📋 Overview​

If you added an OTTO Sites top-up to cover an extra website, you may later realize you no longer need it. A common example: you bought a top-up to run OTTO on a second site, but you only actually need OTTO on a single domain that is already included in your Growth plan. In this case, you can stop the recurring top-up charge by deep freezing the project tied to that top-up.

This article explains what a top-up is, how deep freezing cancels it, and the exact steps to follow.

💡 What Is an OTTO Sites Top-Up?​

Your subscription plan includes a set number of OTTO-enabled sites. A top-up is an additional recurring charge (for example, $239/month) that lets you run OTTO on a site beyond what your plan covers. As long as the top-up is active, you will be billed for it each month.

If the extra site is no longer needed, removing the top-up stops that charge.
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🧊 How Deep Freeze Relates to a Top-Up​

OTTO top-ups are linked to a specific project. When you deep freeze that project, automation is turned off, the project becomes read-only, and it stops running scans and using automation quota (changes already deployed stay live on the site). The project's OTTO site slot is released automatically after a 14-day hold period.

Important: deep freezing does not cancel the recurring top-up charge. The top-up keeps billing on its normal cycle until you cancel it separately (see steps below).

Your main project—such as the domain already covered by your Growth plan—stays active and continues running OTTO normally.
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🛠️ Steps to Cancel the Top-Up​

To stop the recurring top-up charge, cancel the top-up directly from your billing settings:

1. Log in to your Search Atlas account.
2. Click your Profile avatar and go to Billing.
3. Open the Services section.
4. Find the OTTO top-up you want to cancel and click the ⋮ menu on it.
5. Select Cancel and confirm.

If you'd prefer, you can also ask support to cancel the top-up for you. Optionally, you can deep freeze the related project to stop automation and release its OTTO site slot after the 14-day hold, but freezing on its own will not stop the top-up billing.
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✅ What to Check Before You Freeze​

Before deep freezing, confirm the following so you keep the coverage you need:

• Correct project: Make sure you are freezing the extra site tied to the top-up, not the domain included in your plan.
• Plan coverage: Verify that the site you want to keep using OTTO on is the one covered by your current plan.
• Active work: Deep freezing pauses OTTO activity for that project, so confirm you no longer need optimizations running on it.​

💳 When Will Billing Stop?​

Cancelling the top-up from Billing → Services stops it from renewing on your next billing cycle. The charge already paid for the current cycle is not prorated. Deep freezing the project alone will not stop billing — the top-up must be cancelled separately. You can review your billing details from the top-right avatar → Billing page (Invoices/Activity Log).

🧯 Troubleshooting​

If something doesn't behave as expected after deep freezing, these previously reported issues have been resolved. If you still encounter any of them, contact support so the team can correct it on your account:

• Top-up still being charged: Remember that deep freezing a project does not cancel the top-up on its own — you must cancel it in Billing → Services (or via support). If you've already cancelled the top-up and still see charges, reach out to support to have it removed.
• Cancellation looks confirmed but the project still shows active: In some cases the cancellation/freeze confirmation appeared, but the project still showed as active after refreshing the page. Perform a hard refresh and re-check the project status. Contact support if it does not update.
• Deep Freeze option appears unavailable: The Deep Freeze option could be incorrectly disabled in a same-day edge case (when the last paid date matched the trial end date). If you cannot select Deep Freeze for a project, contact support.
• Unexpected freeze or cancellation warning emails: Some active subscribers previously received cancellation/freeze warning emails in error. If you receive a warning you don't expect, you can disregard it or confirm your status with support.​

🔄 Reactivating Later​

If you need OTTO on that site again in the future, you can unfreeze the project. Reactivating a frozen project that exceeds your plan's included sites may require adding the top-up again. This lets you scale your usage up or down as your needs change.

Note: access to deep-frozen projects on accounts that have been canceled is a known limitation the team is still working on. If your account is canceled and you need to access a deep-frozen project, contact support.

💬 Need More Help?​

If you need further assistance, click the chat icon in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type "Human Teammate" to start a live chat with a member of our team.

Additional Notes

When you deep freeze an OTTO project, automation pauses immediately and the project's OTTO site slot is released automatically after a 14-day hold period, at which point it becomes available to assign elsewhere. Note that this does not cancel any associated top-up — the top-up must be cancelled separately in Billing → Services or through support.

Remove: Permanently detaches OTTO from the project. All OTTO settings and automation history for that site are deleted and cannot be recovered. Use this option only if you are certain you will never reactivate OTTO on that domain.