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Account upgrade
The lowest-risk option. The provider tops up or upgrades the account you already own, so your login, history and files stay yours. If the arrangement ends you simply drop back to the free tier — nothing is lost.
Safety guide
Are AI group buys safe? Shared vs. private accounts
Safe is the wrong question — useful is closer. A group buy is a commercial arrangement with a middle-man, and its safety depends almost entirely on the kind of account you end up with and what you put into it. A shared account splits one paid plan between members. A private account is created for you alone. An account upgrade simply tops up the login you already own. The price often looks similar; the exposure does not. This page explains the difference so you can pick deliberately.
Three account types: shared, private and upgrade
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Private account
You are handed a dedicated account created for you. History is not mixed with strangers, but the account is not in your name, so recovery, email changes and vendor support all run through the reseller.
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Shared plan seat
A paid plan split between several members. Cheapest by far, and normal on genuine multi-seat plans — but capacity, and sometimes history and uploads, are shared. Concurrent logins can bump you out, and some vendors treat sharing as a terms-of-service breach.
Eight checks before payment
- Whether you are buying a shared account, a private account or an upgrade to your own login.
- Whether the seat is named to you or shared with other members.
- The monthly usage cap and what happens when the pool is exhausted.
- How many people can be signed in at the same time.
- Whether history, files and projects are private to you.
- The refund and cancellation terms, in writing.
- Response time for support, and the channel it happens on.
- How the provider handles a vendor policy change or account suspension.
Simple rule
Use shared access for throwaway, low-stakes work you would be comfortable seeing on a shared screen. Pay full price for anything involving clients, personal data or work you cannot afford to lose access to mid-project.