Guest on one board + Observer on another board = Billable multi-board Guest?

[Tami Liss]

If someone is invited as a Guest on one board (for editing access), and set as an Observer on another board, are they then considered a billable multi-board Guest? (Even though they're technically only a "Guest" on one board and "Observer" status is supposed to be free?)

Also, if someone is merely an Observer on multiple boards, I assume they wouldn't be considered billable because "Observers" aren't billable. But I want to confirm that they aren't considered "multi-board Guests".

[Michael Pryor]

Yes.  

Observers are billable.  The permissions status of what the user can do currently doesn't have any affect on whether they are billable or not.

(A guest is just a member of the board that isn't a member of the workspace.  So a Guest can be set to be an Observer, like any other member of the board.  The Observer status just determines what they can DO on the board).

[Tami Liss]

Ah, thank you for the clarification!

I do find it a bit odd that Observers are billed the same as Guests, since the purpose of upgrading is access to increased features, which Observers wouldn't be able to use. I mean, the Workspace is benefitting from the option of an added Observer role, but the observer themselves is costing the same as an active editing member to simply see a board. The External Share power-up is useful in this case, it's definitely an instance where Free Trello is almost a better choice because you can add guests to multiple boards without being charged.

[Michael Pryor]

I understand the point but I don’t think it’s a fair comparison. All users you add to boards when you use free Trello are free. It’s not that “guests are free” or “observers are free” - it’s that we don’t charge for anyone in free Trello. 

But it doesn’t have to be an either/or issue since subscriptions are based on Workspaces. Just make a Workspace that doesn’t have a subscription (and won’t have paid features) and use that for your boards for people that you don’t want to pay for. Use the paid workspace for people you want to pay for.