Testing accounts
Most of the time, what an account may do follows from the tier it bought. There is one exception: an operator-set Testing flag that makes an account resolve as Ultimate for almost every gate on the platform, regardless of the tier actually stored on it.
This page exists because that flag is the usual answer to a confusing question — why does this Free account have Ultimate limits? — and because it does not lift quite everything, which is the part that catches people out.
The Testing flag is an internal operator tool. There is no control for it in any member-facing page, no way to self-grant it, and no price. If you are reading this because a support conversation mentioned it, this page is the explanation; nothing here is an action for you to take.
What sets it
An operator can set the flag from the admin panel in two places: a Testing account toggle on a user, and a by-email switch in the AI Console. Both write the same flag on the account, and both write a line to the account's authentication event log — admin_testing_on or admin_testing_off — so a change is always attributable and always reversible.
That is the complete list of ways it can be set. It cannot be granted by a purchase, by the Telegram bot, or by anything the account holder does.
What it lifts
The flag works by changing the answer to one question — "what tier is this account?" — at the single place most of the platform asks it. Everything reading through that path sees Ultimate:
| Area | What a testing account gets |
|---|---|
| AI | Unlimited text and images, the heavy generation model, and no reliability clamp at all. Where an ordinary account's allowance is reshaped by its score, a testing account's is not. Its reliability label reads "Testing" |
| Paid Promotions | Ultimate listings, placements, templates, photos, video creatives, monitoring cadence, proof certificates, payout speed, dispute target and every gated feature |
| Subscriber Exchange | Ultimate channels, active ads, drops, credit multiplier, priority, focus, blocklist, lookalike targeting, custom matcher weights and the delivery floor |
| Boost | The Ultimate discount, order ceiling, live-order and subscription caps, mass-order rows, API keys, guarantee days, webhooks and the Wholesale Desk |
| Cross-Promotion | Ultimate initiations, add-on discount, rewards, insurance and Blitz |
| Post composer | Four inline buttons, coloured buttons, private Telegram links — and ads delivered into its channels run without the attribution line, on a row that still stores Free |
| The deposit fee on top-ups | Charged at the Ultimate rate of 4% |
| The onboarding gate | Waved through. A testing account is not held at the mandatory setup step |
What it does not lift
Money leaving the platform is priced on the tier actually stored on the account, deliberately without the flag:
- The withdrawal fee. A testing account pays the fee for the tier actually stored on it — 15% on a Free row, not Ultimate's 5%.
- The monthly withdrawal request allowance. Same story: a Free row gets one request a month, not unlimited.
Nor does the flag touch anything that is not a tier gate at all:
- The marketplace entry floors — minimum subscribers and the reliability bars — are not part of the ladder and are unaffected. See Marketplace entry gates.
- Escrow, monitoring, disputes and clawback run exactly as they do for everybody.
- The stored tier itself is unchanged. The account's own record still says Free, and the pricing page's status pill still reads Free.
Why this matters when you are reading an account
Three practical consequences:
- The status pill is not the whole story. An account can read "You're on Free" on the pricing page and still be granted Ultimate limits everywhere else. If the numbers and the pill disagree, this flag is the first thing to check.
- A testing account's AI counter proves nothing about the AI ladder. It is unmetered and unclamped, so it cannot be used to confirm what a real tier would grant.
- Withdrawal behaviour is the reliable tell. Because the withdrawal fee and request cap ignore the flag, they always reflect the tier actually stored on the account.
If something looks wrong
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| An account shows Ultimate-level limits on a Free tier row | The Testing flag is set | Confirm it from the account's authentication event log, which records every time it was switched on or off |
| A testing account is still charged a high withdrawal fee | Working as designed — the withdrawal path ignores the flag | Nothing to fix. If the account genuinely needs Ultimate withdrawal terms, it needs the tier, not the flag |
| "Testing flag unavailable" when an operator tries to set it | The database migration that adds the flag has not been applied on that environment | Nothing a member can do; the operator will know what this means |
| An AI quota that never decrements | Testing accounts are unmetered | Expected. Test the meter on an ordinary account instead |
Frequently asked
Can I ask for a testing account?
No. It is an internal tool with no request path, and it is not a substitute for a plan.
Does it cost anything or change my billing?
No. It grants entitlements; it does not create a membership, a term or a charge. The stored tier and its expiry are untouched.
Does the Telegram bot honour it?
Yes, wherever the bot reads the shared entitlement path — both surfaces read the same account record, including this flag.
Is it reversible?
Yes, immediately. Switching it off returns the account to its stored tier's entitlements on the next request, with nothing to invalidate.
Does it hide the account from the marketplace floors?
No. Minimum subscribers and reliability floors apply to a testing account exactly as they apply to everyone.
Related
- How billing works — the three places a tier is written, and where lifetime grants come from.
- Marketplace entry gates — the floors no flag and no tier lifts.
- Comparing the tiers — what Ultimate actually means, dimension by dimension.
- Where tier limits appear — where a tier becomes visible in the product.