FAQ

Quick answers about Northwise plans, data residency, security, LLM pricing, TOGAF, and more.

Plans and pricing

What counts as an Architect vs a Contributor?

Architects author canonical content — principles, requirements, deliverables, elements, viewpoints, decisions. They own the model. Contributors participate in governance — raise findings, comment in reviews, respond to assessments — but can't edit the model. Readers browse read-only and are always free.

See Understanding roles for a full breakdown with examples.

Can I switch plans anytime?

Upgrading is instant. Downgrading takes effect at your next billing cycle, prorated. You never lose data when downgrading — plan-gated features become read-only.

Do I need a credit card for the Free tier?

No. The Free tier requires only an email address. It's free forever — no trial expiry, no gotchas.

What about Reader seats?

Reader access is free and unlimited on every plan. No per-viewer fees, no seat limits for readers. Stakeholders, delivery teams, executives — invite them all. Architecture is only useful if people can read it.

Do you offer nonprofit or educational discounts?

Yes — 50% off Team and Business on request. Send us a note at /contact.

Data residency and security

Where is my data stored?

EU only — Hetzner (Falkenstein, Nuremberg) and Scaleway (Paris, Amsterdam). No customer data leaves the EU. Enterprise tenants can request a specific datacentre. We don't use AWS, Azure, or GCP for customer data.

Yes. We've signed a DPA available on the pricing page or on request. We act as a data processor for your tenant data. Your tenant is the data controller.

What encryption do you use?

Data at rest is encrypted (AES-256) and data in transit uses TLS 1.2+. Database backups are encrypted. We don't encrypt individual fields in the database beyond this — if you need field-level encryption for highly sensitive data, contact us about Enterprise options.

Can you sign a custom DPA?

Yes — on Business and above. Contact us at /contact.

Architecture and TOGAF

Do I need to know TOGAF or ArchiMate to use Northwise?

Not to get started. The core workflows (Principles, Reviews, Findings) are accessible without prior ArchiMate knowledge. The Landscape module uses ArchiMate terminology natively, so a basic familiarity helps. The glossary defines every term used in the platform.

Does Northwise enforce strict TOGAF compliance?

No. Northwise uses TOGAF and ArchiMate as structural frameworks — the 15 deliverable types, the principle structure (rationale + implications), the ArchiMate metamodel — but it doesn't police how you use them. You can run a lightweight governance process or a full ADM cycle; the platform supports both.

What TOGAF deliverable types are supported?

All 15 standard TOGAF deliverable types: Architecture Vision, Business Architecture, Data Architecture, Application Architecture, Technology Architecture, Architecture Roadmap, Architecture Contract, Architecture Definition Document, Architecture Requirements Specification, Architecture Building Blocks, Solution Building Blocks, Capability Assessment, Migration Plan, Implementation Governance Model, and Architecture Repository. Each has a structured template.

Can I import from an existing ArchiMate model?

Yes. Northwise supports AMEFF (ArchiMate Model Exchange File Format) import. Upload your .xml export from Archi, BiZZdesign, or any AMEFF-compliant tool and all elements, relationships, and viewpoints are imported. Nothing is lost — Northwise stores the full ArchiMate 3.x type vocabulary.

Plumbline and AI

What AI features does Northwise have?

Plumbline Author generates principle suggestions based on patterns detected during an assessment. It uses your Anthropic API key, which you provide at the tenant level. You control the model, the key, and the spend. Northwise doesn't bundle AI costs or add markup.

What model does Plumbline Author use?

The Claude model you specify in Settings → Organisation → AI settings. We recommend claude-sonnet-4-6 for a balance of quality and cost. The default is the latest Sonnet model.

How much does Plumbline Author cost to run?

That depends on your Anthropic plan and how often you run assessments. A typical single-tenant assessment generates 2,000–8,000 tokens. At current Anthropic pricing (check their pricing page — we don't republish it as it changes), this is fractions of a euro per assessment run.

Does Northwise store my AI prompts or responses?

Yes, within your tenant. Principle suggestions are stored as draft records that you accept or reject. We don't use your data to train models. Anthropic's data handling applies to the API calls you make via your key — check their privacy policy.

Git Tech Discovery

Which Git providers are supported?

GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Azure DevOps. Both cloud and self-hosted versions are supported via personal access tokens or OAuth. Self-hosted instances must be reachable from the internet (or via a tunnel — see the reference docs).

What does a Git scan look for?

Dependency manifests: package.json, pom.xml, build.gradle, Gemfile, requirements.txt, go.mod, composer.json, .csproj, and more. When a dependency appears in your Technology Catalogue with a Hold or Ban stage and is found in a mapped application, Northwise automatically raises a Finding.

Does Northwise clone my repos?

No. Northwise reads only the dependency manifest files it needs, via the provider's API. It never clones full repositories and doesn't store your source code.

Support

How do I get help?

Email yori@getnorthwise.com. Enterprise tenants have a dedicated Success Manager. Business tenants get priority email support with a next-business-day response SLA.

What's the uptime SLA?

Free and Team: best-effort. Business: 99.5%. Enterprise: 99.9% with 1-hour support response. Status at status.getnorthwise.com.