🔍 Overview
When you upgrade your Search Atlas plan mid-billing cycle, the system calculates a prorated charge based on the remaining days in your current period. Occasionally, customers upgrading to the Golden Loop plan have reported charges that appear higher than expected. This article explains how proration works, why discrepancies can occur, and how to get a resolution quickly.
📊 How Prorated Billing Works
Proration ensures you only pay for the portion of a billing cycle you use on a new plan. The standard calculation is:
- Identify the daily rate of your new plan (annual plan price ÷ 365 days, or monthly plan price ÷ days in the billing month).
- Multiply the daily rate by the number of days remaining in your current billing cycle.
- Subtract any unused credit from your previous plan for the same remaining period.
- The result is your prorated upgrade charge.
Example: If the Golden Loop annual plan costs $3,351.60 per year, the monthly equivalent is approximately $279.30 ($3,351.60 ÷ 12). A prorated charge for roughly half a month would therefore be around $139.65 — not a full monthly amount or a lump-sum figure approaching the full plan price.
⚠️ Why Your Charge May Look Higher Than Expected
Several billing scenarios can produce a charge that seems disproportionate to the time remaining in your cycle:
- Monthly vs. annual rate mismatch: If the system applies a monthly plan rate instead of the annual rate when calculating proration, the daily rate used is higher, resulting in a larger charge.
- Unused credit not applied: Credits from your previous plan should offset the upgrade charge. If these are not deducted correctly, you are effectively charged twice for the same period.
- Quota or seat accounting errors: Known billing integrity issues have been identified and resolved on our platform. In some cases, quota top-ups or seat changes during an upgrade triggered duplicate or incorrect invoice line items.
- Trial-to-paid conversion timing: Upgrades made at the exact moment a trial ends can occasionally cause the proration invoice to be processed incorrectly, resulting in a higher-than-expected amount.
🧮 How to Verify Your Charge Is Correct
Before contacting support, you can do a quick manual check:
- Note the date of your upgrade and the next billing date from your account settings.
- Calculate the number of days remaining in your cycle at the time of upgrade.
- Divide your annual Golden Loop plan price by 365 to get the daily rate (or divide the monthly price by the number of days in that month).
- Multiply the daily rate by the days remaining — this is your expected prorated charge before credits.
- Check your previous plan's unused credit for the same period and subtract it from the amount above.
- Compare this figure to the charge on your invoice. If there is a meaningful difference, a billing error may have occurred.
💡 What to Do If You Were Overcharged
If your calculated prorated amount is significantly lower than what you were charged, our billing team can review the invoice and issue a correction or credit where applicable. To get this resolved:
- Have your invoice number and upgrade date ready.
- Note the charge amount and your own calculated expected amount.
- Contact our team via the live chat widget (see below) — do not wait, as billing reviews are easier to process close to the charge date.
Our team will audit your invoice against the plan rates, proration logic, and any credits owed, then apply a corrective credit or refund as appropriate.
🛠️ Preventing Future Billing Surprises
To avoid unexpected charges on future upgrades:
- Always upgrade at the start of a new billing cycle when possible — this eliminates proration entirely.
- Before confirming an upgrade, review the order summary screen, which shows the prorated amount before you are charged.
- If the amount shown on the confirmation screen does not match your own calculation, cancel and contact support before proceeding.
🤝 Need Further Help?
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.