Civic Review's annual subscription pricing is based on the number of submissions your organization receives each year. This way we're able to place municipalities in a pricing tier that more closely fits their size and need for the product. This article is designed to answer all your questions regarding our pricing structure.
What Counts as a Submission?
A submission is counted when:
A new application is submitted
A renewal is submitted
Each submission is counted only once, regardless of what happens to the record afterward.
What DOES Count as a Submission
New applications submitted - When someone submits a new application for any permit, license, or any other form, that's one submission
Renewals submitted - When someone renews an existing permit or license, that's another submission
Internal use forms - When you create a new record (for example, a code enforcement case), that counts as one submission as it's still a form that was submitted to the database
Denied or duplicate applications - Even if an application is denied, withdrawn, or turns out to be a duplicate, the submission still counts
What does NOT Count
Plan review resubmissions - If an applicant resubmits revised plans multiple times for the same project, only the initial application counts. All subsequent resubmissions for that same record don't add to your total
Inspections - Inspections are tracked and scheduled through the mobile app, but they don't count as submissions
Setting records to inactive - Deactivating or closing a record does not reduce your submission count
Existing records - We don't count the total number of records you have in the system (active or inactive). In other words, your usage number does not accumulate year-over-year.
Examples
Example: Business Licenses
A business registers their business and renews after that:
Year 1 - New application = 1 submission ✅
Year 2 - Renewal submitted = 1 submission ✅
Year 3 - Renewal submitted = 1 submission ✅
Year 4 - Starts renewal but does not complete it = Still counts as 1 submission ✅
Year 5 - Does not start renewal at all = does not count ❌
Total over 5 years: 4 submissions
Example: Building Permits with Plan Reviews
A developer submits plans for a commercial building:
Initial application submitted = 1 submission ✅
Plans are reviewed and corrections are requested... Applicant resubmits revised plans (1st resubmission) = does not count ❌
More corrections needed, applicant resubmits again (2nd resubmission) = does not count ❌
Plans are approved after 3rd resubmission = does not count ❌
Inspection are performed after the building permit is issued = inspections do not count ❌
Total counted: 1 submission
Example: Code Enforcement
A property has a code violation. The CE officer opens a case by filling out a "Code Enforcement Violation" form in Civic Review.
Initial violation report form filled out = 1 submission ✅
Property owner fails to correct the issue, CE prints and delivers a warning notice, and logs the event in Civic Review. ❌
Property owner corrects the issue
Case is closed (set to inactive or marked "Closed")
Total counted: 1 submission
How to Find Your Usage (How many submissions you've received)
When you login to Civic Review, your first screen is usually the dashboard. This will show the the total number of submissions*:
If you have several Civic Review "Organizations" (you've decided to split up licensing from permitting), then you'll want to check each one. Your total usage would be the sum across all of them.
* Keep in mind: The first year you may see some wonky numbers due to the initial data migration, if this is the case, you can select a date range that starts after the data migration occurred to get an idea of actual usage.
How Your Pricing Tier Is Determined
Your pricing tier is based on your total annual submissions across all your Civic Review organizations.
Calculating Your Usage
We count all submissions received during a 12-month period. We will look at your usage 45 days prior to the end of your billing cycle and look the numbers over the previous 12 months. This will determine what your pricing tier will be for the next billing cycle.
If you wish to receive an update on what your price might be earlier than that, you may reach out to us at anytime.
Based on the number of submissions you receive, you'll be placed into a pricing tier. For example:
• If you receive between 0-1000 submissions per year, you would be in one tier
• If you receive between 1000-1500 submissions per year, you would be in the next tier
• And so on
Inspection Pricing
Our inspection software is a killer feature for scheduling and tracking inspections in the field. Not all organizations need this app and so it is not included in our standard tier pricing. If you need a way to track inspections, this fee is based on the number of inspector seats your organization requires.
Inspector Seats
Each inspector seat is assigned to a single user.
This allows you to assign different inspections to different inspectors
Each inspector seat has their own calendar
This organization has 5 inspector seats, each assigned to a different user:
Inspections are assigned to any one of the users assigned to these seats:
Sharing Inspector Seats
Any user designated as an admin or any user assigned to an inspector seat can save inspection details. So you don't have to be an inspector to perform an inspection.
Sometimes, you might need one seat for assigning one-off inspections to a third-party agency, without knowing who would be performing the inspection. Doing this is completely okay.
In this example, the organization has 2 in-house inspectors, and they've also designated an inspector seat to the Fire Department. They added a user called "Fire Inspector" to that seat, as you can see here.
The fire department could have multiple users added to Civic Review
When an inspection is assigned to "Fire Inspector", any one of those users can conduct the inspection.
Rather than paying for 5 seats total (2 in-house inspectors + 3 fire inspectors), this organization only pays for 3.
This only works when the 3rd-party doesn't have more inspections than a single inspector might have.
Drawback when Sharing Inspector Seats
You don't have a great record of who performed the inspection (you can, however, write the name in the inspection notes)
There's no way to balance workload across different inspectors who share the same seat
Those inspectors don't have the benefit of separate inspection schedules
Any notifications meant for the inspector are sent to the email address assigned to that seat
At Civic Review, we're open to being flexible in order to save on price, but just know when sharing inspector seats, the user experience is slightly less than ideal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: If I delete or deactivate records, will my tier go down?
A: No. Your tier is based on submissions received, not on the number of active records you currently have. Deactivating records helps you stay organized but doesn't change your submission count.
Q: We have a lot of plan review resubmissions. Will this increase our cost?
A: No. Plan review resubmissions for the same project don't count as additional submissions. Only the initial application counts.
Q: How do inspections factor into pricing?
A: Inspections don't count toward your submission total. The Inspection Mobile App is priced separately based on the number of inspector seats you require.
Q: What if our submission volume has surpassed our pricing tier?
A: Growth is natural! If you have more submissions than your pricing tier allows, we don't back-charge for the difference. Instead, we'll just move you up to the next tier next year. For example, if you decide to start using Civic Review for something new, say, utility service applications, you can go ahead and build out the form and start using Civic Review - you won't be charged for the extra usage until next year!
Q: When someone applies for the same type of permit multiple times in a year, does each one count?
A: Yes. Each separate application is counted as one submission, even if it's the same applicant applying for multiple sign permits, for example.
Q: Do amendments or modifications to existing permits count as submissions?
A: Generally, no. If you're modifying an existing permit record rather than creating a new application, it doesn't count as an additional submission. However, if your workflow requires creating a new application for an amendment, that would count.