How to Upgrade, Downgrade, or Change Your Subscription

PixoProof supports upgrading to higher tiers for increased storage, switching between monthly and yearly billing cycles, downgrading plans, and managing auto-renewal cancellation.

Upgrading from the Free Tier

When your studio requires more vault storage or higher tier privileges, upgrade to a paid subscription using the following workflow:

1. In the left navigation menu, click Billing.
2. Under Plan options, use the interval toggle to choose Monthly or Yearly billing.
3. Locate the desired plan tier (such as PixoProof Essential, PixoProof Pro, or PixoProof Studio).
4. Click the Upgrade button on the plan card.
5. The button transitions to a "Redirecting..." state while PixoProof contacts the billing gateway to establish a secure checkout session.
6. Your browser is redirected to the official Stripe Checkout page to provide payment credentials (credit card, billing address). If you have a promotion code, enter it on the Stripe Checkout page.

Checkout Results & Return Handling

After interacting with the external payment gateway, Stripe redirects your browser back to PixoProof.

Successful Checkout (/billing/success)

If payment is successfully authorized, you are redirected to the payment confirmation screen:

• Confirmation Message: Informs you that your payment was processed and your subscription is being activated.
• Activation Sync: A brief synchronization window occurs while webhook notifications confirm the updated plan limits.
• Return Action: Click View billing to return to the Billing page and inspect your newly expanded storage allocation.

Cancelled Checkout (/billing/cancel)

If you decide not to proceed with checkout or click the browser back button on the payment form, Stripe returns you to the cancellation screen:

• Cancellation Notice: Confirms that the transaction was cancelled and no charges were made to your account.
• Return Options:
  • Click View billing to review your current plan and storage details.
  • Click Try again to return to the Billing page and re-select your preferred plan or interval.

Switching Between Paid Subscription Tiers

Photographers who already maintain an active paid subscription can adjust their package directly from the /billing page without going through full checkout again.

The Confirm Plan Change Modal

When you click Upgrade, Downgrade, or Change billing cycle on a different plan tier, the Confirm Plan Change modal appears:

1. Tier Transition: Displays your current plan transitioning to the requested tier (e.g., PixoProof Essential → PixoProof Pro) along with the billing cadence and price.
2. Proration & Credit Breakdown:
   • Unused credit from <current plan>: Calculates unused time remaining on your existing billing cycle.
   • Prorated charge: Calculates the cost for the new tier across the remaining cycle duration.
   • Tax, Discount, and Account credit applied: Displayed when they apply (for example, referral credit).
   • Total due today: Highlights the exact immediate charge required to execute the transition.
3. Next Billing Information: Shows the Next billing date (or Effective date for a downgrade) and the Next billing amount.
4. Storage Downgrade Warning: If you attempt to downgrade to a tier whose storage capacity is lower than your currently utilized vault storage, a high-visibility warning appears alerting you that file uploads will be restricted until storage is freed.
5. Confirmation: Click Confirm. Upgrades apply immediately; a downgrade is scheduled for the effective date shown, and the Current Plan card displays a pending change notice until then.

Cancelling a Subscription

Photographers can disable auto-renewal at any time without losing immediate access to their studio galleries.

1. Navigate to Billing.
2. In the top-right header, click the Cancel subscription button (visible on active auto-renewing subscriptions).
3. A Cancel Subscription dialog appears asking: "Are you sure you want to cancel your subscription? You will continue to have access until the end of your billing cycle."
4. Click Cancel Subscription to confirm.
5. Auto-renew is turned off. The Current Plan card updates to show:
   • Date label: Expires
   • Hint: Pending cancellation
   • Access: Your albums, media, and client settings remain fully accessible until the stated expiration date.

Reactivating a Cancelled Subscription

If your subscription is pending cancellation but has not yet reached its expiration date, you can restore auto-renewal with a single click:

1. In the page header, locate the Reactivate subscription button (which replaces the cancel button).
2. Click Reactivate subscription.
3. Auto-renewal is instantly re-enabled, and the Current Plan card reverts to Renews with Auto-renew on.

Non-Implemented & Deferred Controls

To ensure strict operational clarity, the following controls shown in the UI are currently non-interactive:

• Customer Portal Button: The Customer Portal button in the header is disabled. Account changes and cancellations are executed directly via the on-page buttons.
• Manage Add-ons Button: The Manage add-ons button in the Studio at a glance card is disabled. Storage extensions are managed through plan upgrades rather than standalone add-on packages.
• Promo Codes: There is no promo code field on the PixoProof Billing page; enter promotion codes on the Stripe Checkout page when upgrading from Free. Referral rewards are managed on the Referrals page (open your profile menu in the top bar).