Choosing your SGEN plan

Pick the SGEN plan that matches what your site needs to do, at the scale you run today.

Choosing your SGEN plan is a smaller decision than it looks, because SGEN does not split features across plans. Every plan — including the free Sandbox — includes the whole platform: every native module, the full dashboard, and the Foundation Pack of managed hosting, SSL, CDN, a web firewall, security patching, and the multi-site dashboard. There is no plugin tax, and no feature is gated behind a higher plan. That means the plans differ by one thing only: how many live sites you are allowed to publish on your own domains.

So the real question is not "which features did I pay for" — it is "how many live sites do I need to run?" Name your situation honestly — one site, a growing business site, or many sites — and the plan follows from your live-site count. This guide maps each need to a plan, shows you where to read the current names and prices, and points you to the exact place in your dashboard to choose or change a plan.

The trap to avoid is buying for the operation you hope to have in two years instead of the one you run this quarter. You can move up the moment you outgrow a plan, and the change applies right away with prorated billing — so there is no reason to over-buy on day one.

What you walk away with is a clear plan that fits your live-site count, a billing-cycle decision you understand, and a path to act on both inside SGEN.

What is this for?

This is a plan-selection decision guide. It is for new and prospective SGEN users who need to answer one question with confidence: how many live sites do I need, and which plan covers that?

Three needs bring most people here, and each maps to a plan by live-site count.

You run one site. A personal site, a portfolio, a single small-business site, or one marketing site on one domain. That is one live site, which points to the entry paid plan, Indie.

You run a growing business site. More pages, more traffic, a small team that all needs dashboard access, and a real publishing cadence — a weekly blog, campaign pages, or a store. Often that is a main site plus a second campaign or wholesale site, which points to Studio, the most popular plan, covering three live sites.

You run many sites. An agency, a studio, or a portfolio operator managing several sites — often for different clients or brands — from one dashboard. Up to ten live sites points to Scale; more than ten, or an open-ended roster, points to Enterprise and its unlimited live sites.

A live site is a site you have taken live on your own custom domain. Pages within a site, products, and traffic do not change your plan — only the number of live sites does. All three needs resolve the same way: count your live sites, match the count to a plan, and confirm it in the dashboard.

Good use cases

Matching a plan to your live-site count is the right approach in each of these situations.

• A founder taking one site live.

A founder built and tested a site and is ready to publish it on a single custom domain. That is one live site, so Indie fits. They know they can move up to Studio the day a second site is on the table.

• A small business adding a blog and a store.

A business already runs a brochure site and wants to add a regular blog and a small store, with a second campaign site likely soon. That is heading toward two or three live sites, so Studio fits — and every module they need is already included, on every plan.

• A marketing team that needs shared access.

A three-person marketing team runs a main site and a secondary campaign site, both live. Two live sites with a small team points to Studio, which covers three and leaves room for one more.

• A small agency standing up client sites.

An agency expects to take five to eight client sites live over the next quarter. That is more than three live sites, so Scale — which covers ten — fits without a mid-quarter plan change.

• A portfolio operator who keeps launching.

An operator who launches new live sites regularly and does not want to track a ceiling chooses Enterprise, with its unlimited live sites, and stops counting.

• A business with a flagship and a wholesale site.

A business owner runs a flagship store and a separate wholesale site, each on its own domain. That is two live sites, comfortably inside Studio's three, with no feature trade-off between them.

• A new user testing before paying.

Someone who wants to see SGEN work first builds and tests in the free Sandbox, at no cost and with no card, then picks a paid plan only when a site is ready to go live.

What NOT to use this for

• This guide does not quote prices.

Plan prices are read on the live pricing page, which is the authoritative source. For the current price of each plan and the free trial, open SGEN pricing and read the plans there directly. This guide tells you which plan to look for by live-site count — not what it costs today.

• This guide does not compare features plan by plan, because features do not vary by plan.

Every plan — Sandbox through Enterprise — includes the whole platform: every native module, the full dashboard, and the Foundation Pack. If you are looking for a feature-by-plan grid, there is not one to find; the difference between paid plans is the live-site count, not the feature set.

• This guide does not cover custom or enterprise-plus arrangements.

Enterprise covers unlimited live sites on a published price, self-serve. If your organization needs custom infrastructure, contract terms, volume pricing, or an education or non-profit rate, that is a conversation — start it from SGEN pricing or contact the SGEN team.

• This guide does not walk through a plan downgrade in detail.

Moving down a plan lowers the number of live sites you are allowed to keep, which matters if you currently publish more than the lower plan covers. The downgrade path has its own notes.

• This guide does not cover building in the Sandbox.

Building and testing for free in the Sandbox is its own topic. This guide picks up at the point where you are ready to take a site live and need to choose a paid plan.

How this connects to other features

Choosing a plan sits at the front of your SGEN journey, so it touches several other parts of the product.

• The free Sandbox — Before you choose a paid plan, you can build and test for free in the Sandbox, with no card and no time limit.

The Sandbox runs unlimited sandbox sites on a staging address; those sites do not count toward your live-site allowance. A paid plan is what takes a site live on your own domain, and your Sandbox build carries over — going live is a publishing step, not a rebuild.

• Multi-site management — Every plan includes the multi-site dashboard.

Your plan's live-site count sets how many sites you can keep live at once; the dashboard is where you run them all from one account.

• Your site design — Once your plan is set and your site is live, the next step is making it yours.

See Browse and preview themes for your site to pick a starting look, then Customize global styles to set your colors, type, and layout.

• Your navigation — A live site needs a way for visitors to move around it.

See Build your navigation menu to set up your site menu after you go live.

• Billing and account settings — Your plan, billing cycle, and live-site usage live together in your account billing area, which is also where you change plans later as your roster grows.

Before you start

Have these few facts in hand before you choose. None of them require pulling numbers you cannot see — they are about your own situation.

The number of live sites you need now. Count the sites you need on their own custom domains today. One brand with one public site is one live site. A main site plus a separate campaign or wholesale site is two. An agency counts each client site once. Sandbox sites on staging addresses do not count toward this number.

The live sites you expect within a few months. If you know a second or third site is coming soon, it is simpler to choose the plan that covers it now than to change plans mid-project. A plan you grow into within the quarter is fine; a plan you have already outgrown is not.

Who needs dashboard access. If more than one person will work in the account, note that. Billing is account-level — team members are not billed as separate seats — so this is about access, not extra cost.

Your billing-cycle preference. Decide whether you want the lower per-month cost of annual billing or the month-to-month flexibility of monthly. Annual billing is about 15% cheaper than monthly for the same plan; you can read the exact figures on the pricing page.

A look at the current pricing page. Open SGEN pricing so you can match your live-site count to a plan name and a current price as you read this guide.

Where to find it

To review or change your plan once you have an account, open your SGEN dashboard and go to SG-Dashboard → Billing. The Subscriptions tab shows your current plan and lets you change it; the Overview, Payment Methods, and Invoices tabs handle the rest of your account billing. That area shows your current plan, how many live sites you have in use, your billing cycle, and the option to move plans.

To compare the current plans, their names, what each includes, and exact prices, open SGEN pricing. The pricing page is the authoritative source for prices — this guide does not restate them, because they change and the live page is always correct.

If you are a prospective user who has not created an account yet, you have two clean entry points. You can start at SGEN pricing to pick a plan, or you can start a free Sandbox first — no card — and build before you choose anything paid.

Steps

Work through these in order. Most of the work is counting your live sites and confirming current prices on the pricing page — the choice itself is quick once you know your number.

1. Count the live sites you need

Count the sites you need live on your own domains now, plus any you know are coming in the next few months.

A single brand with one public site is one live site. A main site plus a separate campaign or wholesale site is two. An agency taking client sites live counts each client site once. Sandbox sites on staging addresses do not count.

Write the number down — that number is your plan:

• None yet, building and testing → Sandbox (free)
• One live site → Indie
• Two or three live sites → Studio (most popular)
• Up to ten live sites → Scale
• More than ten, or open-ended → Enterprise

2. Build and test free in the Sandbox first

If your site is not built yet, start in the free Sandbox.

The Sandbox needs no card, runs unlimited sandbox sites on a staging address, and is where your site takes shape before it goes live. Build, preview, and test as much as you want there at no cost, with every module available. When the site is ready to publish on your own domain, your Sandbox build carries over to the paid plan you choose — you are publishing what you built, not starting again.

If your site is already built and you are only choosing a plan to go live, move on to step three.

3. Match your number to a plan and confirm the price

Open SGEN pricing and match your live-site count to the plan that covers it.

Indie covers one live site; Studio covers three; Scale covers ten; Enterprise covers an unlimited number; and the free Sandbox covers building and testing with no live site. Read the current price for your plan on that page, since it is the source that stays correct. If your number falls between two plans, choose the one that covers your higher count — moving up adds capacity, never features, because every plan already has them all.

4. Choose monthly or annual billing

Decide on a billing cycle.

Annual billing is about 15% cheaper than monthly for the same plan, so if your live-site count is stable, annual is usually the better value. Monthly billing costs a little more per month but gives you month-to-month flexibility, which is a fine choice if you are still settling into how many sites you need. Either way, paid plans start with a 2-week free trial, and you can cancel anytime with prorated charges. The exact figures for both cycles are shown on the pricing page next to each plan.

5. Confirm your plan and verify it is active

Choose the plan and confirm it.

If this is a first-time paid plan, enter your billing details as prompted — billing begins after the 2-week trial. If you are changing an existing plan, your details carry over, and SGEN shows any prorated adjustment before you confirm. After confirming, open SG-Dashboard → Billing → Subscriptions and check that the plan name shown matches what you chose and that the live-site allowance is what you expected. Check your billing email for the confirmation as well — keep it as your record of the change.

What success looks like

When your plan selection is complete, these things are true.

• Your SG-Dashboard → Billing → Subscriptions view shows the plan you chose, not a different one.
• The live-site allowance matches the plan (Indie 1, Studio 3, Scale 10, Enterprise unlimited).
• Every module is available in the dashboard, with no "upgrade required" prompt on any feature — because every plan includes every module.
• If you went live for the first time, your site is published on your own custom domain, not a staging address.
• You received a billing confirmation at the address on your account, noting your plan, billing cycle, and 2-week trial.
• You know your billing cycle and your next charge date, and you confirmed the price on the pricing page rather than guessing.

What you do next depends on where you are. If you chose a plan to go live for the first time, your next move is to set up your site — its theme, styles, and navigation. If you moved up a plan to add capacity, your next move is to publish the new site that prompted the change.

What to do if it does not work

The plan in Billing still shows my old plan after I confirmed the change. Wait a minute or two, then refresh the page with a hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows, Command+Shift+R on Mac). Plan changes take effect when you confirm them, but the panel sometimes needs a refresh to catch up. If the old plan still shows after a refresh, check your billing confirmation email — if the email reflects the new plan, the change took effect and the display will follow. If both the panel and the email still show the old plan, contact SGEN support with your account email and the time of the change.

A module I expected is not available. Every plan includes every module, so this is not a plan-level gate. Log out of the dashboard and log back in — a fresh session clears the access cache. If the module still does not appear after re-login, contact SGEN support with the module name; this is a support matter, not a plan limit.

I hit a limit when I tried to take another site live. You have published as many live sites as your current plan allows. Open SG-Dashboard → Billing → Subscriptions, choose Change plan, and move up to the plan that covers the number you now need: Indie covers 1, Studio 3, Scale 10, and Enterprise unlimited. Moving up adds live-site capacity; it does not change what any existing site can do.

I cannot tell whether Indie or Studio is right. Ask one question: in the next few months, will you take a second site live on another domain? If yes, choose Studio now and avoid a mid-project plan change. If no, choose Indie and move up when the second live site arrives.

I want to compare exact prices but this guide does not list them. That is by design — prices change, so the only reliable place to read them is the live page. Open SGEN pricing for current prices and the trial for every plan.

I was charged an amount I did not expect after changing plans. SGEN prorates plan changes, so a mid-cycle move can produce a charge that blends the rest of your current period with the new plan. Check your billing confirmation email for the breakdown. If the amount still does not look right, contact SGEN billing support with your account email and the invoice reference.

My need is bigger than the largest self-serve plan, or I need custom terms. Enterprise covers unlimited live sites self-serve, on a published price. If you also need custom infrastructure or contract terms beyond that, start a conversation from SGEN pricing or contact the SGEN team.

I am not sure whether my sandbox sites count toward my plan limit. They do not. Sandbox sites run on a staging address and are unlimited on every plan, including the free Sandbox. Only sites you have taken live on your own custom domain count toward your live-site allowance, so you can keep building and testing without affecting your plan.

Plan reference at a glance

This is a quick reference, not a price list — the current prices live on the pricing page. The constant to remember is that every plan includes the whole platform. The only difference between plans is the number of live sites.

Sandbox (free) is the build-and-test plan. It runs unlimited sandbox sites on a staging address, with every module available, no card, and no time limit. It is a free permanent tier, not a trial. It is where you build before you take a site live; it does not publish on your own domain.

Indie is the entry paid plan. It covers one live site, with the whole platform. It is right for an operator taking a single site live on one domain.

Studio is the most popular plan. It covers three live sites — a main site plus a campaign or secondary site, which is the most common shape. A small marketing team with two sites and a weekly content rhythm fits inside Studio.

Scale is for portfolios and small agencies. It covers ten live sites, for operators taking more than three sites live across a roster.

Enterprise is for high-volume operators and agency portfolios. It covers unlimited live sites on a published price — not a sales call. Choose it when you do not want to count live sites, or when you also need to discuss custom terms.

Examples

Three concrete situations show how a live-site count maps to a plan.

Example 1 — One portfolio site. A freelance designer built a portfolio site in the free Sandbox and is ready to publish it on a single custom domain. That is one live site, so they choose Indie, confirm the current price on SGEN pricing, pick annual billing for the lower per-month cost, and go live. They note they can move up to Studio the moment a second project site appears.

Example 2 — A growing business site with a team. A small retailer runs a brochure site and wants to add a weekly blog, a few campaign pages, and a small store, with three people working in the dashboard, plus a second campaign site coming soon. That is two heading to three live sites with a small team, so they choose Studio, which covers three. Every module they need is already included, so the only decision is the live-site count and the billing cycle.

Example 3 — An agency with client sites. A studio is taking five client sites live this quarter and wants one dashboard for all of them. That is more than three live sites, so they choose Scale, which covers ten, leaving room to add a sixth and seventh client without a plan change. Each client site gets its own custom domain under the one account, and billing stays account-level.

Example 4 — A portfolio operator with an open-ended roadmap. An operator keeps launching new live sites and does not want to track a ceiling. That points to Enterprise and its unlimited live sites, so they choose it and stop counting. Because every plan already includes every module, moving to Enterprise adds live-site headroom only — nothing about how any site is built or run changes.

Related reading

• Browse and preview themes for your site — pick a starting look once your plan is set and your site is live.
• Customize global styles — set your colors, type, and layout after you go live.
• Build your navigation menu — give visitors a way to move around your live site.
• SGEN pricing — the authoritative source for current plan names, inclusions, and prices.