GoHighLevel Pricing Explained (2026): Starter vs. Unlimited vs. Agency Pro, Usage Fees, and Add-Ons

HighLevel's pricing page is short: three plans, three prices. The bill you actually pay has more lines than that, because phone numbers, texts, calls, emails, and AI minutes are charged as usage from a prepaid wallet, and several features are optional add-ons.

This guide breaks down all of it: what each plan includes, what the usage rates are, which add-ons cost extra, and two labeled examples of a realistic monthly bill. Every number comes from HighLevel's public pricing page and its help-center pricing articles, checked on October 8, 2026. Peace Call hasn't run client accounts on these plans, so the examples are arithmetic from published rates, not invoices.

How much does GoHighLevel cost per month?

HighLevel (often called GoHighLevel or GHL) costs $97, $297, or $497 per month, depending on the plan. Annual billing costs ten times the monthly price, so you get two months free:

All three self-serve plans come with a 14-day free trial on the pricing page, and HighLevel says billing starts automatically when the trial ends unless you cancel. Our GoHighLevel free trial guide covers what can still cost money during those 14 days.

People often search for the $497 plan as "SaaS Pro." HighLevel's pricing page shows it as the plan for "SaaSPRENEURs & Agencies looking to go SaaS," and its FAQ calls it the Pro plan. In this guide we call it Agency Pro, the same name we use in our other guides.

What's the difference between Starter, Unlimited, and Agency Pro?

The main difference is how many sub-accounts you can run and whether you can resell usage. A sub-account is one business's workspace: its own phone numbers, contacts, calendars, and automations. The core feature set is the same on every plan.

Sources: HighLevel's pricing page and HighLevel Pricing Guide. The pricing page lists API access as a core feature but names basic and advanced API access only under Unlimited and Agency Pro.

The core features listed on every plan include Voice AI, Conversation AI, the website and funnel builder, CRM and pipelines, email and SMS marketing, inbound and outbound calling, workflow automation, booking calendars, reputation management, payments and invoicing, and the mobile app. Several of those carry usage charges, covered below.

Rule of thumb: one business, or an agency with up to three clients, fits Starter. An agency with a fourth client needs Unlimited. Choose Agency Pro if you want to mark up phone, email, and AI usage, or sell HighLevel as your own branded software.

What usage fees do you pay on top of the plan?

You pay for phone numbers, texts, calls, emails, and AI as you use them, from an Agency Wallet. HighLevel loads credit by charging your card, then tops the wallet up automatically when it drops below your minimum balance (HighLevel Pricing Guide). That's why a new account can show a charge, such as $20, before any calls have been made (Phone System Pricing & Billing Guide).

The rates a typical service business runs into (US, as of October 2026):

Calls are billed in full minutes, rounded up. Texts are billed per segment: a plain-text SMS holds up to 160 characters, and an emoji can cut that to 70 (see our missed call text back guide for templates that fit in one segment). Sources: Phone System Pricing & Billing Guide, HighLevel Pricing Guide, and AI Product Pricing.

How is AI priced?

AI is billed in one of three ways, per sub-account (AI Product Pricing):

• Pay-per-use: no monthly fee. Voice AI costs minutes × (voice engine $0.045 + text-to-speech rate) + LLM tokens. With OpenAI or Cartesia voices ($0.015/min), that's about $0.06 a minute before tokens. ElevenLabs V3 is listed at $0.170/min for text-to-speech alone.
• AI Employee Growth, $50/month: includes 100 Voice AI minutes, 1,000 Conversation AI responses, and unlimited Reviews AI and Content AI. Usage beyond the limits is billed at pay-per-use rates.
• AI Employee Unlimited, $97/month: unlimited Conversation AI, Voice AI, Reviews AI, and Content AI, subject to fair use.

Phone charges still apply to every AI call on every plan. Our arithmetic: at $0.06 a minute, Growth's 100 included voice minutes are worth about $6, so Growth pays off through tokens, chat replies, and review and content AI rather than voice minutes alone. For the Growth vs. Unlimited decision, see our AI Employee break-even guide. For a full look at Voice AI, see our GoHighLevel Voice AI review.

What do HighLevel's optional add-ons cost?

Add-ons are things you turn on only if you need them. The ones with published prices, as of October 2026:

Sources: HighLevel's pricing page and HighLevel Pricing Guide. Ad Manager is listed at $0 for agencies, and ad spend is billed separately.

Medical and dental practices should look at the HIPAA line before anything else. HighLevel's pricing guide says accounts aren't HIPAA compliant by default. Our dental office AI receptionist guide lists the questions to settle first.

What does a real monthly bill look like?

For one service business, our illustration lands at roughly $122 to $133 a month on Starter, plus LLM tokens. The examples below are our own arithmetic from the published rates above, not quotes. Your volumes, carriers, and settings will differ.

Example 1: one HVAC or plumbing company on Starter

Assumptions: one local number, a Low Volume A2P campaign, missed-call text-back sending 300 text segments and receiving 200, 600 inbound call minutes answered in the HighLevel app, an after-hours Voice AI agent handling 150 minutes on pay-per-use with a $0.015/min voice, and 2,000 emails.

Add the $22.50 one-time A2P registration in the first month. If calls are forwarded to a cell phone instead of answered in the app, forwarded minutes cost $0.02/min, so 600 minutes would be $12.00 instead of $6.99. Turning on call recording and transcription for every minute would add $0.0265/min.

Example 2: a small agency with eight clients

Eight clients means Unlimited ($297/month), because Starter stops at three sub-accounts. On Unlimited you can rebill each client's phone and email usage at cost, so those lines can be passed through rather than absorbed. Markup on usage needs Agency Pro.

AI is where this example gets expensive. If all eight clients get AI Employee Unlimited, that's 8 × $97 = $776/month on top of the $297 plan. HighLevel's docs say AI Employee usage can only be rebilled to clients on the $497 plan (AI Product Pricing). On Unlimited you would recover that cost through your own client pricing. Upgrading to Agency Pro costs $200 more per month and lets HighLevel bill clients directly, with your markup.

What costs catch people off guard?

From HighLevel's own help docs, these are the charges people most often don't expect:

• A2P fees start when you submit, not when you're approved. HighLevel says submitting a campaign starts both the one-time and monthly fees, whatever the review outcome. Deleting the campaign stops the monthly fee. Our A2P 10DLC registration guide covers how to get it right the first time.
• Wallet auto-recharges. The wallet refills in recharge amounts you set, so charges show up in round numbers rather than per text.
• Inbound texts cost money too. HighLevel's native phone system charges inbound and outbound SMS at the same rate.
• Undelivered texts are billed. Charges apply to every delivery attempt, including texts to landlines that can't receive them.
• Call recordings keep costing. Storage is $0.0005 per minute per month for every stored recording, including old ones, until you delete them.
• AI plans don't cover the phone line. Phone charges apply to Voice AI calls even on AI Employee Unlimited.
• HIPAA is permanent. HighLevel says the $297/month HIPAA add-on can't be deactivated once it's enabled.
• Rebilling adds 5% to some pass-through fees. When rebilling is on, HighLevel adds a fixed 5% at the sub-account level to A2P fees and carrier fees.

Which HighLevel plan should you choose?

Choose by sub-account count first, then by whether you need to resell usage:

• One business (HVAC, plumbing, dental, salon, and so on): Starter. Three sub-accounts covers your business plus a test account.
• A new agency with one to three clients: Starter, and upgrade when client four signs. HighLevel says upgrades are charged a prorated amount immediately.
• An agency with four or more clients: Unlimited, with at-cost rebilling for phone and email.
• An agency that wants AI rebilling, markup, or its own branded software: Agency Pro.
• High volume with custom needs: ask HighLevel about Enterprise. HIPAA and a white-label mobile app are included there, according to the pricing page.

Whatever you pick, budget for usage separately from the subscription and check Agency View → Settings → Billing → Wallet & Transactions weekly for the first month.

FAQ

Is GoHighLevel $97 a month? The Starter plan is $97/month ($970/year) as of October 2026, with 3 sub-accounts and unlimited contacts and users. Usage such as phone numbers, texts, calls, email, and AI is billed on top from a prepaid wallet.

Does HighLevel charge per user or per contact? No. HighLevel's pricing page says every plan includes unlimited contacts and unlimited users. Plans differ by sub-account count, rebilling, SaaS mode, and API access.

Is there a free trial? Yes. The pricing page advertises a 14-day free trial on all three self-serve plans. Usage fees can still apply during the trial, and billing starts automatically when it ends unless you cancel.

What is SaaS mode? SaaS mode, on the $497 Agency Pro plan, lets an agency sell HighLevel subscriptions under its own brand, with sub-accounts created automatically and usage rebilled with a markup.

Is Voice AI included in the plan price? Voice AI is a core feature on all plans, but its usage is billed: about $0.06/min plus tokens on pay-per-use, or through an AI Employee plan at $50 or $97/month per sub-account. Phone charges apply either way.

Can I switch plans later? Yes. HighLevel's pricing FAQ says you can upgrade or downgrade, and upgrades mid-month are charged the prorated difference.

Sources (checked October 8, 2026)