Moving to the Free plan
You can move a paid organisation back to Free at any time. The move is scheduled for the end of your billing period, you can call it off until then, and nothing is deleted. This page explains how it works and what to expect when it lands.
Before you start
- Only organisation admins can do this.
- Free includes a fixed number of seats. If your organisation has more members than that, the excess members are suspended when the move lands. Read Members over the seat limit first.
- Free usually has smaller limits and fewer features. Your content is kept, but anything Free doesn't include stops. Check the pricing page for what Free includes. See What you lose on a smaller plan.
How to move to Free
- Open Billing from your organisation's admin menu.
- Select Return to Free.
- A confirmation appears on the Billing page, under your plan. Read it: "Return to the Free plan on date? You keep everything you're paying for until then, and anything above the Free limits stops being available afterwards."
- Select Return to Free to confirm, or Keep plan to back out.
You can also pick Free in the Change plan chooser and select Return to Free. It does exactly the same thing.
You'll see "Your organisation returns to the Free plan when the current period closes." The Billing page then shows "Returns to the Free plan on date — everything above the Free limits stops being available then."
A return to Free replaces any downgrade you had already scheduled.
Until the end of the period
Nothing changes until your renewal date. You keep your plan, its features and your seats, and you're not charged anything extra. The current period is invoiced as usual when it closes, and that's your last charge. See Invoices.
Keeping your plan after all
Select Keep my plan on the Billing page any time before the date. You'll see "Your plan will carry on as normal — the return to Free has been called off."
Your plan then renews as normal. If you'd scheduled a downgrade before choosing Free, it isn't restored: you stay on your current plan, and can schedule the downgrade again from Change plan.
Note
If moving to paid plans is paused when you schedule the return, the confirmation warns "Paid plans are paused right now, so you won't be able to move back onto this one." Once the return lands, you'd stay on Free until paid plans open again. Keep my plan still works up to the date.
When the move lands
On your renewal date the organisation moves to Free:
- the seat count becomes Free's, and members over it are suspended (see below);
- the Free limits apply, and features Free doesn't include stop;
- nothing more is charged. Free is never invoiced.
Members over the seat limit
When the move lands, Folioso suspends members until the organisation fits Free's seats, in this order:
- The owner is always kept.
- The admin who scheduled the move is kept next, while there are seats left.
- Members who aren't admins are suspended, newest to join first.
- If that isn't enough, the least recently active admins are changed to members and then suspended.
Each suspended member is emailed, and the remaining admins get one email listing who was suspended. Suspended members keep their account and pages, and stay in any other organisations they belong to.
To bring people back, move to a plan with enough seats and then choose Unsuspend from the … menu on each of their rows on the Members page. See Getting those members back.
Tip
If you want to pay less while keeping your whole team, check how many seats Free includes on the pricing page first. A smaller paid plan may suit you better: see Plans.
Special rates and legacy terms
- A special rate agreed with Folioso isn't deleted when you move to Free, so Folioso can restore it if you come back. If you choose a paid plan again yourself, it's billed at the normal price.
- Legacy plan terms end when the move lands. Coming back later means the current version of the plan. See Older plan versions.
Moving to Free with unpaid invoices
You can return to Free while an invoice is unpaid or overdue. The move lands on the same date as usual, but the money is still owed: moving to Free doesn't cancel an invoice. See Overdue payments.
Moves that happen straight away
Two things can move an organisation to Free immediately rather than at the end of the period:
- an invoice left unpaid past the grace period (see Overdue payments);
- Folioso support making the change for you.
The current period is then cut short at that day, and you're invoiced only for the days you used. The same seat rules apply.