Plan comparison

Free vs Pro: caps, AI / knowledge base, and which channel to pick

Purpose

Free already covers Stars tidy, search, and explore. Pro unlocks AI, the knowledge base, and higher caps. App Store and Direct match on entitlements; pick the channel that matches how you install. Prices follow starcat.ink and the in-app purchase page. If they disagree, the purchase page wins.

Settings → Pro: Monthly / Yearly / Lifetime and entitlements

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Features

Feature	Free	Pro
GitHub Stars sync	Yes	Yes
Tags	Yes (20)	Unlimited
Notes and status	Yes	Yes
Full-text search (FTS5)	Yes	Yes
List filters	Yes	Yes
Language / tag groups	Yes	Yes
Smart collections	Yes (4)	Unlimited
Trending / Explore	Yes	Yes
Browser extension	Yes	Yes
External web search (AnySearch)	Yes	Yes
Release subscriptions	Yes (5 repos)	Unlimited
AI summary	No	Yes
AI tag suggestions	No	Yes
README translation	No	Yes
AI chat	No	Yes
Semantic search	No	Yes
RAG knowledge base	No	Yes
AI personal notes	No	Yes
Similar repos	No	Yes
Repo Health / OpenSSF	No	Yes
BYOK	No	Yes
MCP / CLI bridge	No	Yes
Agent workspace	No	Yes (Beta)

Pricing and channels

Plan	Price	Notes
Pro Monthly	$3.99 / month	Auto-renew
Pro Yearly	$29.99 / year	Auto-renew
Pro Lifetime	$39.99	One-time; up to 2 Macs for personal use

• Mac App Store: Starcat for GitHub
• Direct: starcat.ink

Pro entitlements match across channels. Receipts do not. See Purchase and Restore.

Apple ID / family sharing → App Store. Direct DMG / Lifetime seat → starcat.ink. Two Macs long-term → Lifetime (License). Try a year → Yearly.

AI calls use your own key. See BYOK.

Notes

App Store and Direct are separate installs. License and StoreKit cannot restore each other.

Direct can launch local CLIs / Agent runtimes. App Store is sandboxed. See GitHub connection.

Cloud sync and JSON import/export are not shipped. Pro is not a cloud drive.

Related

• Purchase
• AI overview