Freelio Just Got a Major Upgrade: Subscriptions, Invoices, and More
This release adds Stripe subscriptions with Pro tiers, automatic PDF invoice generation, project templates, guided onboarding, messaging reliability improvements, and a completely revamped asset explorer.
This is the biggest Freelio release since open alpha. We've added real subscriptions, automatic invoicing, project templates, guided onboarding, and made the platform significantly more reliable. Here's the full breakdown.
Stripe Subscriptions Are Now Live
The platform now supports Free and Pro tiers:
- Free: 5 active projects, 50MB storage
- Pro: 20 active projects, 500MB storage
Users can upgrade through /settings/usage with Stripe Checkout, and manage their subscription via the billing portal. We also implemented a 7-day grace period for failed payments — if a card fails, users keep Pro access for a week while they update payment info.
The webhook handler now syncs all subscription lifecycle events: creation, updates, cancellations, and deletions.
Automatic Invoice Generation
Every milestone payment now generates a PDF invoice automatically:
- Invoice number, issued date, amount, and currency
- Issuer (creator) and recipient (client) details
- Line items from the milestone
- Downloadable via
/api/projects/[id]/invoices/[invoiceId]/pdf
Both parties receive email notifications when an invoice is ready.
Project Templates
Starting a new project just got faster. We added built-in templates that pre-populate milestones:
- Landing Page Sprint: Discovery → Visual Design → Build & QA
- SaaS MVP Build: Scope → Core Features → Polish & Launch
- No Template: Start from scratch
Creators can also create custom templates. When creating a project, just pick a template and the milestones are auto-filled.
Guided Onboarding
We built a role-aware onboarding system that shows users their most important next action:
- Creators: Connect Stripe → Create Project → Draft Contract
- Clients: Review Contract → Track Progress
- Both: See pending actions sorted by priority
The widget lives on the dashboard and tracks events so we can improve the flow over time.
Messaging Reliability
Real-time chat is now significantly more resilient:
- Redis-backed throttling for email notifications (with database fallback if Redis is unavailable)
- Heartbeat events every 25 seconds to keep connections alive
- Better error handling around pg_notify and SSE streams
- Failures are logged but don't break the user experience
Asset Explorer Overhaul
The file manager got a major UX upgrade:
- Drag-and-drop uploads
- Folder organization
- Grid/List view toggle
- Media compression (images/videos compressed client-side before upload)
- Move assets between folders
- Orphan cleanup tool to find and remove S3 files not tracked in the database
We also extended the file type column to support full MIME types.
Public Creator Profiles
The marketplace now surfaces trust signals on public creator profiles:
- Total earnings, success rate, average rating
- Verified reviews (only from clients on completed projects)
- Trust markers: Verified Payout (Stripe connected), Pro Badge (€500+ earned)
- Portfolio of recent completed projects
This helps clients make informed hiring decisions.
Security & API Hardening
- Avatar route now validates key format and blocks path traversal
- Unsubscribe route has stricter token validation
- Proxy matcher updated for PWA manifest files
What's Next
This release lays the foundation for:
- Analytics dashboard
- Stripe Connect onboarding refinements
- More project templates
Try it all at freelio.cervelli.dev — the Pro upgrade flow is fully testable in test mode.
