· By The Hidangi Team
Free vs Paid: What Actually Changes When You Upgrade Hidangi
Most "free vs paid" comparisons are vague on purpose — a few bullet points, a highlighted upgrade button, and not much detail about what actually changes. Here's the specific version: exactly which numbers move when a restaurant upgrades from Hidangi's Free plan, and which ones don't move at all.
What stays the same on every plan?
A few things are identical whether a restaurant is on Free or a paid plan:
- Unlimited tables — the number of tables and their QR codes is never capped.
- 1 Owner + 2 Staff accounts — team size doesn't change with plan.
- Basic customer/loyalty tracking — available from day one.
- Plain menu photo uploads — uploading your own photo to any menu item is free on every plan and never consumes an image allowance.
What's actually different between Free and paid?
| Entitlement | Free | Paid (Starter / Growth / Pro) |
|---|---|---|
| Active menu items | 30 | Unlimited |
| Valid QR orders | 300 / registration month | Unlimited |
| AI content generations | 30, lifetime | 300 – 2,000 / billing month, by tier |
| AI image transforms | None | RM12 – RM52 monthly budget, by tier |
| Analytics history | Last 30 days | Full retained history |
| CSV export | No | Yes |
What happens when a Free restaurant hits its order limit?
Hidangi notifies the Owner at 240, 270, and 300 orders in the registration month. At 300, the menu stays fully viewable to guests, but new order submission is paused until the next registration-month reset or an upgrade — nothing gets deleted, and nothing breaks silently.
Why is AI generation a monthly budget instead of unlimited?
Because AI content and AI image transforms have a real per-generation cost behind them, so each paid tier gets a set monthly allowance instead of an unmetered feature — visible in the app as a plain "images/generations remaining this month" count, not an abstract credit system. Included allowances don't roll over month to month, and Free includes a small lifetime allowance (30 AI content generations) so a restaurant can try the feature before ever paying.
What does a small restaurant actually get for RM79/month?
Starter (RM79/month in Malaysia) removes the menu item and order caps entirely, adds a monthly AI content and AI image budget, unlocks full analytics history instead of a rolling 30 days, and turns on CSV export. Growth and Pro raise the AI budgets further for restaurants generating more content or images regularly — the menu, ordering, and table features themselves don't change between paid tiers.
What happens if a restaurant downgrades from a paid plan back to Free?
If a restaurant has more than 30 active menu items when it downgrades, it gets 30 days to choose which ones to keep. After that window, the 30 most recently updated active items stay live and the rest are archived automatically — not deleted, just no longer shown to guests until re-activated on a paid plan again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Free plan limit how many tables a restaurant can have? No. Tables and their QR codes are unlimited on every plan, including Free.
How many orders can a Free restaurant take per month? 300 valid QR orders per registration month. The Owner is notified at 240 and 270, and at 300 new orders pause until the next reset or an upgrade.
Is uploading a menu photo a paid feature? No — uploading your own photo to a menu item is free on every plan and doesn't use any AI image allowance.
Do unused AI generations roll over to the next month on a paid plan? No. Included monthly AI allowances reset each billing month and don't carry over.
Hidangi's Free plan is built to be genuinely usable, not a crippled trial — the honest reason to upgrade is unlimited menu items and orders, deeper analytics, and a monthly AI budget, not access being withheld until you pay.
