🔍 Overview
When you upgrade from a Growth plan to a PRO plan mid-billing cycle, Search Atlas calculates a prorated charge — meaning you only pay for the remaining days in your current cycle at the new plan rate. However, in some cases customers have reported that the proration did not correctly account for the amount already paid, or that their monthly rate appeared higher than expected. This article explains how upgrade billing works, what to check, and how to get a correction if something looks wrong.
📋 How Proration Works on a Plan Upgrade
When you upgrade your plan partway through a billing cycle, here is what should happen:
- Search Atlas calculates how many days remain in your current billing cycle.
- It credits you for the unused portion of your Growth plan payment.
- It charges you only for the remaining days at the PRO plan rate.
- On your next renewal date, your full PRO plan monthly rate takes effect.
For example, if your Growth plan costs $199/month and you upgrade 15 days into a 30-day cycle, you should receive a credit of roughly $99.50 for the unused Growth days. That credit is then applied against the prorated PRO charge — so you only pay the difference, not the full PRO amount on top of what you already paid.
⚠️ Common Billing Issues After Upgrading
The following issues have been reported by customers after upgrading from Growth to PRO:
- Previous payment not deducted: The prorated PRO charge appeared on the invoice without applying the credit for the already-paid Growth subscription days.
- Incorrect monthly rate displayed: The plan page or invoice showed an unexpected rate (for example, $622/month) instead of the correct PRO plan price.
- Quota not resetting after upgrade: Credits or usage quotas did not refresh to reflect the new PRO plan limits immediately after upgrading.
- Points deducted but no content generated: Usage points were consumed by a task that failed to produce output, leaving the quota reduced without benefit.
✅ Steps to Take If Your Billing Looks Wrong
- Check your invoice: Go to account menu (person icon, top-right) → Billing → Invoices and review the most recent charge. Look for a credit line item that reflects your unused Growth plan days. If no credit appears, your billing may not have calculated correctly.
- Verify your current plan rate: In the top-right avatar → Billing → Plans & Top-ups (Billing), confirm the monthly rate matches the PRO plan pricing shown on the Search Atlas pricing page. If the displayed rate is different, note the amount shown.
- Check your quota usage: Click your avatar in the top-right corner, then go to Billing → Plans & Top-ups to see whether your PRO plan limits are active. If your quota still reflects Growth plan limits or shows usage from before your upgrade without a reset, that is a known issue our team can resolve.
- Document the discrepancy: Before contacting support, note the date of your upgrade, the amount charged, the amount you expected to be charged, and any screenshots of your invoice or usage page. This speeds up the resolution.
- Contact support via the chat widget: If you confirm a discrepancy, reach out immediately so our billing team can issue a correction or credit. See the section below for how to reach a human teammate.
🔄 What Happens to Points Used With No Output
If your account was charged usage points for a task — such as a content generation request — but no content was actually produced, those points should be restored. This can happen due to a processing error or a system interruption during the task. Our support team can review the usage log for your account and reinstate the points that were deducted without a successful output.
📅 When Will My PRO Quota Reset?
Your usage quota resets on your billing renewal date, not on the date you upgraded. If you upgraded mid-cycle, your first full PRO quota will be available at the start of your next billing cycle. If your quota did not increase to PRO limits immediately after upgrading, or if your renewal passed without a reset, contact support so the team can manually trigger the correct quota assignment for your account.
🛠️ Known Issues Already Resolved
Our engineering team has already addressed several billing-related bugs, including:
- Customers being charged at a Growth or Starter rate after upgrading to PRO.
- Incorrect base prices being stored on Growth subscriptions, leading to wrong proration calculations.
- Annual upgrade flows showing a Stripe checkout screen instead of updating the subscription directly.
If your account was affected before these fixes were deployed, you may still see an incorrect historical charge. Our team can review and correct this retroactively.
💬 Get Help From Our Team
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.
When you reach out, please share: the date of your upgrade, the charge amount on your invoice, the rate you expected to be billed, and any screenshots of your billing or usage pages. This helps our team resolve your case as quickly as possible.