1. What you can do
| Action | Where | Result |
| Request a free trial Odoo database | Sign-up form on the website | A portal account and a database being set up |
| Browse the app catalog | App selection on the sign-up form | You pick the apps you want |
| Start from your type of business | Business type selector | A typical set of apps is preselected |
| Buy a plan or a bundle | Online store | Order, subscription and database |
| Sign in with a social account | Buttons on the sign-up form | You're signed in and skip email verification |
Without an account you can't view, start or manage databases. All of that happens in your portal once you've signed up: see the Customer manual.
2. Request a free trial
You can request a free trial database from the sign-up form on the Binhex Cloud website.
Requires: nothing. If you're already signed in, email verification is skipped.
Steps
- Open the sign-up form. If you're already signed in, your name, email and phone are filled in for you. Your country and language are taken from your browser.
- Fill in your details: name, email, phone, country, language and data location (the region where your database will be hosted).
- Choose a password. The form checks it against the password policy before you submit, so you'll know right away if it isn't strong enough.
- Verify your email. Click the button to send a code and you'll receive a 5-digit code by email. You have 5 attempts to enter it, the code expires after a while, and you can request a new one every 2 minutes.
- Choose your hostname (see section 3).
- Choose your apps (see section 4).
- Submit the form.
What happens next
Your account and your database are created in a single step. If anything fails along the way, nothing is left half-created: no account without a database, and no database without an account. You're signed in and taken to your portal.
If something fails
| You see | It means | What to do |
| "Please confirm your email address with the code we sent you." | You submitted the form before confirming the code | Request a code and confirm it before submitting |
| "You have reached the maximum number of allowed containers (N)." | Your account or your company has reached its database limit | Contact support to raise it |
| "An error occurred while we were creating the container." | Unexpected error. Nothing was created | Try again. If it keeps happening, contact support |
| The code isn't accepted | You used all 5 attempts, or the code expired | Request a new code (wait 2 minutes if you just requested one) |
3. Choose your hostname
Your hostname is the address of your database. For example, yourcompany.binhex.cloud.
- Allowed characters: lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, up to 63 characters.
- The form checks availability as you type.
- If the name is taken, the platform suggests available alternatives automatically.
Choose carefully. It's the address you and your users will use every day, and it appears on your security certificate. You can't change it yourself later.
4. Choose your apps
Depending on the page, the form offers one of two ways to choose your apps:
| Option | How it works |
| App catalog | Browse apps by category, each with an icon and a short description. Tick the ones you want. |
| Business type | Pick your type of business and a typical set of apps is preselected. You can adjust it afterwards. |
- Some apps depend on others: when you select them, the apps they need are added too.
- Some apps are installed in every new database, even if you don't select them.
5. Buy from the online store
Instead of starting with a trial, you can buy a plan directly from the online store.
| If you want to… | What to do |
| Buy a single plan | Add it to the cart and complete the order |
| Buy a bundle | It works the same way. A bundle can include a plan together with other products |
| Choose a custom hostname | If the product offers a personalized hostname, the cart asks you for it |
| Upgrade a database you already have | Open the store from the Upgrade link in your portal, so the order is linked to that database |
| Buy AI credits | The cart asks which database the credits should go to |
When you confirm the order, your subscription and your database are created, and so is your portal account if you didn't have one yet.
Trial or subscription? A database with a subscription is permanent. A trial database has an expiry date and is deleted automatically when it expires.
6. After you sign up
- You receive a welcome email with your database details.
- Your database appears in your portal, under
/my/containers, with the status Creating and then Configuring. - The platform creates your database, publishes its address, issues its security certificate and sets up Odoo.
- When it's ready, you receive a second email:
- If you already had a password, it includes the link to sign in. Use the same password as your portal.
- If you didn't, it asks you to set one.
- From there, continue with the Customer manual.
If a partner or a sales rep requested the database for you
If you haven't set a password yet, the database is put on hold and you receive an invitation by email. As soon as you set your first password, setup continues on its own. Nobody needs to restart it.
7. Error messages
| Message or symptom | What it means |
| "Please confirm your email address…" | You haven't confirmed the verification code yet |
| "You have reached the maximum number of allowed containers" | Your account or your company has reached its database limit. By default, that's one database, not counting trials |
| The email is already registered | An account with that email already exists. Sign in instead |
| The hostname isn't accepted | It contains capital letters, dots or other characters. Only lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens are allowed |
| Your country isn't in the list | The list of available countries is limited. Contact us if you need yours |
| There's no anti-bot check on the form | That's normal. The check is optional and doesn't block sign-up |
| An error page with a different message | The text on the page is the specific cause. If it isn't clear, contact support and include that text |
8. Quick reference
| Item | Value |
| Verification code | 5 digits |
| Attempts allowed | 5 |
| Wait between new codes | 2 minutes |
| Hostname format | Lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, up to 63 characters |
| Your database address | yourcompany.binhex.cloud |
| Default database limit | 1 (trials don't count) |
| Where you land after signing up | Your portal, /my/containers |