👥 Managing User Seats and Team Member Provisioning

Camilo Aponte

Camilo Aponte

Last updated on Sep 30, 2026

🗺️ Overview

Search Atlas workspaces include a fixed number of user seats based on your plan. When you deactivate a team member, that seat should become available to reassign. If you're running into issues adding a new user after a deactivation, this article walks you through the correct process and known fixes.

📋 Understanding Your Seat Quota

Each plan comes with a set number of user seats:

  • Pro Plan — 5 seats (if your workspace shows 4, this is a known display issue; your actual quota is 5)
  • Other plans — seat count varies; check your billing page for your current allocation

If you need more seats than your plan includes, additional seats can be purchased as a top-up. Note that excess user seats beyond your plan quota are billed separately.

🔄 How to Replace a User Seat

Follow these steps in order to deactivate an existing user and provision a new one:

  1. Click your avatar in the top-right corner and select Team Members (Settings) in your Search Atlas workspace.
  2. Locate the user you want to remove and click Deactivate.
  3. Wait for the page to fully reload and confirm the user's status shows as Inactive.
  4. Without leaving the Settings area, click Add member and enter the new user's email address.
  5. Select the appropriate role and send the invitation.

The newly invited user will receive an email with a link to join your workspace. The seat is consumed once they accept the invitation.

⚠️ Common Issues and Fixes

If you deactivated a user but still cannot add a new seat, try the following:

  • Hard refresh the page — press Ctrl + Shift + R (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + R (Mac) to force-reload without cache.
  • Check your seat count — navigate to the account menu (person icon, top-right) → Billing and confirm the number of active seats versus your plan's quota. A mismatch here may indicate a billing sync issue.
  • Verify deactivation completed — a user in a pending or invited state still occupies a seat. Cancel any outstanding invitations before sending a new one.
  • Pro Plan seat display bug — if your Pro Plan shows only 4 available seats instead of 5, this is a known UI issue. Your actual quota is 5. Proceed with the invite; it should succeed.
  • Workspace ownership changes — if your workspace was recently reinstalled or the admin account changed, seat allocation can occasionally fall out of sync. This is a known issue and requires our team to correct it on the backend.

💳 Billing Considerations for Seats

Keep the following billing rules in mind when managing seats:

  • Deactivating a user frees up the seat within your current plan quota — it does not automatically reduce your bill if you are on a top-up.
  • Any seats added beyond your plan's included quota are charged as top-ups on your next billing cycle.
  • If you believe you have been charged incorrectly for seats, review your usage under the account menu (person icon, top-right) → Billing and contact our team via the chat widget.

👤 Workspace Admin and Ownership Notes

Only workspace admins can invite, deactivate, or manage user seats. If you recently transferred admin rights or reinstalled the workspace through a different admin account, note the following:

  • Partial ownership transfers can orphan certain settings, including seat assignments.
  • The original admin's connected integrations (Slack, Teams, etc.) may show as disconnected after a reinstall under a different admin.
  • If you are unsure who holds admin rights in your workspace, click your avatar in the top-right corner and select Team Members (Settings), then look for the Admin role badge.

🆘 Still Unable to Add a User?

If you have followed all the steps above and still cannot provision a new seat, the issue likely requires a backend correction to your seat quota or billing state. 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.