Is the Free tier really free forever?

Yes. No trial, no subscription. Free includes 2,500 bookmarks, full-text & semantic search, knowledge graph and AI with your own API key.

What does Lifetime of v1 mean?

Pay once, own v1 forever. All v1.x bugfixes forever plus 12 months of feature updates from purchase. Security updates forever. After month 13 you keep v1 working. v2 and v3 are separate paid majors: $89 for new customers, $35 for v1 owners (60% off).

What if I forget my vault password?

We cannot recover it. When you create a vault we show a 24-word recovery phrase once — write it on paper. Without it the vault is unrecoverable. See BF-E101.

Last Updated: September 13, 2026 · ← Back to home

Help Center — FAQ, Troubleshooting & Support SLA | BookmarkForge

Answers before you need to email. BookmarkForge is local-first and encrypted — we cannot see your vault. 90% of issues are solved here with a diagnostic you can copy-paste.

Pricing — Lifetime of v1, no subscriptions

Model: you pay once for BookmarkForge v1. No monthly billing. Compare: Raindrop Pro $28–38/y, Instapaper $60/y, Readwise $120/y, Capacities $120/y. A $79 lifetime is ~2× Raindrop annual — justified by lifetime + privacy.

Tier	Price	What you get	Supply
Free	$0 forever	2,500 bookmarks on any device (each keeps its own vault), smart search — full-text + semantic, the feature Raindrop charges yearly for — knowledge graph, AI with your own API key, PWA + extensions. At 2,500 your vault stays whole: reading, search and export never stop; only new saves pause.	Unlimited
Pro Lifetime v1 Early Bird	$59 $79 → $79 regular → $99 after traction	Unlimited bookmarks, 5 devices + P2P sync, Local AI (WebLLM/Ollama) + RAG + Expert agents, Flashcards, PDF/OCR, 10+ export formats, vault. Lifetime of v1 · 12 months feature updates · Security forever · v2 60% off	200 Early Bird

Lifetime of v1 — legal line:: Lifetime license for BookmarkForge v1. Includes all v1.x updates (bugfixes + minor features) forever and 12 months of feature updates from purchase. Security updates forever. Future major versions (v2, v3) are separate products: $89 for new customers, $35 for v1 owners (60% off). If you don't upgrade you keep v1 functional forever. 30-day refund via Whop.
Refunds: 30 days via Whop. Payments: card, PayPal, crypto (Whop — we never see card data). Terms § Licensing

Upgrade without subscription:: every 12–18 months we ship a paid major (v2.0 at $89 / $35 for owners). Skip it and v1 keeps working. That's the recurring revenue without forcing a subscription — same model as Affinity/Sketch/Sublime.

Support SLA — how fast we answer

Single maintainer. The vault is encrypted — we never ask for your vault password or 24-word recovery phrase. Support is best-effort for Free, committed for paid tiers.

Tier	Channel	Response	What to do first
Free	Self-service: this Help Center + GitHub Discussions	Best effort (community)	Search BF-E* code below + copy diagnostic (§Diagnostics) before posting
Pro	Email bookmarkforge@proton.me (subject: Pro)	48h	Include diagnostic text from `Settings → Help → Copy diagnostic`

We cannot see your bookmarks, notes, URLs or prompts. Include only the diagnostic below — it contains counts and versions, never vault content.

Troubleshooting — most issues in 30 seconds

Vault locked / wrong password

Passwords are case- and whitespace-sensitive. If you changed layout (e.g. AZERTY→QWERTY) retype slowly. After 5 failed unlocks, wait 1 minute. If you lost the password, use the 24-word recovery phrase shown once at vault creation (BF-E101). Without it recovery is impossible by design — we have no backdoor.

Browser storage full

IndexedDB quota is per-browser (typically 60–80% of disk). When full, saves fail with BF-E103. Fix: Settings → Storage → Compact database then Clear AI cache. Or Export backup (.bmf) → Delete old vectors. Check storage % in diagnostic — above 80% we show a banner.

P2P sync not connecting

Both devices must be online and unlocked at the same time (WebRTC). No TURN relay by default — some corporate networks block P2P. Try: both on same Wi-Fi → QR pair → keep app open. If BF-E105, test Help → Diagnostics → P2P (WebRTC) — if it says unavailable, your browser/network blocks WebRTC.

Local AI (WebLLM) not running

Requires WebGPU + ~4 GB free RAM + Pro license. Check Help → Diagnostics → WebGPU/WebLLM. If BF-E106: update Chrome/Edge to latest, enable chrome://flags/#enable-unsafe-webgpu, or switch to Ollama (any model you run locally — no API key needed either).

Slow search or import

First import builds HNSW vectors — CPU heavy. Keep tab open. For 10k+ bookmarks use Settings → Advanced → Force reprocess. If persists, Copy diagnostic shows vectorIndexLoad and query latency.

Error codes BF-E* — copy the code, jump to the fix

Every critical error shows a code like BF-E101. Click the code in the app or search it here.

Code	Meaning	Fix
BF-E101	Vault password forgotten / seed phrase required	We cannot recover passwords. At vault creation we show a 24-word phrase once — write it on paper. Use it to reset. No phrase = vault unrecoverable. No ticket will recover it.
BF-E102	Vault locked / wrong password	Retype password exactly. After 5 failures wait 60s. If you rotated password recently, try the previous one — rotation keeps last salt for rollback.
BF-E103	Storage quota exceeded	Go to `Settings → Storage`: Compact DB + Clear AI cache. Export .bmf backup if needed. See Troubleshooting §Storage.
BF-E104	IndexedDB blocked / private browsing	IndexedDB is blocked in private/incognito or by storage policy. Use a normal window. Check `Help → Diagnostics → Storage`.
BF-E105	P2P / WebRTC unavailable	Browser or network blocks WebRTC. Try another browser/network, disable strict firewall, or use Export/Import instead of live sync.
BF-E106	Local AI (WebLLM) cannot run on this device	Needs WebGPU + shader-f16 + 4 GB RAM + Pro. Update browser, or use Ollama / cloud provider with your own key.
BF-E107	Backup import failed (wrong password / corrupt file)	For `.bmf` (encrypted) you need the export password, not the vault password. For JSON, ensure file wasn't truncated.
BF-E201	Pro license invalid / expired check	Check `Settings → Pro`: re-enter key. Offline checks cache; reconnect once to re-validate via Whop.
BF-E202	Free limit reached (2,500 bookmarks)	Free is 2,500. Delete or upgrade to Pro Lifetime v1 for unlimited. Export is always available.

Support tip: clicking the error's Copy diagnostic copies code + context in one click — paste it in your GitHub Discussion or email.

Copy a redacted diagnostic — what you paste to support

In the app: Settings → Advanced (or Help → Diagnostics) → Copy diagnostic. It looks like this — no vault content, no URLs, no prompts:

What it contains: app version, browser, counts (bookmarks/docs/vectors), storage % + quota, P2P status, AI status, error counts & last BF-E code, build hash. Uses a salted hash of IP — we never store IP. See Privacy §3/§6.

If you cannot open the app: include browser + OS + steps to reproduce + the BF-E* code on screen. That's enough for 90% of tickets.

Contact

Paid support: bookmarkforge@proton.me — include diagnostic + BF-E code. Pro 48h (Mon–Fri).
Community (Free): GitHub Discussions — search BF-E* before posting. Read Error codes + paste diagnostic.
Security issues: email with subject [SECURITY] — do not open a public discussion.

BookmarkForge is local-first — vault content never leaves your device. Support never asks for your vault password or recovery phrase.

Also see: Home · Privacy & Terms · Licensing (Lifetime v1) · Pricing