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Upgrading and downgrading your plan

What happens when you upgrade or downgrade your app plan or workload tier — including prorated charges, feature changes, and how to switch plans.

Written by Sofia Maconi

What happens if I upgrade my app plan or workload tier while my subscription is active?

You'll be charged for the initial upgrade based on the amount of time left on your billing cycle before your plan's renewal date. Then, you'll be charged the full amount of the upgraded plan and/or workload tier on your billing cycle renewal date. You'll continue to be charged this price on subsequent invoices unless the plan is downgraded or canceled.

What happens if I downgrade my app plan or workload tier while my subscription is active?

If you downgrade your app plan from one paid plan to another paid plan, or if you downgrade your workload tier while your subscription is active, those changes will take effect immediately. For example, if you downgrade from the Team plan to the Growth plan, you will immediately lose access to the features of the Team plan but will be charged a prorated amount for the unused time on the Team plan on your next billing cycle invoice. (Please note that downgrading your app to the Free plan and then re-upgrading does not result in a prorated charge!)

When it comes to downgrading workload tiers, those changes also take effect immediately and will not wait until your workload units reset before switching your tier. For example, if you downgrade from Tier 3 (2.5 million workload units) to Tier 2 (750k workload units), on the 20th of the month, when you are charged for overages at 12 AM UTC on the last day of the month, it will only take into account the 750k additional workload units from Tier 2. When you downgrade workload tiers, you will be charged a prorated amount for the unused time on the higher tier in your next billing cycle invoice.

What happens to my app and its features when I downgrade?

When you downgrade from a paid plan to the Free plan:

  • Feature Disabling: Paid features—including custom domains, recurring workflows, files, app data, and perpetual license plugins—are not deleted but temporarily disabled. This ensures that your app's structure remains intact.

  • Plugin Subscriptions: Any monthly plugin subscriptions will need to be re-subscribed when you upgrade back to a paid plan.

  • Data Preservation: App data remains intact during the downgrade and is restored when you upgrade.

  • Data Export Functionality: Free plan users cannot export app data or access extended storage capacities. Upgrading to a paid plan restores these capabilities.

When you re-upgrade to a paid plan after downgrading, all your previously disabled features and functionalities will be fully restored, including custom domains and recurring workflows. The workload tiers align with your billing cycle and can also resume on a paid subscription.

How can I downgrade my Growth Plan to the Starter Plan?

  1. Open your app's editor: Log in to your Bubble account and navigate to the editor of the app you want to downgrade.

  2. Access the settings: Click on the Settings tab in the toolbar.

  3. Go to the My plan tab: In the settings menu, locate and select the My plan tab.

  4. Change the plan: Click on the Change plan button.

  5. Select the billing frequency: You'll be prompted to choose your preferred billing cycle (monthly or annual).

  6. Choose the Starter Plan: From the list of available plans, select the Starter Plan.

  7. Confirm the downgrade: A confirmation pop-up will appear. Verify your choice and complete the downgrade process by clicking to confirm.

If you choose to downgrade your plan before the end of your current billing period, Bubble will apply a prorated credit to your account for the unused time remaining on your Growth Plan. This credit will automatically be applied to your next invoice.

How can I downgrade to the Free plan without losing my data?

When downgrading your plan to the Free version, rest assured that:

  • No data, custom domains, or application configurations will be deleted. Instead, these features will be disabled temporarily.

  • All backend workflows, larger file storage, and paid plugins will remain saved but inaccessible unless managed under a paid plan.

  • Monthly plugin subscriptions, if any, will require reactivation when upgrading back to a paid plan.

This ensures you can safely downgrade without risking data loss and re-enable features seamlessly when upgrading later.

Switching between annual and monthly plans

Bubble does not support direct switching from annual to monthly plans. Instead, you must first downgrade to the Free plan and then re-upgrade to a monthly plan. Alternatively, wait until your annual plan is about to expire, then downgrade to the Free plan, allowing you to activate a monthly plan.

How do I upgrade from the Free plan to a paid plan?

In your app's editor, go to Settings > My Plan and click "Change Plan". Select your billing frequency (monthly or annual), pick your plan, then confirm. You can also switch to annual billing directly from the My Plan tab without going through the full Change Plan flow.

Annual plans are billed in full upfront and can't be switched back to monthly. To go from annual to monthly billing, downgrade to Free first, then re-upgrade on a monthly cycle — ideally close to your renewal date. When downgrading to Free, your plan stays active through the end of your billing cycle and no credit is issued.

How do I cancel my plan?

You can cancel at any time. A few things to know first:

  • Your plan stays active through the end of your billing cycle — your app keeps running and consuming workload.

  • If overages are enabled, you're responsible for any overages accrued before the cycle ends. Disable them in Settings to avoid this.

  • You can't purchase workload tiers after canceling.

To cancel, go to Settings > My Plan in your app's editor and click "Cancel plan" — or click "Change Plan", select the Free plan, and confirm. You can also ask the Bubble AI bot on any bubble.io page to cancel your subscription; just ask to cancel and follow the prompts.

If you accidentally activated a plan or need help canceling, contact Bubble Support and they'll take care of it.

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