Chromatic Free Plan Limits for Indian Software Teams
Chromatic Free includes 5,000 billed snapshots per month, shared across projects. Here’s how the cap, browser coverage, TurboSnap and USD pricing affect Indian teams.
Chromatic’s Free plan includes 5,000 billed snapshots per month at $0. That allowance is shared across projects at the account level. The plan lists unlimited projects, users and collaborators, but visual testing and review pause when the monthly snapshot allowance runs out. The public pricing page shows USD prices and does not state an India-specific tax-inclusive price, currency conversion or payment rule. Check Chromatic’s pricing page before making a purchase decision, since plan terms can change.
For an Indian software team, the practical questions are how Chromatic counts snapshots, which browsers Free covers, how TurboSnap affects consumption, and what happens at the cap. This guide answers those questions using Chromatic’s published pricing and documentation.
1. What the Free plan includes
| Plan detail | Published Free plan terms |
|---|---|
| Price | $0 per month, displayed in USD |
| Snapshot allowance | 5,000 billed snapshots per month, pooled across the account |
| Browser testing | Chrome |
| Projects and people | Unlimited projects and users; unlimited collaborators listed |
| Integrations and tracking | Git and CI integrations; UI version tracking |
| Plan duration | No trial period and does not expire; the monthly usage allowance still applies |
| After the limit | Testing and review pause until the monthly reset or an upgrade |
Unlimited projects and collaborators do not mean unlimited visual-test volume. Adding projects to the same account does not create another 5,000-snapshot allowance. Chromatic says it does not charge per seat, but snapshot capacity remains the relevant Free plan limit. Chromatic pricing · Chromatic FAQ
2. What counts toward the 5,000 snapshots
Chromatic distinguishes captured, copied and bypassed snapshots. A captured visual or accessibility snapshot counts as 1 billed snapshot. A TurboSnap snapshot copied from an unchanged baseline counts as 0.2. A bypassed snapshot counts as 0. Interaction tests do not incur billed snapshot usage. Usage is summed across projects at the account level. Chromatic billing documentation
| Snapshot activity | Billed usage |
|---|---|
| Newly captured snapshot | 1 |
| Unchanged baseline copied by TurboSnap | 0.2 |
| Eligible build bypassed by Chromatic | 0 |
| Interaction test | 0 billed snapshots |
Do not estimate your monthly allowance from the number of Storybook stories alone. A useful estimate needs to account for how many stories change, how many builds run, the browser and modes enabled, and whether accessibility snapshots are captured. This is a planning inference from Chromatic’s billing rules; your own usage report and the vendor’s snapshot calculator are better for a team-specific forecast.
3. How TurboSnap can reduce usage
TurboSnap uses Git history and a Webpack or Vite dependency graph to identify stories affected by a change. It captures changed stories and can copy unchanged baselines at one fifth of the cost of a new capture. In qualifying cases, a build with no changes to any story dependency can be bypassed and consume zero billed snapshots. Chromatic TurboSnap documentation
TurboSnap is not a guarantee that every unchanged or merge build costs zero. Bypass eligibility has conditions, including a single ancestor build and Chromatic CLI 17.7.0 or later. Check the build result and usage report instead of assuming a build was bypassed. A dependency change may also make more stories eligible for capture than the code diff alone suggests.
4. Browser coverage and team access
The current pricing page lists Chrome testing on Free. Safari, Firefox and Edge appear as Starter features. If your acceptance criteria require visual checks in those browsers, Free’s Chrome coverage does not meet that requirement. The pricing page also lists unlimited projects and users on Free, and the permissions FAQ says Chromatic does not charge per seat. Those access terms do not increase the shared snapshot allowance.
Confirm current browser and collaboration terms on Chromatic’s plan page and documentation before relying on them in a team workflow.
5. What happens when the account reaches its cap
When the account uses all 5,000 included Free snapshots, testing and review pause. Chromatic says functionality resumes automatically when the next monthly period begins, or immediately after upgrading. Plan CI and review work with that interruption in mind: a build near the end of the month may consume the remaining allowance and leave later changes waiting for the reset.
Monitor account-level usage across projects. If the team approaches the limit, review which builds and snapshots are contributing, check whether TurboSnap is configured and eligible, and decide whether to wait for the reset or move to a paid plan.
6. Price and billing considerations for Indian teams
Chromatic lists Free at $0 per month. Its public page displays paid plan prices in USD: Starter at $179 per month with 35,000 billed snapshots and additional snapshots at $0.008; Pro at $399 per month with 85,000 billed snapshots. These are published prices, not an India-specific final charge. The reviewed public information does not establish India-specific taxes, exchange-rate conversion, or accepted payment methods. Do not treat a converted estimate as a tax-inclusive quote.
Verify the live pricing page shortly before purchase. For budgeting, distinguish the displayed USD subscription price from any taxes, bank conversion or other charges that may apply to your account; the cited public plan details do not settle those India-specific amounts.
7. A practical way to estimate monthly usage
- Count the builds your team expects to run in a month, including pull-request and main-branch builds.
- Estimate how many stories change per build and how many browsers or modes produce captures.
- Include accessibility snapshots where enabled; interaction tests themselves do not use billed snapshots.
- Apply the documented rates: 1 for captured snapshots, 0.2 for copied TurboSnap snapshots and 0 for qualifying bypasses.
- Compare the estimate with the account’s actual usage report during the month and adjust your workflow forecast.
This is a planning method, not a guarantee: dependency graph changes, build ancestry and TurboSnap eligibility affect what gets captured or bypassed.
8. Troubleshooting common plan-limit surprises
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to check or do |
|---|---|---|
| Testing stopped before the end of the month | The account-wide Free allowance was consumed across projects | Review aggregate billed usage; wait for reset or upgrade to resume sooner. |
| A new project did not provide more snapshots | Projects share the account allowance | Plan against the account pool rather than per-project totals. |
| An unchanged build still used snapshots | The build was not eligible for bypass, or TurboSnap copied baselines at 0.2 each | Check the build details, dependency changes, ancestor-build conditions and CLI version. |
| Usage is higher than the number of changed stories | Multiple builds, browsers, modes or accessibility captures may contribute | Inspect the usage report and identify the capture sources. |
| Safari, Firefox or Edge coverage is missing | Free lists Chrome testing; other listed browsers are on Starter | Confirm the current plan matrix and choose a plan that includes required browser coverage. |
| The expected rupee charge differs from the displayed price | The public price is shown in USD, with India-specific conversion and taxes unspecified | Check the checkout quote and your payment provider’s conversion and tax details before committing. |
9. ScreenshotNeo as an alternative for website screenshots
Chromatic is for visual testing of Storybook components and review workflows. If your task is to capture whole websites or pages through an API, ScreenshotNeo is an alternative to try first: it removes cookie banners, newsletter popups and chat widgets before capture, and bills only clean shots. It is a separate website screenshot API, not a replacement for Chromatic’s component testing.
ScreenshotNeo’s GET API can return PNG, JPEG or WebP screenshots, or a PDF. For example, this cURL request saves a WebP screenshot:
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpSee the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request details. Cookie banners, popups and chat widgets are removed before the shot; bot checks, blank pages and failed loads are never billed; an MCP server lets AI agents take screenshots; and 1,000 screenshots per month are free with no card, with paid plans starting at $5 for 3,000. Sign up for ScreenshotNeo’s free plan.
10. FAQ
Does Chromatic Free expire?
No. Chromatic says the Free plan has no trial period and does not expire. Its monthly snapshot limit still applies. Chromatic free-plan FAQ
Does each collaborator use part of the snapshot allowance?
Chromatic says it does not charge per seat. The 5,000 billed snapshots are usage, shared at the account level.
Can an Indian team know the final rupee cost from the public pricing page?
No India-specific conversion or tax-inclusive amount is stated on the reviewed public page. Check the price presented at checkout and your payment provider’s applicable charges.
Are all unchanged builds free with TurboSnap?
No. Only eligible builds can be bypassed at zero usage; copied unchanged snapshots cost 0.2 each, and bypass eligibility has conditions.
Sources
- Chromatic pricing: plan prices, allowances, browsers and listed inclusions.
- Chromatic billing documentation: billed snapshot rates and account-level usage.
- Chromatic TurboSnap documentation: dependency analysis and build bypass behavior.
- Chromatic FAQ: Free plan duration, limits and collaborator terms.
