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Plan upgrades, downgrades & cancellations

This page explains what changes immediately vs at the end of a billing period, and what you might see when payment fails or you are above new limits after a tier change. It complements Plan & billing (the screen) and Billing & workspace FAQ (quick links).

Govern365 ties limits (seats, workspaces, frameworks, AI projects, storage) to your subscription row and Stripe. The behaviour below matches the Stripe webhook logic in the server: upgrades apply to entitlements right away; downgrades to a cheaper tier defer lowering limits until period end.

Upgrades (move to a higher tier)​

AspectWhat happens
When limits increaseImmediately after Stripe reflects the higher price / tier.
Pending downgradeAny previously scheduled downgrade is cleared when you upgrade.
Hub / G365After subscription updates, the system can reconcile course access for current members (so people who were blocked by an old cap may become eligible).

You still complete checkout or portal actions as shown on Plan & billing.

Downgrades (move to a lower tier)​

Stripe may show the lower price quickly, but Govern365 keeps your current (higher) plan limits until the end of the current paid period.

AspectWhat happens
Banner on Plan & billingYou should see a pending downgrade message with the target tier name and effective date/time.
Until that dateYou keep the higher limits — you can still work as before.
After that dateLimits switch to the new tier.

If you are already “over” the new limits​

Example: you had 20 projects on Business, then downgrade to a tier that allows 10. After the downgrade takes effect, the workspace may be above quota.

In that state:

  • Creating or editing content that requires quota can be blocked with a message to free capacity (remove projects, frameworks, team members or pending invites, or storage) until you are back under the limits.
  • Deletes are generally still allowed so you can clean up and recover.

Exact wording comes from the server’s billing compliance checks; your UI may show an upgrade prompt as well.

Cancel at period end​

If you choose cancel at period end in Stripe (via the customer portal when available):

  • Subscription status stays usable (for example Active or Trialing) until the period end shown in Stripe / Plan & billing.
  • You keep full access until then; a banner may remind you of the cancellation schedule.

Subscription cancelled or expired​

If the paid subscription ends and is no longer treated as allowing access:

  • The workspace can fall back to very restrictive limits (effectively no paid capacity for new work) until a new subscription is started.
  • Data is not deleted by the billing system — you need a new plan to resume normal mutations.

See Plan & billing for read-only messaging tied to enterprise evaluation ended vs Stripe states.

Past due (failed payment)​

When the last charge fails:

  • Subscription may be marked Past due.
  • Creates and edits across the workspace are paused until the billing owner (or whoever can open the Stripe portal) updates the payment method.
  • Reviewing existing data is still possible; nothing is wiped automatically.

Use Plan & billing → Update payment when the button is shown.

Enterprise evaluation (sales-assisted trial)​

If your workspace had a time-boxed enterprise-style evaluation:

  • While active, limits behave like a starter-style cap (not unlimited enterprise).
  • When it ends, if there is no Stripe subscription linked, the workspace can become read-only until someone subscribes.

This is separate from a normal Stripe downgrade but shows similar read-only banners.

Summary​

  • Upgrade: Stripe reflects the higher tier → entitlements go up immediately → any pending downgrade is cleared.
  • Downgrade: Stripe may show the lower price, but limits stay on the current tier until period end → then the new tier applies. If usage is above the new caps, creates/edits stay blocked until you delete enough to get back under (deletes still work).