A paid membership pays for itself as soon as you enter competitions: from the Semester plan upwards, the included entries alone cost more than the plan does. If you only want to read and browse, the cheaper plans simply remove the free-view limits.
What each plan includes
| Plan | Price you pay | Length | Included entries | AI credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly | $9.67 | 7 days | none | 7 |
| Monthly | $19.35 | 31 days | none | 25 |
| Semester | $69.88 | 184 days | 1 | 150 |
| Annual | $106.42 | 365 days | 2 | 250 |
| Studio | $213.92 | 365 days | 5 | 750 |
| Institutional | $536.42 | 365 days | 12 | 2,500 |
Every paid plan removes the free-view limits on projects, journals and publications, and lets you start a direct conversation with anyone on the platform.
- Publishing is free and uncapped for everyone, on every plan and with no plan at all. No tier sells it, and nothing on UNI limits how many projects, journals or publications you publish.
- Semester and above: included competition entries, and you can rate other people's projects.
- Annual and above: your profile is verified automatically, and you get detailed analytics on your entries and projects.
- Studio and above: the UNI Yearbook collection and the AI journal editor.
- Institutional: assured feedback on your entries from verified jurors.
The entry math
Entry fees on live competitions run from $50 to $149, and most sit around $80 to $90. One entry therefore covers the Semester plan on its own and comes close to covering Annual, so if you are entering anything at all, a plan is usually cheaper than paying per entry.
Two things to know about the included entries:
- Free competitions never use one. You can enter as many free competitions as you like on any plan, including the two plans that include no entries.
- They are counted from the day your membership starts, and they do not carry over. Unused entries end with the period.
Upgrading part way through
- Buying a different plan does not replace or refund the one you have. The new membership starts the day you buy it and the old one runs to its own end date. There is no proration.
- While two memberships are both live, their included entries add up. Two Institutional memberships give 24 entries, not 12.
- Buying the same plan again while it is still active extends it from the current end date rather than starting over.
Students
There is no student discount on membership prices; they are the same for everyone. Competitions price a Student entry category separately from Professional, and that is where student pricing lives. Student status is checked at award closure, not when you enter.
Where to buy and manage
- Compare plans: Membership plans
- Buy or upgrade: UNI Membership in the shop
- Your current plan: Account settings, Membership, under Membership & Plans. The button reads Change/Upgrade Plan if you have a plan, and View Membership Plans if you do not.
Memberships are one-time purchases. Nothing renews automatically, and there is no cancellation control because there is nothing recurring to cancel.
The prices above are the totals you pay, with the 7.5% payment gateway charge already included. The base plan prices are $99 for Annual and $199 for Studio.
For the full comparison see Membership tiers and pricing. If something is locked for you right now, see Why can't I view this project?.