Free, Basic, Premium — understanding the three DetectID plans
Detailed comparison of DetectID's three plans plus top-up packs — what each tier gets you, who each is for, and how the Rally Captain perk fits in.
DetectID has three plans — Free, Basic, and Premium — plus top-up packs for when you blow past your quota. This post explains who each plan is for, what changes between them, and the honest tradeoffs of each.
The headline differences
| Free | Basic | Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price (per month) | £0 | £1.99 | £3.99 |
| Identifications per month | 3 | 100 | 200 |
| Photos per find | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Saved collection | No (session-only) | Yes | Yes |
| Public profile + sharing | No | Yes | Yes |
| Detecting sessions + map | No | Yes | Yes |
| Ad-free | No | No | Yes |
| Historic OS + Roman roads overlay | No | No | Yes |
| Premium Insights dashboard | No | No | Yes |
| Top-up packs available | No | Yes | Yes |
Full pricing details are always at /pricing.
Who Free is for
Free is for the first-time visitor who wants to try the engine before committing. Three identifications per month is enough to check a couple of finds you’ve been curious about, see the quality of the verdicts, and decide whether you want to come back.
The Free tier deliberately doesn’t save your finds. You get the identification, the result page, the reasoning chain — but no permanent collection, no public sharing, no map. That’s the conversion hook into Basic.
Who Basic is for
Basic is what most active detectorists land on. 100 identifications per month is comfortable for someone doing one or two field trips a week. You get the full app: collection, sharing, the personal map, detecting sessions, public profile, hearts and comments on finds.
The thing that surprises people about Basic: it costs less than a coffee at most cafes per month. We deliberately priced it that way. The cost ceiling for DetectID’s identification engine is well understood; we make this work by serving lots of Basic subscribers rather than charging a few power users a fortune.
What Basic adds over Free
- Save every find to your private collection at /finds.
- Two photos per find — obverse and reverse, hugely improving identification accuracy on hammered silver.
- Public sharing — toggle finds onto the discovery feed and your public profile.
- Personal map at /finds/map with pins, heat map, layer toggles, and detecting sessions.
- CSV export of your collection.
- Stats dashboard — the live counter strip on the collection page.
- Top-up packs — buy extra identifications mid-month if you run out.
Who Premium is for
Premium is for serious detectorists — people running club nights, attending multiple rallies a month, finding 5+ pieces worth identifying every session. 200 identifications per month is a lot. Up to four photos per find is for the awkward worn coin where you want obverse, reverse, edge, and a close-up of a specific feature.
What Premium adds over Basic
- 200 identifications per month (vs Basic’s 100).
- Up to 4 photos per find — especially useful for partial-flan or worn pieces.
- Ad-free — no banner ads anywhere on the site.
- Historic OS overlay — National Library of Scotland 1840–1950 OS tiles layered on your map (currently a Phase 3 placeholder toggle — tiles arrive once licensing is squared with NLS).
- Roman roads overlay — the Iter network on your map (same Phase 3 status).
- Insights dashboard — valuation history, productivity stats, collection breakdown (in build).
Top-up packs
Sometimes you have a particularly productive month — a rally weekend yields 30 finds, you sail through your Basic quota on a Wednesday. Rather than upgrade to Premium for one month, top-up packs add identifications to your current plan.
- 20 extra IDs — one-off pack.
- 50 extra IDs — bigger pack with a small per-ID discount.
- 100 extra IDs — for the really productive month.
Top-ups are added to your current month’s allowance. Unused top-up identifications don’t roll over (we keep this simple).
The Rally Captain perk
Separate from the paid plans: if you run a rally on DetectID that attracts 10+ attendees and produces 20+ finds, you automatically receive 3 months of Premium-equivalent access. Run another qualifying rally and the clock extends — two a year keeps you permanently as Captain without paying.
Read the full story at Running a rally as the organiser.
Switching plans
Plan changes take effect at your next billing cycle. Cancellations stop the recurring charge and revert you to Free at the end of the current month — you keep your collection (read-only), but new identifications go onto Free’s 3-per-month quota.
Free vs Basic: the practical numbers
If you find something worth identifying on more than three trips per month, Basic pays for itself in friction-reduction alone:
- You don’t need to remember which finds you’ve already used your three IDs on.
- You can identify everything that interests you, not just the highest-priority items.
- You can come back later and re-photograph a worn coin if the first identification asked for better photos.
- You get a collection that builds up over time.
Common questions
Can I downgrade from Premium to Basic?
Yes — effective next billing cycle. Your collection is retained; you just drop to 100 IDs/month and lose Premium-only features.
What happens to my saved finds if I cancel?
They stay. The collection is read-only on Free, but it remains in your account. Re-subscribe and you pick up where you left off.
Is there a student or club discount?
Not at launch. We’re prioritising stable pricing while the platform settles in. Get in touch if you run a large club — we may do bulk arrangements for clubs of 50+.
Next steps
- Current pricing: /pricing.
- Start identifying: How to identify your first find.
- Earn Premium for free: Running a rally as the organiser.
Try DetectID on a real find
Upload a photo and we’ll return a calibrated shortlist with period, denomination, ruler and full reasoning chain.
Identify a find