Upgrading and downgrading

You can change your tier any time. Upgrades take effect immediately; downgrades take effect at the end of your current billing period.

Upgrading

Go to /mentor/settings/billing (or /studio/settings/billing). Pick the higher tier. Confirm.

What happens

• The new tier's features unlock immediately.
• You are billed a prorated amount for the rest of the current period.
• Your billing date shifts to the upgrade date so subsequent renewals are on the new cycle.

Example

You are on Pro at $29/month. Today is the 12th of the month; your billing date is the 5th. You upgrade to Premium ($69/month).

• Days remaining in your current month: 23 of 30.
• Prorated charge for the rest of this month at Premium: $69 × (23/30) = $52.90.
• Prorated CREDIT for unused Pro time: -$29 × (23/30) = -$22.23.
• Net charge today: $52.90 - $22.23 = $30.67.
• New billing date: 12th of each month going forward.

The exact math is handled by Stripe and shown to you before you confirm.

Annual to higher annual

If you are on Pro annual and upgrade to Premium annual:

• Prorated credit for unused Pro annual time.
• Prorated charge for the rest of the current year at Premium.
• Your annual renewal date stays the same.

Annual to monthly

You CAN go from annual to monthly, but it is rarely beneficial financially. Annual is cheaper per month; switching to monthly mid-year refunds the unused portion of annual and starts a new monthly schedule. Email support if you really want to do this.

Downgrading

Same page: /mentor/settings/billing → "Switch tier" → pick the lower one.

What happens

• The change is scheduled for the end of your current billing period.
• You keep the higher tier's features until that date.
• On the next renewal, you are on the lower tier.
• No refund or proration is given for the unused portion of the current period; you paid for it, you use it.

Why we do not prorate downgrades

Two reasons:

1. Simplicity: prorating downgrades creates a refund flow that complicates billing.
2. Fairness: you committed to the higher tier and used it for at least part of the period.

Most customers expect this; it is the industry standard for SaaS billing.

What if I downgrade from Premium to Pro and a feature breaks

Some features have tier-specific limits:

When you downgrade:

• Excess locations are MARKED INACTIVE (not deleted). Reactivate by upgrading back.
• Excess custom mentors are inactive. Same.
• Excess platform mentor invitations remain in the system but show as inactive on your roster.
• Embed widget script stops rendering on your website. The snippet code stays in your settings; reactivate by upgrading.

Nothing is permanently lost. Everything reactivates if you upgrade back.

Cancelling vs downgrading

These are different actions.

Downgrading: from Premium to Pro, or from Pro to Free. Schedules for end of period.

Cancelling: stops auto-renewal. At end of period you move to Free (the cheapest tier, which is effectively the "off" state). Same effect as "downgrade to Free".

In practice they are interchangeable. The UI uses "Cancel subscription" for the action that takes you to Free; "Switch tier" for moves between Pro and Premium.

Cancelling

Go to /mentor/settings/billing → "Cancel subscription".

You will be asked for a reason (optional but appreciated; it helps us know what to improve). Confirm.

What happens

• The cancellation is scheduled for the end of your current billing period.
• You keep your tier's features until that date.
• On the date, you move to Free.
• Future renewals do not happen.

What about your data

Everything stays:

• Your profile.
• Your classes.
• Your past bookings.
• Your client CRM (you keep CRM access on Free; some Pro-tier reporting becomes hidden).
• Your reviews.
• Your earnings history.

You can resubscribe any time. Your data is exactly where you left it.

Resubscribing

/mentor/settings/billing → "Upgrade to Pro" or "Upgrade to Premium". The flow is identical to the original signup, just on an existing account.

If your prior payment method is still on file, Stripe uses it automatically. Otherwise you add a new card.

Payment failures

If Stripe fails to charge your card on a renewal:

• We retry every few days for 14 days.
• You get an email after each failed attempt with a link to update your payment method.
• Your account is "past due" during this period; features stay active but the warning escalates.
• After 14 days of failure, your account is downgraded to Free.

To recover: update your card at /mentor/settings/billing and click "Retry payment". Stripe charges the new card and reactivates your subscription.

Common questions

Can I downgrade and upgrade in the same period? Yes. The downgrade is "scheduled" until the end of the period; you can change your mind any time before then.

Can I have my subscription renew on a specific date (e.g. always the 1st)? Not natively. Your renewal date is set when you first subscribe. If you really need to align it (for accounting reasons), email support and we can shift it.

Can I switch from annual to monthly without losing money? The unused portion of annual is refunded prorated. You then start monthly. Email support to walk through this; it is uncommon enough that the UI does not auto-flow it.

What if I am in the middle of a multi-month annual prepay and want to cancel? You can. The cancellation is scheduled for the end of your annual period. You used the time you paid for; we do not refund mid-annual unless there is a clear platform issue (which we will refund without you asking).

Can I be on different tiers for different parts of the year (e.g. Premium during summer when I run intensives, Pro during winter)? Yes. Just upgrade and downgrade as needed. Each transition follows the rules above.

Next steps

• Billing and invoices: how Stripe handles your subscription billing.
• Mentor tiers or Studio tiers: pick what you want.