Your questions, answered
Is there a free trial, and when do I pay?
Most mentors offer a 7-day trial, and nothing is billed if you cancel before it ends. Payment details are entered when the mentor accepts, and billing starts automatically otherwise. The homepage says your first call is free, which doesn't match that step, so check the checkout screen. [1] [2]
How much does a session cost?
An introductory call costs $39 for about 15 minutes, which is $2.60 a minute. A one-off session fee of $9 to $39 also exists, but no help article says whether you or the mentor pays it. [3] [4]
How much does MentorCruise keep?
On a $100 rate you pay $120, and MentorCruise keeps $20, which is 16.7% of what you pay. Top Mentor Pro carries a 10% markup on plans above $800, capped at $200 a month. [4]
Can my price go up after I sign up?
The company says the plan price is locked at signup and isn't raised without consent. A 2022 reviewer says they were asked to raise a locked monthly fee, and the company says a mentor may ask for more if the plan is judged insufficient. [13]
When and how do mentors get paid?
At the card rates in the payout article, a $120 charge costs $3.78 to $4.50 in fees, so a $100 rate pays the mentor $95.50 to $96.22. The article publishes no commission schedule, minimum payout or tax terms. [5]
Can I get a refund?
Yes, if one of the policy's grounds applies. For an unresponsive mentor, that means more than a week of silence after two follow-ups, with written proof the mentor agrees with. The company says it grants “over 85%” of refund requests, with no period given. [6] [13]
My mentor stopped replying. What can I do?
Send two follow-ups, keep them dated, and request a refund after more than a week of silence. The 2023 help article was more generous, with no threshold, so ask support in writing which rule applies to you. [6] [7]
Can I pause, cancel or end, and what happens to my payments?
Pausing is self-service and keeps your chat. It needs a resume day, and you can't pause twice in one billing cycle. Ending closes the chat and stops recurring payments at once, and the article doesn't say whether access runs to the end of the period. [8] [9]
Are the reviews reliable?
They're useful for patterns and weak as averages. Trustpilot shows 4.2 from 108 reviews, but only 22 are from the last 12 months, and Product Hunt's 5.0 comes from 8 reviews. Read the refund complaints before you trust the average. [13] [14]
Does MentorCruise use AI or share my data?
Its privacy policy lists OpenAI and Anthropic among more than twenty processors, but doesn't say whether session content reaches them, or whether it's kept or used for training. Its GitHub plugin hashes the caller's IP address for abuse prevention and sends requests only to MentorCruise, but the skills repo has no privacy statement. [10] [11] [12]
Can I become a mentor, and what does it take?
One September 2026 applicant was rejected for blank LinkedIn and Twitter fields, despite sending a CV. MentorCruise doesn't describe its vetting steps, and the payout terms beyond the card-fee example aren't published. [13] [5]
Is there a free way to find a mentor?
Yes, in two ways. Most mentors offer a 7-day trial that costs nothing if you cancel in time, and ADPList lets you start with free sessions. [1] [15]