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Pricing

Pricing

Free isn't a trial that runs out. It's a real tier you can stay on. Here's exactly what the paid plan costs so it isn't a surprise later.

Everything in both tiers. There is no third one, and no add-ons.
Feature Free Vellum Plus
Daily question and missionEvery one, foreverEvery one, forever
Written entriesUnlimitedUnlimited
Did-it entriesUnlimitedUnlimited
Voice recordingsUp to 2 minutes eachUp to 2 minutes each
Photos100, lifetimeUnlimited
Video—Unlimited
ChildrenUnlimitedUnlimited
Parents on one archiveUnlimitedUnlimited
Full exportFree and completeFree and complete
AdsNoneNone
Price$0$59.99/yr or $5.99/mo

Ships with the App Store launch. Waitlist members will hear the price before it goes live, not after.

Why the free tier is generous about prompts and strict about photos

The prompts cost us almost nothing and they're the actual product, so they're never metered. Some apps in this category charge you per question per day, and that's the thing worth not doing.

Storage is the real cost, and it runs for eighteen years, so that's where the line is. 100 is lifetime rather than monthly on purpose: a monthly reset lets a free archive grow forever against no revenue, and the honest version of this is a number that doesn't move. A cap can always be raised. It can never be lowered.

One price, one household

Not per child. Having another kid shouldn't cost more, and neither should the second parent wanting to write things down.

Fourteen days free

Annual is preselected because it's two months cheaper, not because it's stickier. Cancel in Settings on your iPhone, in two taps, like any other subscription — we don't get to make that hard, and wouldn't want the version of this business that did.

No ads on any tier

Including the free one. That's the row people assume is the catch, so it's stated plainly here and at length on the promise page.

If you stop paying

What happens to the archive

Most apps handle this badly, so here it is in full, on the pricing page, before you've given anybody a card number.

Nothing is locked

If you stop paying, Vellum drops to the free tier. Your whole archive stays readable. You keep answering the daily question — text and did-it entries never stop. New photo and video uploads pause.

After ninety days, photos get cheaper to store

Original photos move to cold storage. Thumbnails stay instant, search still works, and pulling a full-resolution original back takes about an hour. That's a property of the storage, not a penalty, and it's described that way because that's what it is.

We never delete a word you wrote unless you ask us to.

And if media is ever going to be removed, you get warned three times — ninety days out, thirty days out, seven days out — each with a free one-click export of the whole archive. Sign in once during that window and it's cancelled outright. If we can't reach you, we keep it.

We have never deleted a word a parent wrote.

The export is free on the free tier

A zip of ordinary files in date folders plus an index.html that opens in any browser, offline, with no account. Free, complete, always — even if you stopped paying years ago. The whole promise, including what happens if we go away.

Questions about the money

The rest are on the FAQ.

Is the free tier a trial?

No. It has no end date and no countdown. Every question and every mission is uncapped on it, forever. The only line is 100 photos, lifetime.

What happens when I hit 100 photos?

New photo uploads stop. Nothing already in the archive changes, and you keep answering questions, writing entries, recording voice and completing did-it missions exactly as before.

Do I pay more for a second child?

No. One price covers the household — every kid, both parents. Having another child shouldn't cost more.

Why isn't the price live yet?

Vellum hasn't opened on the App Store. When it does, $59.99 a year or $5.99 a month is what it will be, and waitlist members hear about any change to that before it goes live rather than after.

How do I cancel?

Settings on your iPhone, two taps, like any other subscription. Apple handles it and we don't get to make it harder.

The prompts are free either way

One a day, by email, starting tomorrow. No card, no tier, no app required yet.

Get tomorrow's prompt

One a day, by email. A note when it opens and when the price goes live. Nothing else.