circleci · rosieyohannan · Mar 12, 2026
@@ -315,6 +315,7 @@
 * Plans and pricing
 ** xref:plans-pricing:plan-overview.adoc[CircleCI plans overview]
 ** xref:plans-pricing:credits.adoc[Credits overview]
+** xref:plans-pricing:user-types-and-registration.adoc[User types and registration]
 ** xref:plans-pricing:manage-budgets.adoc[Manage budgets]
 ** xref:plans-pricing:plan-free.adoc[Free Plan overview]
 ** xref:plans-pricing:plan-performance.adoc[Performance Plan overview]

@@ -175,6 +175,8 @@ NOTE: If your project is xref:guides:integration:oss.adoc[open-source] you will
 
 To find a list of your active users, log in to the CircleCI web app, select menu:Plan[Plan Usage > Users].
 
+For more information about user types, including active users, registered users, and unregistered users, see xref:guides:plans-pricing:user-types-and-registration.adoc[User types and registration].
+
 [#charged-job-is-queued-or-preparing]
 === Am I charged if my job is "Queued" or "Preparing"?
 

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ The Free Plan offers premium features that allow your team to be productive, eff
 
 The Free Plan includes a set number of credits across a variety of resource classes, per month. You can customize how you use your credits depending on your build configuration and execution environment. A small number of credits are charged per minute.
 
-The Free Plan offers *five* link:https://support.circleci.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034783154-What-is-an-Active-User[active users]. Users beyond this limit are charged at 25,000 credits.
+The Free Plan offers *five* link:https://support.circleci.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034783154-What-is-an-Active-User[active users]. Users beyond this limit are charged at 25,000 credits. For more information about user types and registration, see xref:user-types-and-registration.adoc[User types and registration].
 
 Below are the features you can use on the Free Plan. Refer to the link:https://circleci.com/pricing/[Pricing] page for more detailed information on credit amounts, included resource classes, key features, and support. Refer to the link:https://circleci.com/product/features/resource-classes/[Resource classes] features page for details on CPU, memory, network and storage, and credit usage for available compute types.
 

@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ The Performance Plan offers a higher amount of network usage, and other advantag
 
 The Performance Plan offers *five* link:https://support.circleci.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034783154-What-is-an-Active-User[active users], and you can increase this number as you grow. Each additional user is charged at 25,000 credits. Refer to the link:https://circleci.com/pricing[pricing page] for details.
 
+For detailed information about user types, how to ensure your team is registered, and why registration matters, see xref:user-types-and-registration.adoc[User types and registration].
+
 [#access-to-ip-ranges]
 === Access to IP ranges
 Configure IP-based access to restricted environments with IP ranges. Jobs that have this feature enabled have their traffic routed through one of the defined IP address ranges during job execution.

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Unregistered users trigger pipelines, spend credits and count towards your plan
 ****
 *Unregistered users* are how CircleCI track users who have triggered builds but have not signed up for a CircleCI account. Each unregistered user within an org is mapped to, and counts as, a single link:https://support.circleci.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034783154[active user]. Unregistered users count towards your plan usage.
 
-For more information about unregistered users, see this link:https://support.circleci.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037744473-What-is-an-Unregistered-User-[support article]
+For detailed information about user types, how to register, and why registration matters, see xref:user-types-and-registration.adoc[User types and registration]. For more information about unregistered users specifically, see this link:https://support.circleci.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037744473-What-is-an-Unregistered-User-[support article].
 ****
 
 [#prerequisites]

@@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
+= User types and registration in CircleCI
+:page-platform: Cloud
+:page-description: Learn about registered users, active users, and unregistered users in CircleCI, and how to register for an account.
+:experimental:
+
+This page explains the different user types in CircleCI and how to ensure all team members are properly registered to manage costs and access platform features.
+
+[#overview]
+== Overview
+
+Understanding user types is important for managing your CircleCI organization effectively and controlling costs. CircleCI tracks three types of users:
+
+* **Registered users**: Users with a CircleCI account
+* **Active users**: Users who trigger builds and consume credits (for billing purposes)
+* **Unregistered users**: Users who trigger builds but do not have a CircleCI account
+
+[#registered-users]
+== What is a registered user?
+
+A **registered user** is anyone who has created a CircleCI account by signing up at link:https://circleci.com/signup/[circleci.com/signup]. Registered users have:
+
+* Access to the CircleCI web application
+* The ability to view pipelines, jobs, and build history
+* Permission to trigger and re-run builds
+* Access to organization settings (depending on their role)
+* A user profile with their email and authentication credentials
+
+[#active-users]
+== What is an active user?
+
+An **active user** is any user (registered or unregistered) who triggers the use of compute resources on non-OSS projects during a billing period. This includes activities such as:
+
+* Commits from users that trigger builds, including PR merge commits
+* Re-running jobs in the CircleCI web application, including xref:guides:execution-managed:ssh-access-jobs.adoc[SSH debug]
+* Approving xref:guides:orchestrate:workflows.adoc#holding-a-workflow-for-a-manual-approval[manual jobs] (approver will be considered the actor of all downstream jobs)
+* Using scheduled workflows
+* Machine users
+
+NOTE: If your project is xref:guides:integration:oss.adoc[open-source] you will *not* be considered an active user.
+
+Active users are tracked for billing purposes. On the Free and Performance Plans, the first five active users are included. Additional active users beyond this limit are charged at 25,000 credits per user per month.
+
+To find a list of your active users, log in to the CircleCI web app and navigate to menu:Plan[Plan Usage > Users].
+
+For more information, see the link:https://support.circleci.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034783154[What is an Active User] support article.
+
+[#unregistered-users]
+== What is an unregistered user?
+
+An **unregistered user** is someone who has triggered builds or pipelines in your CircleCI organization but has not signed up for a CircleCI account. Common scenarios include:
+
+* Developers who commit code to a repository connected to CircleCI but have never logged in to CircleCI
+* Contributors who create pull requests that trigger CI builds
+* Bot accounts or service accounts that push commits without having a CircleCI login
+
+****
+*Important billing information*
+
+Each unregistered user within an organization is mapped to, and counts as, a single link:https://support.circleci.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034783154[active user] for billing purposes. Unregistered users trigger pipelines, spend credits, and count towards your plan usage.
+
+Organizations on Performance or Scale Plans can control unregistered user spending. See xref:prevent-unregistered-users-from-spending-credits.adoc[Prevent unregistered users from spending credits] for more information.
+****
+
+For more information, see the link:https://support.circleci.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037744473[What is an Unregistered User] support article.
+
+[#why-registration-matters]
+== Why user registration matters
+
+Having your team members register for CircleCI accounts provides several benefits:
+
+* **Better visibility**: Registered users can view build results, logs, and insights directly in the CircleCI web app
+* **Improved collaboration**: Team members can re-run failed builds, SSH into jobs for debugging, and approve manual workflows
+* **Cost management**: You can better track and manage who is consuming credits in your organization
+* **Access control**: Registered users can be assigned specific roles and permissions within your organization
+* **Audit trails**: Actions taken by registered users are properly attributed in audit logs
+
+[#how-to-register]
+== How to become a registered user
+
+If you or your team members are currently unregistered users (triggering builds without a CircleCI account), follow these steps to register:
+
+[#prerequisites]
+=== Prerequisites
+
+* An email address
+* Access to code repositories that build on CircleCI (optional, but recommended for full functionality)
+
+[#registration-steps]
+=== Registration steps
+
+. Go to the link:https://circleci.com/signup/[CircleCI Sign Up page]
++
+. Choose your sign-up method:
++
+* **For GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket Data Center users**: Sign up with your email address to create an account
+* **For Bitbucket Cloud users**: Sign up with your Bitbucket account
++
+. Enter your email address and create a password (if signing up with email)
++
+. Answer a few questions about how you plan to use CircleCI
++
+. Join your existing organization:
++
+* If you received an email invite, follow the link in the email
+* If you didn't receive an invite, use the **Find Your Team** option to search for and join your organization
+* Contact your organization admin to request an invite if needed
+
+For detailed instructions, see the xref:guides:getting-started:first-steps.adoc[Sign up and try CircleCI] page.
+
+[#after-registration]
+=== After registration
+
+Once you've created your CircleCI account and joined your organization:
+
+. You will appear as a registered user in your organization
+. You can view all pipelines and projects you have access to
+. You can trigger builds, re-run jobs, and approve workflows
+. Your organization admin can assign you appropriate roles and permissions
+
+See the xref:guides:getting-started:invite-your-team.adoc[Join teammates on CircleCI] page for more information.
+
+[#invite-team-members]
+== How to ensure your team is registered
+
+As an organization admin, you can help ensure all team members who trigger builds have CircleCI accounts:
+
+. **Identify unregistered users**: 
++
+Navigate to menu:Plan[Plan Usage > Users] in the CircleCI web app to view all active users. Unregistered users will be listed with limited information.
++
+. **Send invites**:
++
+Navigate to menu:Organization Settings[People] and use the btn:[Invite] button to send email invitations to team members. See the xref:guides:getting-started:invite-your-team.adoc#invite-teammates[Invite teammates] section for detailed steps.
++
+. **Enable unregistered user spend prevention** (Performance and Scale Plans only):
++
+If you want to require registration before allowing builds, enable the "Prevent unregistered user spend" feature. See xref:prevent-unregistered-users-from-spending-credits.adoc[Prevent unregistered users from spending credits] for instructions.
++
+. **Communicate with your team**:
++
+Let your team know about the benefits of registering and provide them with instructions or invite links.
+
+[#checking-your-status]
+== How to check if you're registered
+
+If you're unsure whether you have a registered CircleCI account:
+
+* Try logging in at link:https://app.circleci.com/[app.circleci.com]
+* If you can successfully log in and view the CircleCI dashboard, you have a registered account
+* If you cannot log in, or have never created an account, you may be an unregistered user (if you're triggering builds through code commits)
+
+[#see-also]
+== See also
+
+* xref:guides:getting-started:first-steps.adoc[Sign up and try CircleCI]
+* xref:guides:getting-started:invite-your-team.adoc[Join teammates on CircleCI]
+* xref:prevent-unregistered-users-from-spending-credits.adoc[Prevent unregistered users from spending credits]
+* xref:guides:permissions-authentication:roles-and-permissions-overview.adoc[Roles and permissions overview]
+* xref:plan-overview.adoc[CircleCI plan overview]
+* link:https://support.circleci.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034783154[What is an Active User] (support article)
+* link:https://support.circleci.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037744473[What is an Unregistered User] (support article)