to open source, environment, education): all paid Cloud tiers.

## 2. Carbone On-Premise — self-hosted

Self-host the Carbone Server API on your own infrastructure. Distributions: Docker image `carbone/carbone-ee` (Hub: https://hub.docker.com/r/carbone/carbone-ee, tags `full-X.Y.Z`, `full-fonts-X.Y.Z`, `slim-X.Y.Z`) **or** native binaries for Linux (x64 / arm64), macOS, and Windows (all version downloads listed on the changelog page, https://carbone.io/changelog.md).

| Plan       | Price        | Servers   | Documents | Templates | Enterprise features | Chat support           | Expert support        | Lifetime license |
|------------|--------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|---------------------|------------------------|-----------------------|------------------|
| Free       | €0           | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | No (Community only) | —                      | —                     | —                |
| Fit        | €1,500 / yr  | 1         | 12,000/yr | unlimited | Yes (Enterprise)    | P1 (~24h resolution)   | Optional add-on       | —                |
| Unlimited  | €2,940 / yr  | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | Yes (Enterprise)    | P2 (~1h resolution)    | Yes (10 hrs / year)   | Yes              |

- **Free** unlocks all Community features at no cost: substitutions, repetitions, enums, nested loops, array sorting/filtering/distinct, parametrized aliases, conditions, formatters. **Enterprise rendering features are disabled** (no dynamic images/colors/charts, no barcodes, no HTML rendering, no smart conditions, no aggregate functions). Designer Studio, Template Manager, REST APIs, ISO PDF/A and PDF/UA export, and AI Document Generation (MCP server + Carbone Skill) are included.
- **Fit** adds the full Enterprise feature set on **1 server** with a 12,000 documents/year cap. Includes Designer Studio multi-user, PDF Merge/Append, PDF Signature, PDF Attachment, PDF Watermark, PDF Password Protection & Encryption, custom JS plugins (authentication, template storage, metrics, formatters).
- **Unlimited** removes both the server and document caps, adds P2 chat support, mandatory Expert support, and a **lifetime license**: if you don't renew, Carbone keeps running indefinitely with the version you had at contract end (only new versions require renewal).

**Custom JS plugins** (Fit and Unlimited): override default authentication (JWT), override template/report storage, record custom metrics, add custom data formatters. Available in all On-Premise tiers including Free.

## 3. Carbone Private Cloud — dedicated single-tenant, AWS-hosted

Fully managed, dedicated single-tenant deployment on the AWS Marketplace (https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-m4tdvrln53afm).

- **Pricing (usage-based per document, billed in USD via AWS Marketplace):** $0.15 for the first 100 documents, $0.08 from document 101 to 1,000, $0.03 from 1,001 to 10,000, $0.008 from 10,001 and up.
- **Enterprise license included by default** (all features enabled).
- Document count, template count, parallel renders all **unlimited**.
- P1 chat support (~24h resolution).
- Expert support and Roadmap impact available as add-ons.
- Same JS plugin extensibility as On-Premise (custom authentication, storage, metrics, formatters).

## 4. Embedded Carbone JS — open-source Node.js library

For developers who want to embed Carbone directly inside their Node.js application without running a separate API server.

- **Price:** Free (open source on https://github.com/carboneio).
- **Community features only** — no Enterprise rendering features (no dynamic images/colors/charts, no barcodes, no HTML rendering, no smart conditions/aggregates).
- No Designer Studio, no Template Manager, no REST API layer — you embed the engine directly in your code.
- Full Community feature set: substitutions, repetitions, enums, nested loops, array operations, conditions, formatters, full i18n (text, number, currency, date, duration, RTL).
- Custom JS plugins supported (authentication, storage, metrics, formatters).

## Frequently asked questions

### Subscribing and billing

**How do I subscribe to Carbone Cloud?**
Visit the [Plans page](https://account.carbone.io/plans) in your Carbone account and select your preferred plan. Subscribing provides access to the Carbone Cloud API with a production API key, a monthly (or yearly) document quota, template storage, API analytics, and access to Carbone Studio. Payments are encrypted and processed by Stripe.

**How does billing work?**
Monthly or yearly subscription, billed at the start of the period. Extra documents beyond your included quota are charged individually at the start of the next period along with your renewal. Unused template storage continues to be charged unless deleted.

**Are prices VAT-inclusive?**
No — all prices are exclusive of VAT (French VAT applies by default). EU companies with a valid intra-Community VAT number can be exempt at signup.

**What is the EU VAT number?**
An EU VAT number is a registered tax identification used to track tax that EU-based businesses pay and collect through purchases and sales. The Carbone billing system accepts these numbers only from European businesses (France, UK, Germany, etc.). It is distinct from a local tax number or tax ID.

**What should I do if my VAT number is being rejected or flagged as invalid?**
1. Ensure the VAT ID is entered with the 2-character country code prefix; only letters, numbers, and spaces are accepted.
2. Validate the number on the [official EU VIES service](https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/#/vat-validation). If verification fails there, contact your country's tax authorities.
3. If problems persist, reach out via the live chat on https://carbone.io.

**Can I switch between monthly and yearly billing?**
No, direct conversion is not available. You must cancel the current subscription and start a new one at the desired billing frequency.

### Documents and templates — quotas and counting

**How is a document counted?**
One document is counted per render call (`POST /render/:templateID` with a production token) when the total merged data is ≤ 1 MB. The merged data includes the JSON dataset size, injected images, and concatenated PDFs. Formula:

```
(JSON bytes + image bytes + PDF bytes) / 1,000,000 = documents consumed
```

Examples: 0.5 MB JSON = 1 document; 1.2 MB JSON = 2 documents; 0.2 MB JSON + 1 MB images + 1.2 MB PDF = 3 documents.

**Note for accounts created before May 17, 2024:** image downloads are free; the formula excludes the image bytes.

**Do unused documents roll over?**
- **Monthly Cloud plans:** no, unused documents do not roll over.
- **Yearly Cloud plans:** yes — you receive "monthly quota × 12" and can spend them any time during the 12-month period.

**Is there a maximum number of pages per document?**
No. Carbone is page-independent — render a document with any number of pages. The only cap is the 1 MB merged-data threshold, above which one render counts as multiple documents.

**Can I increase my quota of documents or templates?**
Upgrade your plan from the [Plans page](https://account.carbone.io/plans). If no listed plan fits, contact support@carbone.io for a custom solution.

**How are templates stored?**
- **Cloud Studio:** templates are stored indefinitely with preview, design, versioning, and labeling.
- **Cloud API with production token:** templates are stored indefinitely by default. To set a template as non-persistent, send the `carbone-template-delete-after` header (max 30 days).
- **Cloud API with test token:** templates are non-persistent, automatically deleted within 30 days, and count toward your subscription template quota.

**Supported template upload formats** (uploaded files only): DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, ODT, ODS, ODG, ODP, XHTML, IDML, HTML, XML.

**How can I delete templates?**
Manually via your Carbone account or Carbone Studio, programmatically via API, automatically on subscription cancellation (within 30 days), or instantaneously on account deletion.

**Where can I monitor my usage?**
On your Carbone account homepage — see the Subscription and Analytics panels. The API allows uninterrupted usage even when reaching document quotas. Email notifications at 70%, 90%, and 100% usage can be enabled in profile settings.

### Plan changes

**How do I upgrade my Carbone Cloud subscription?**
Visit the [Plans page](https://account.carbone.io/plans) and select the new plan. Effects:
- The new subscription starts a fresh billing cycle with a prorated credit for unused time from the previous plan.
- Any extra documents from the current subscription are charged and reset for the new period.
- Test and production API keys stay the same.
- You cannot convert between monthly and yearly directly — cancel and re-subscribe instead.

Example: upgrading from Essential (€29/month) to Essential Plus (€95/month) halfway through the Essential billing cycle, with 2,000 extra documents and 20 extra templates used on Essential before upgrading → €95 (new plan) − €14.50 (prorated credit for the unused half of Essential) + €40 (2,000 extra documents × Essential's €0.02/doc overage) + €2 (20 extra templates × Essential's €0.10/template overage) = ~€122.50 before tax in that scenario.

**How do I downgrade my Carbone Cloud subscription?**
Visit the [Plans page](https://account.carbone.io/plans) and select a lower plan. Effects:
- A new billing period begins immediately.
- Unused time on the previous subscription is NOT refunded.
- Extra documents from the previous period are charged and reset.
- API keys continue working.
- Monthly ↔ yearly conversion not supported directly; cancel and re-subscribe.

Example: downgrading from Essential Plus (€95/month) to Essential (€29/month) with 3,000 extra documents used on Essential Plus before downgrading → €29 (new plan, no refund for unused Essential Plus time) + €15 (3,000 extra documents × Essential Plus's €0.005/doc overage) = ~€44 total before tax in that scenario.

### Cancellation and refunds

**How do I cancel my Carbone Cloud subscription?**
Navigate to your Carbone account homepage → locate the subscription card → click the menu in the top left corner → select "Unsubscribe." On cancellation:
- The billing period ends without refund of the unused time.
- Extra documents from the period are charged.
- **Production API keys are deleted.**
- Templates remain accessible via the test API key for 30 days, then are automatically deleted.
- The test API key continues working — you can keep evaluating Carbone Cloud after cancellation.

**Is canceling free?**
Yes, unless you exceeded your plan's monthly document quota — in that case the extras are charged at cancellation.

**Can I get a refund?**
If you have started using your subscription, no refunds are provided.

### Account management

**Can I migrate templates to another Carbone account?**
Yes — email support@carbone.io with the original account email and the destination account email. The support team performs the migration.

**Can I migrate my subscription to another Carbone account?**
Direct transfer of a subscription between accounts is not supported. Two options:
1. Update the billing information, payment method, and email on the current account to reflect the other account's details (account email + invoice details only — the underlying account stays the same).
2. Wait until the billing period ends, cancel the subscription, and create a fresh subscription under the alternate account.

### Support and extras

**Can I purchase priority support standalone?**
No. Priority support is not sold separately. It is included in the paid plans: P1 chat support (Essential and Essential Plus on Cloud), P2 chat support (Advanced, Advanced Plus, Advanced Ultra on Cloud, Unlimited on On-Premise), plus Expert support (10 hrs/year of template-design assistance) on Advanced and above.

**Do you offer a full template creation service?**
Partially in-house, fully through our partners — contact support@carbone.io.

**What is the "Integrated philanthropy" (2% for the planet)?**
Carbone commits **2% of hosted-solution revenue to charity** across three focus areas: **open source software**, **education**, and **environmental causes**. Active on all paid Carbone Cloud tiers (Essential and above) and the On-Premise Fit / Unlimited / Private Cloud plans.

### Other deployments

**How do I buy On-Premise or Private Cloud?**
Contact support@carbone.io or use the live chat at https://carbone.io. Private Cloud is also available on the [AWS Marketplace](https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-m4tdvrln53afm).

**Do you need more documents than any listed plan offers?**
Contact support@carbone.io for a custom quote.

## Quick decision guide

- **Just trying Carbone or low volume (< 100 docs/month)** → Carbone Cloud Free, or self-host with Embedded Carbone JS (open source).
- **Small business / startup (1k–5k docs/month, want managed infra)** → Carbone Cloud Essential or Essential Plus.
- **Mid-market / regulated (20k–500k docs/month, want SLA + integrations + AI tools)** → Carbone Cloud Advanced / Advanced Plus / Advanced Ultra.
- **On-premise required (compliance / data residency) and < 12k docs/year on one server** → Carbone On-Premise Fit.
- **On-premise required and unlimited volume / multi-server / lifetime license** → Carbone On-Premise Unlimited.
- **Dedicated AWS deployment with pay-per-document billing** → Carbone Private Cloud on AWS.
- **Embed the engine directly in your Node.js app, accept Community-feature-only rendering** → Embedded Carbone JS.

For commercial questions, custom quotes, or an Enterprise quote: **contact@carbone.io**. For product support, bugs, and "how-do-I" questions: **support@carbone.io** (answered by Carbone's engineers and founders, not by bots).