> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.introw.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Start free

> Run a real partner program on the free plan: your own CRM, your own partners, one partner live, no time limit. What you get on day one, what your first 30 minutes look like, and when you outgrow it.

> You do not need a contract, a call, or a sandbox to find out whether Introw works for your program. Sign up, connect your CRM, and take one real partner live. The free plan has no time limit, so the only thing you are committing is the half hour it takes to set up.

## What free actually includes

No trial countdown, and no feature crippled to make a point. The free plan is the whole product at the scale of one partner.

| What you get              | On the free plan                                                            |
| ------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **CRM Connection**        | Deep, native integrations including custom objects                          |
| **Slack / MS Teams**      | Agents and automatic nudges                                                 |
| **MCP Connectors**        | Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and more                                   |
| **Partners in your list** | As many as your CRM has. Importing is unlimited                             |
| **Forms**                 | As many as you want, integrated with your CRM                               |
| **Announcements**         | As many as you want                                                         |
| **Tasks / Journeys**      | As many as you want                                                         |
| **Assets**                | As many as you want                                                         |
| **Experiences**           | As many as you want                                                         |
| **Partner portals**       | 1                                                                           |
| **Goals**                 | 1                                                                           |
| **Reports**               | 1                                                                           |
| **Courses**               | 1                                                                           |
| **Languages**             | 1                                                                           |
| **Workflows**             | 1                                                                           |
| **Certificates**          | 1                                                                           |
| **Deal Coaching**         | 1                                                                           |
| **Commission plans**      | 1                                                                           |
| **API**                   | Free monthly allowance of requests. See [API credits](/general/api-credits) |
| **Time limit**            | None                                                                        |

The number that matters is **portals, and a portal is what a partner gets when you publish an experience to them**. So import your whole ecosystem on day one: a partner sitting in your list costs nothing. The limit only bites when you take the second partner live.

## What is already built when you arrive

Your workspace is not empty. It is seeded from a working demo program, so the first thing you do is edit something rather than face a blank page.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Two portal experiences" icon="window">
    A referral experience and a reseller experience, built and ready to publish.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Forms with CRM automations" icon="table-list">
    Deal registration and lead sharing, already mapped to CRM fields.
  </Card>

  <Card title="A tier plan and roles" icon="layer-group">
    Tiers with requirements, internal roles, and a segment holding all partners.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Content and an asset hub" icon="folder-open">
    Starter assets in folders, plus the hub that surfaces them in a portal.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Journeys and tasks" icon="waypoints">
    An onboarding path you can assign to a new partner.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Reports and dashboards" icon="chart-line">
    A seeded set, plus announcements and reusable synced sections.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Your first 30 minutes

This is the spine every [setup track](/tracks) shares, whatever kind of partner you run. Do it in this order: step 2 is what decides whether anything downstream works.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Connect your CRM  ·  ~3 min  ·  needs CRM admin rights">
    OAuth into HubSpot or Salesforce. This is the step most people underestimate, because it usually needs someone with admin rights in the CRM rather than the person running partnerships. If that is not you, send it to whoever holds the keys and keep going: you can add partners by hand in the meantime.

    Before you ask them, [HubSpot permissions and scopes](/features/integrations/crm/guides/hubspot-permissions-and-scopes) and [Salesforce permissions and scopes](/features/integrations/crm/guides/salesforce-permissions-and-scopes) tell them exactly what Introw reads and writes.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Tell Introw which records are partners  ·  ~5 min">
    Three questions: where partners live in your CRM, which of those records are partners, and which objects link to a partner. Deals above all. Get the filter right here and your pipeline, attribution and commissions all resolve on their own.

    See [Detect partners from your CRM](/features/partners/partner-management/guides/detect-partners-from-your-crm) and [Configure deal attribution](/features/co-selling/shared-pipelines/guides/configure-deal-attribution).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Bring your partners in  ·  ~5 min">
    Import them from the CRM filter, or add one by hand. Their contacts come with them. Import as many as you like: this does not touch the free limit.

    See [Sync partners and contacts](/features/integrations/crm/guides/sync-partners-and-contacts).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Make the seeded form yours  ·  ~5 min">
    Open the deal-registration form that is already there rather than building one. Cut the fields you do not need, confirm the CRM mapping, then submit it once yourself and watch the record land in your CRM. That single test is the fastest proof that the whole thing works.

    See [Test a form before partners see it](/features/forms/form-builder/guides/test-a-form-before-partners-see-it).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Publish one experience to one partner  ·  ~10 min">
    Start from a seeded experience, change the parts that are obviously ours, and publish it to a single partner: ideally a real one you have a relationship with, who will tell you when something is confusing.

    See [Build and publish a portal experience](/features/portal/experiences/guides/build-and-publish-a-portal-experience) and, before you send anything, [Draft, published and preview](/features/portal/experiences/guides/draft-publish-and-preview).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Invite them, and watch what happens">
    Granting access and sending an invitation are two different actions, so a partner can be able to sign in and not know it. Invite them deliberately, then check whether they actually opened it.

    See [Launch the portal and run the first two weeks](/features/portal/portal-access/guides/launch-and-the-first-weeks).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What you can prove for free

One partner is enough to run the whole loop end to end, which is the point of the free plan. With a single partner live you can prove:

* A partner **registers a deal** in their portal and it lands in your CRM, attributed to them, with your naming and your owner.
* A **submission goes through an approval gate**, and the partner is told the outcome in words you wrote.
* The partner **sees their own pipeline** and only their own records.
* They **open an asset** and you can see that they did.
* They **finish an onboarding journey** and a task closes.
* Your team gets the whole thing **in HubSpot or Salesforce**, on the record they were already looking at.

If that works for one partner, it works for two hundred. Nothing about the mechanics changes with scale, which is why the free plan is a real test rather than a demo.

## Then pick the track for your partner type

The steps above are the common half. What comes next depends on who closes the deal, and each track only sends you to configure what that partner type actually uses.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Referral" icon="share-from-square" href="/tracks/referral">
    Off-portal registration, conflict protection, referral fees. The vendor closes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Affiliate" icon="share-nodes" href="/tracks/affiliate">
    Tracked links, conversion attribution, fraud rules, payouts. The vendor closes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Co-sell" icon="handshake" href="/tracks/co-sell">
    Collaboration on the live CRM deal, shared pipeline, co-branded assets, MDF.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Reseller" icon="file-signature" href="/tracks/reseller">
    Tiering, deal registration that protects margin, self-serve quoting, certification.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Distributor" icon="sitemap" href="/tracks/distributor">
    Multi-tier attribution on one deal, sub-partner access, sell-through reporting.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Implementation" icon="screwdriver-wrench" href="/tracks/implementation">
    A clean handoff on the won deal, scoped delivery access, go-live tracking.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

Not sure which one you run? Start from [partner types](/partner-types).

## Taking your whole ecosystem live

The second partner is the moment the free plan ends, and it is a deliberate line: one partner proves the product, an ecosystem is a program.

When you get there, three things change and none of them is a rebuild.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Add portals for the partners you want live">
    Publishing an experience to partners who have no portal yet is what consumes them, and the check counts only the partners you are adding. Editing a live experience is never blocked.
    See [Understand what your plan meters](/features/access/team-management/guides/understand-your-plan-limits).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Turn on the modules your program needs">
    Commissions, courses and certificates, MDF, partner quoting, affiliate campaigns, custom domains, SSO and the rest are per-plan. An area showing an upgrade prompt is a module question, not a count you can free up.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Roll out in waves, not all at once">
    Take a cohort live, get half of them active, then widen. The pattern that fails is inviting everyone on day one and finding out a month later that nobody opened it.
    See [Launch the portal and run the first two weeks](/features/portal/portal-access/guides/launch-and-the-first-weeks).
  </Step>
</Steps>

For what each plan includes and what it costs, see [introw.io/pricing](https://introw.io/pricing). For a guided proof of concept with a CSM alongside you, talk to us rather than working from this page.

## Why teams pick Introw

The free plan is the argument, not the marketing. But if you want the thesis before you spend the half hour:

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="CRM-native" icon="database" href="/why/crm-native">
    Your CRM stays the source of truth. Nothing to reconcile.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Fast time to value" icon="gauge-high" href="/why/time-to-value">
    Live in days. The setup is configuration, not construction.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Low total cost" icon="coins" href="/why/low-tco">
    No consultants to change a field. Your team configures it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Work where you are" icon="arrows-to-circle" href="/why/work-where-you-are">
    Partners work in their CRM, Slack, email or an AI assistant.
  </Card>

  <Card title="AI-native" icon="wand-magic-sparkles" href="/why/ai-native">
    Agents take scoped actions, with a human approving.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Enterprise-grade" icon="shield-halved" href="/why/enterprise-grade">
    SSO, SCIM, scoped access and an auditable trail.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>