Pancake StackPancake Stack › Pancake Stack Manual
Plans and subscription
What each stack includes, the free week, changing or cancelling, and what happens when a subscription ends.
16.1The three stacks
Every plan runs as many sites on your Mac as you like, with Apache, PHP, MySQL, Python, the Assistant and the MCP server. Taller stacks put more sites online and add more.
| Feature | ShortStack | TallStack | FullStack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local sites | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Newest PHP, MySQL 8.4, Python, Adminer | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Older PHP per site (8.4, 8.3, 8.2, 7.1) | ✓ | ||
| Imports, Git, Files and editor, Design with the Assistant | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Local HTTPS, On my network, captured mail | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Backups and save points | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Outside MySQL and MariaDB | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Outside PostgreSQL, databases through SSH | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Sites online (test link or own domain) | 1 | 10 | Unlimited |
| Cloudflare and Route 53 domains, DDNS names | 1 each | 10 each | Unlimited |
| Static-host deploy targets | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| SFTP/FTP publishing, publish back to a live site, database publishing | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Staging copies, per-site environment variables | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Hosting panels, managed WordPress hosts, app platforms | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Real mail through an SMTP relay | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Saving to Pancake Cloud (loading works on every plan) | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Apple Server import over SSH | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Creating cloud servers | 3, on AWS | Unlimited, any provider | |
| Host checks and Match my host | Basic checks | ✓ | |
| PostgreSQL, Valkey, Memcached, Nginx | ✓ | ||
| Scheduled tasks and workers | ✓ | ||
| Off-site backups, push alerts, sync between Macs | ✓ |
The menu bar and Dock icons grow with your plan: a short stack, a tall stack, and a full stack with ice cream and a cherry on top.
16.2Subscribing and the free week
- Open Subscription in the sidebar (or Settings ▸ Subscription ▸ See plans…).
- Choose a stack. If you haven't had a free week before, the button says Start free week; otherwise Subscribe.
- Confirm with the App Store.
Plans are monthly subscriptions through your Apple Account. The free week is offered once per Apple Account, on whichever plan you pick first, and nothing is held back during it. Prices are shown in your currency in the app.
16.3Changing, restoring and cancelling
- Change plan: Settings ▸ Subscription ▸ Change plan…, then Upgrade or Downgrade. Apple adjusts the price for the rest of the month.
- On another Mac: sign in with the same Apple Account and click Restore Purchases.
- Cancel: Manage in App Store, or System Settings ▸ your name ▸ Media & Purchases ▸ Subscriptions.
Your plan is remembered on the Mac, so Pancake keeps working offline. If Apple is retrying a payment, everything keeps working meanwhile.
16.4Counting sites across your Macs
The online-site limit counts all your Macs signed in to the same iCloud. If one Mac is serving your ShortStack site, another can't put a second one online; a Mac stops counting when Pancake quits or the Mac goes offline. Without iCloud, the limit is per Mac.
16.5If a subscription ends
Nothing is deleted. Your sites, databases and settings stay on your Mac, and you can always export every site's files and databases. Features that need a plan stop until you subscribe again, and then everything is as you left it.
After moving to a smaller plan, sites keep their settings: a site set to an older PHP runs on the newest PHP, and extra online sites stay offline, until you upgrade again.