Payments and cancellations

This article covers payment, renewal, and cancellation details for Lens. If you have any questions after reading this article, please reach out to us at lens@upstream.tech

Setup and overview

When you sign up for Lens, you provide an accounting email address. Any correspondence about upcoming renewals, receipts, and billing will be sent to this email address. You will also specify if your organization is sales tax exempt. If so, be sure to provide the sales tax exemption certificate to accounting@upstream.tech. 

When you sign up for Lens from the website, you provide your billing details which are used to pay for Lens access and any additional charges you incur by purchasing imagery and data layers. 

  • Unless otherwise specified in your contract, Lens access subscription fees will be charged immediately to your credit card, through ACH/wire transfer, or invoiced at the start of the contract. Lens plan subscriptions are on auto-renew unless otherwise specified and we offer annual and monthly plans. Lens Lite and Lens Standard plans are required to have a payment method on file unless otherwise specified.
  • Imagery orders are tracked on an ongoing basis. You will be billed monthly for the imagery you ordered in the previous month, unless otherwise specified in your contract. 
  • We do not support multiple organizations sharing the same Lens account, with the exception of custom Enterprise setups. We contract individually with organizations for legal and financial reasons.

Managing your billing method

Admin users can manage the billing method (credit card or ACH) preferences of their organization via the settings page. 

  • To update your organization's billing method, navigate to Settings > Billing
  • From here, you can see or add a default payment method
  • This credit card or bank account will automatically be charged to this payment method on file for both imagery purchases and Access renewals unless otherwise specified
  • There are no credit card fees for payments in Lens

After clicking "Edit payment method", you will be able to enter in a card or US bank account as your default payment method.

When entering a US bank account, you will be able to search for your bank from a list of presets. If you select one of those bank presets and link your account through the bank's authentication portal, Stripe uses what is called "instant verification" and you pay and receive a link to create your account right away. However, if you instead select, "Enter bank details manually" instead, then you'll fill out those details as shown below (this might happen if you're using a local credit union or small bank). Our billing system will use microdeposits to verify the account before you're able to pay and create your Lens account, which can take 1-2 days. 

After 1-2 days, you will receive an automated email asking you to verify the microdeposit that appeared in your bank account. 

Clicking "Verify deposit" will bring you to a page where you can enter a code from your bank statement to complete the payment. 

Making payments

We accept automatic payments via both credit card and ACH/wire transfer unless otherwise specified. We'll send receipts when payments are processed to the billing contract provided. 

  • You can view details about your plan and spending from the Billing settings page - check out this support article for more detail.
  • Imagery invoices will be automatically billed monthly to your default payment method.
  • If automatic payment fails, or for any customers who are not set up for automatic payment, invoices are due 30 days after the invoice is sent.
  • If you entered the wrong billing information and your subscription needs to be refunded and re-charged to a different method, you will be charged a re-processing fee. 

Payment receipts

After a payment is made in Lens, your billing contact will receive an email with a receipt/invoice breakdown of charges (pictured below). This will include the types of imagery purchased, acres of imagery, and any access subscription renewal costs. If you'd like to see a fully detailed breakdown of image purchases, navigate to Settings > Billing & Contracts > Download imagery subscription. If you would like to update your billing contact email, reach out to us at lens@upstream.tech.


You may receive an occasional email notifying you that your imagery subscription will renew. If you receive this email, no action is needed. Active imagery subscriptions simply allow you to continue ordering imagery if you choose, and there is no additional cost of having an imagery subscription other than purchases that you make. 

Annual Lens subscriptions & cancellations 

Annual subscriptions are the most cost-effective way for most customers to use Lens. With access to your full history of notes, ordered imagery, and alerts, annual subscriptions are the best way to monitor changes on landscapes over time and retain access to all your data.

  • Annual subscriptions will auto-renew unless specified otherwise, with a notice sent to your billing email 45 days before renewal. Upon renewal, your credit card or bank account will be charged. Any adjustments to your Lens plan must be communicated prior to the renewal date.
  • If you choose to not renew your annual subscription, you must cancel your subscription in your Settings page (Name > Settings > Billings & Contracts) prior to your renewal date. You will receive an automatic reminder of your upcoming renewal 45 days in advance. 
  • If you’re interested in transitioning from an annual to a monthly subscription, you can do so at the end of your current term. To transition from annual to monthly, we will require a credit card or ACH billing to set up autopay.
  • After your annual subscription has been cancelled, you have a 30 day grace period following the last day of your contract. During this grace period, you can access your Lens account to view notes and create reports, but you won’t be able to order any additional high-resolution commercial imagery. After this grace period, you will no longer have access to your Lens account or any associated data. We do not retain any data from customers who do not have an active Lens account.
  • We are unable to refund subscription payments after renewal. 
  • If you would like to re-start with Lens after your annual subscription has lapsed, you can sign up anew from the Lens website.

Monthly Lens subscriptions & cancellations 

In addition to annual subscriptions, we offer monthly Lens subscriptions. While monthly subscriptions are a great way to try out Lens or monitor a time-bound project, monthly subscriptions miss out on the cost savings of an annual subscription and are not eligible for a nonprofit discount.

  • Monthly subscriptions will auto-renew unless otherwise specified. Upon renewal, your credit card or bank account will be charged for the next month. To prevent your Lens monthly subscription from renewing, you must cancel your subscription in your Settings page (Name > Settings > Billings & Contracts).
  • Monthly subscriptions can be transitioned to annual at any time to take advantage of the discounted subscription pricing. Be sure to let us know if you are eligible for the nonprofit discount at this time as well.  
  • After canceling your renewal, you will have access to Lens until the end of the month you’ve paid for. When your term is over, you will have a grace period of one week, during which you can log into Lens and view notes, but will be unable to order any imagery.  After the grace period, you will lose access to your account and all data will be deleted, including property boundaries, notes, and imagery.
  • If you would like to re-start with Lens after your monthly subscription has lapsed, you can sign up anew from the Lens website.