MAKERSPACE MEMBERSHIPS
BenchPass
Memberships, charges and payments
BenchPass keeps a member's standing membership and their running tab of machine time and materials on the same card, and turns either one into a Stripe link you send them. Every charge is made on a Stripe account in the makerspace's own name.
30 days free, no card.
$19 a month after that.
TWO KINDS OF MONEY
Most membership software understands the first one and behaves as though the second does not exist. A workshop runs on both, and they act nothing alike.
STANDING
A price you set once and then forget. Monthly, weekly or yearly, or a single one-off for someone who comes for a term. Once a member has completed the first payment it becomes a Stripe subscription and renews on its own until one of you stops it.
METERED
Laser minutes, resin, plywood, a bad cut that had to be done twice. Whoever is on the desk logs each one against the member with a description and an amount. They sit there as pending until you decide to collect, and then they all go on one link.
Three things logged over a fortnight, billed in one go. The platform fee is 1% plus 30 cents on the payment, not on each line, which is why it is worth letting a tab build up rather than chasing every ten-minute cut.
CERTIFICATIONS
Add a certification to a member and BenchPass writes down three things: the machine, the person who signed them off, and the date. It sits on their card next to the membership, so the answer to "is she checked out on the laser?" is one tap away instead of somewhere in a group chat.
Members also carry a key fob or access ID and an emergency contact, because those are the two other things somebody always needs at the exact moment they cannot find them.
Scroll sideways, or use the arrow keys
The space, the members and the figures in these captures are demo data loaded for the screenshots. None of it is a real workshop's takings.
The right-hand column is the useful one. Better known now than in week three.
IN THE APP
NOT IN THE APP
PRICING
$19per month, per makerspace
Thirty days free to begin with, and no card asked for during them. One space per subscription, with as many members and staff accounts as you have.
Plus1% + $0.30 on each payment collected, which you can pass to the member or absorb.
Get BenchPassYou open their record, bill either a membership plan or their pending charges, and BenchPass hands you a Stripe link through the share sheet. They open it in their own browser and pay by card.
The makerspace's. BenchPass creates a Stripe account in your name and every charge is made on it, so the money is yours the moment the card clears. ClearStack never holds a balance.
No. A certification is a dated record on the member card saying who signed them off. BenchPass has no door control, no interlock and no way to switch a machine off.
You log each one against the member as it happens. They sit as pending until you bill them, and then they all go on one link. Nothing is metered automatically.
$19 a month for the makerspace after a 30-day trial with no card, plus 1% and 30 cents on each payment collected. A $54.50 tab carries $0.85.
Your choice. Out of the box it is added to the member's total as a separate service fee line. Switch it off in Settings and it comes out of your share instead.
No. BenchPass sends no reminders and retries nothing. A failed membership appears under Needs attention on the dashboard, and chasing it is your job.
The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland — the countries Stripe supports for this kind of account.
Add them, connect Stripe, and put one laser session on a tab. Thirty days, no card, and your Stripe account stays yours either way.