# **🔍 Overview**

If you want to reduce the number of OTTO website seats on your account back down to your plan's default allocation — this article explains how seat reductions work, what happens to your billing, and what to consider before making changes.

# **⚙️ Understanding OTTO Website Seats**

OTTO seats determine how many websites you can actively manage with OTTO SEO automation. When you add extra OTTO sites beyond your plan's default allocation, those additional seats are billed as add-ons on top of your base plan cost.

- **Default seats:** Each plan includes a set number of OTTO sites, and this varies by tier. The Growth Plan, for example, includes two OTTO sites (projects) by default.
- **Add-on seats:** Any sites added beyond your plan's default are charged as separate line items on your subscription.
- **Removing seats:** Deactivating or deleting an OTTO site releases its slot, but it does **not** automatically cancel the recurring add-on (top-up) charge. The top-up must be cancelled separately from your billing settings.

# **💡 Can I Stay on the Growth Plan With Only Two OTTO Sites?**

Yes. Downgrading your OTTO site seats does **not** require you to downgrade your overall plan. You can remain on the Growth Plan and simply remove the extra OTTO site seats you no longer need. Your plan features, limits, and pricing will stay the same — only the add-on seat charges will be removed.

This is the recommended approach if your goal is purely to reduce costs related to extra OTTO sites, without losing access to any Growth Plan features.

# **📊 Billing Impact of Removing OTTO Seats**

Before removing seats, it is important to understand how the billing change takes effect:

- **Prorated credits:** Depending on where you are in your billing cycle, you may receive a prorated credit toward your next invoice when seats are removed.
- **Immediate vs. end-of-cycle changes:** Seat reductions typically take effect at the end of your current billing period. The extra sites will remain active until that date.
- **No refunds for mid-cycle removal:** Seat charges already billed for the current cycle are generally not refunded. The reduction applies from the next renewal date.

# **🛠️ How to Reduce Your OTTO Website Seats**

1. Navigate to **OTTO SEO** in the left sidebar, then open **SEO Automation** (or go to **/seo-automation-v3**).
2. Review the OTTO sites currently active on your account and identify which ones you want to remove.
3. **Deactivate OTTO** on the sites you no longer wish to manage. This disconnects OTTO automation from those sites.
4. To stop the recurring add-on charge, click your **Profile avatar → Billing → Services**, find the OTTO top-up, open the **⋮ menu**, and choose **Cancel**. Note that top-ups are also cancelled automatically when your main plan's cancellation takes effect at the end of the billing period. Deep Freeze does **not** cancel the top-up.
5. If the seat count or billing amount does not reflect your changes, use the chat widget to confirm the update has been applied correctly.

# **⚠️ Important Considerations Before Downgrading Seats**

- **Active OTTO deployments:** Deleting a site will stop OTTO automation for that site and release the slot, but the recurring top-up charge will continue until cancelled separately. Any changes OTTO has already deployed will remain on the site, but no new automated actions will occur.
- **Reconnecting later:** If you remove a site seat and later want to re-add it, you will need to purchase the seat again at the current add-on price, which may differ from what you originally paid.
- **Multiple sites on one domain:** Make sure you are deactivating OTTO on the correct property. Check the site list in **OTTO SEO V3** carefully before making changes.
- **Plan seat limit:** Once you return to your plan's default seat allocation, adding any new OTTO sites will again be treated as add-ons and billed accordingly.

# **💬 Need Help With Your Specific Account?**

Seat and billing changes can vary depending on your subscription start date, billing cycle, and any custom plan terms. If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type **human teammate** to be connected with a member of our team.