FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Optserv — plans, access, Account Sharing, School, and security.
General
What is Optserv? Optserv is an HR-first operating system for startups. It covers the full employee lifecycle: hiring, onboarding, access management, and offboarding. See What is Optserv.
What's the difference between Optserv and Rippling? Rippling is built for enterprise — it's complex, expensive, and overkill for early-stage startups. Optserv is built for 5–100 person companies that want to operate cleanly without enterprise overhead. Key differences: Optserv is simpler to set up, cheaper, and has HR-aware Account Sharing built in.
Is there a free plan? Yes. The Community plan is free and supports up to 15 employees, 3 job postings, 25 applicants per job, and 2 GB of storage. See Pricing: Free vs Paid.
Plans & Limits
How many employees can I have on the free plan? Up to 15 active employees. Offboarded employees don't count against the limit.
What happens when I hit the employee limit? You can't invite new employees until you either archive/offboard existing ones or upgrade to Business with Access.
Can I upgrade mid-cycle? Yes. Upgrades take effect immediately.
What's the storage limit? 2 GB on Community, 200 GB on Business with Access. Storage is shared across the company — not per user.
Roles & Access
What's the difference between HR and Admin? Admin has full company access including billing and company settings. HR has people-operations access but cannot change billing or company configuration.
Can a Manager see employees outside their department? No. Managers are scoped to their department. They cannot query or view employees, leave requests, or attendance from other departments.
Can I have multiple Admins? Yes. Multiple people can hold the Admin role.
How do I change someone's role? Go to People, open the employee's profile, and update their role. Role changes take effect immediately.
Account Sharing
Is Account Sharing secure? Yes. Credentials are encrypted client-side using AES-GCM 256-bit before they leave your browser. Optserv never receives or stores plaintext credentials. See Accounts Vault Crypto.
What happens to shared credentials when someone is offboarded? Their access to all Account Sharing items is automatically revoked when they're offboarded. However, the underlying passwords are not changed automatically — you should rotate credentials for high-sensitivity accounts. See Sharing & Offboarding.
Account Sharing is not available — why? Account Sharing must be enabled by an Admin in company settings. If it's not showing, check with your Admin.
School (OptClass)
Who is OptClass for? Companies that run tutoring programs, language schools, corporate training cohorts, or any education/kiosk-style operation.
Can students log into the staff app? No. Students are actively blocked from the staff web application. They access a separate portal. See OptClass Student Access.
How do I enable OptClass?
OptClass requires the school_accessible metadata claim. Contact support to activate it for your company.
What are the student/teacher limits? 25 students and 15 teachers on Community (free). Unlimited on Business with Access. See School Limits.
Security
Can Optserv employees read our data? Optserv staff do not have routine access to your company's data. Account Sharing credentials are never accessible to Optserv — client-side encryption prevents this. See Data Handling & Auditability.
How is data isolated between companies? Row-Level Security (RLS) enforces company-scoped access at the database level. Queries from one company cannot return data from another. See Tenant Isolation & RLS.
Is data encrypted? Yes — in transit (TLS) and at rest (database encryption). Account Sharing adds client-side encryption on top. See Encryption at Rest and in Transit.
Support
How do I contact support? Email support@optserv.ai. For billing issues, contact from an Admin email.
Where do I report a security vulnerability? Email security@optserv.ai. Please do not report vulnerabilities in public forums or issues.