Workspaces and organizations
What an organization is, how to switch between or create more, the one-Free-plan-per-account rule, and the general settings page.
An organization is the top level of SmarterSEO. Projects, reports, credits, billing, connections, branding and teammates all belong to one organization. The app also calls it a workspace: the two words mean the same thing, and each one has its own address at app.smarterseo.com/{slug}.
What lives in an organization
- Projects and everything inside them: trackers, grids, Search Console data, content work and share links.
- Research reports: every tool run made by any member.
- Plan and credits: one plan, one credit balance, one usage history. Credits are shared by all members.
- Connections: the Google account, AI provider key, WordPress sites and, on the lifetime license, your own data provider account.
- Members and roles, API tokens and automations.
- Branding for shared reports.
A person can belong to several organizations, with a different role in each. Your email preferences and theme choice are personal and travel with you.
Switching organizations
Open the account menu at the bottom of the sidebar (your avatar). The Organization section lists every organization you belong to; click one to switch. The whole app, including the sidebar footer that shows the Credits or BYOK badge and the credit balance, reflects the organization you are in.
Creating another organization
In the same menu, click New organization. The page is titled Create another organization and reads "A separate workspace with its own projects, billing and teammates. You belong to N already." Name it, adjust the workspace URL and click Create organization. You become its Owner.
Agencies sometimes create one organization per client so that billing, members and branding stay separate. Most teams only need one, with a project per client site, because branding and client share links already work per organization and plan limits (projects, seats, tracked keywords) are counted per organization.
One Free plan per account
Each account gets one Free plan. The first credit-mode organization you create holds your Free slot: it receives the monthly top-up to 200 credits and can run tools without paying.
Any other organization you create gets the Free plan's limits (1 project, 1 seat, 10 tracked keywords) but no credits until it subscribes. You will see this in three places:
- Onboarding warns: "Your Free plan is used by "X", so this one will need a paid plan to run tools."
- On Billing & credits, the Plan tile reads "Free is used by "X"; pick a plan below" and the balance tile reads "No credits until you subscribe".
- Runs are refused with "This run needs X credits; the organization has Y."
The Free slot is released when the organization holding it subscribes to a paid plan, moves to bring-your-own-key mode, or is deleted. The next credit-mode organization you create then takes it.
Note: Joining an organization through an invitation never uses your Free slot. Only organizations you create count.
General settings
Settings › General (/settings) is the organization's own page.
Organization card
- Organization name: owners and admins can edit it and click Save changes. The name appears in the account menu, in notification emails and as the default brand name on shared reports.
- Workspace URL: read-only. The hint says "The slug is fixed for now. Contact support to change it."
Data access card
This card shows how the organization pays for search data. In credit mode it is the credit balance you see in the sidebar footer. On the lifetime license it reads "Calls run on your own DataForSEO account. Connect it under Connections → DataForSEO." The mode itself is changed under Settings › Connections › DataForSEO, which is shown in the navigation only for lifetime-license workspaces. See Bring your own key.
Notifications card
Each member chooses what the organization emails them: Ranking alerts and Reports and inspections, with a Send me a test email button. These are personal settings even though they sit on the organization page. See Email notifications.
Deleting an organization
Only an Owner can delete an organization, as the role description ("Everything, including billing and deleting the organization") states. Deleting releases the Free slot if the organization held it. If you only want to stop paying, cancel the plan under Billing & credits instead; the organization falls back to Free at the end of the period. See Upgrading, downgrading and cancelling.