🔍 What Are Universal Credits?
Universal Credits (UC) are a flexible currency inside Search Atlas that let you run tools and reports across the platform without being locked into fixed per-tool quotas. Your UC balance depends on the plan you are subscribed to, and changes to your plan directly affect how those credits are assigned and refreshed.
⚠️ What Happens to Universal Credits When You Downgrade?
When you downgrade from a higher-tier plan — such as a trial Growth plan — to a lower-tier plan such as the Starter plan, your Universal Credits balance is recalculated to match the credit allowance of your new plan. This means:
- Any unused credits from your previous plan do not carry over to the new plan.
- Your UC balance is reset to reflect only what the new plan includes.
- If your new plan includes a lower UC allowance, your displayed balance will drop accordingly.
This is expected behaviour and is not a billing error or a technical fault.
📊 Does the Starter Plan Include Universal Credits?
Yes, the Starter plan does include Universal Credits, but at a lower allocation than Growth or higher-tier plans. The exact number of credits included in each plan is shown on the Pricing page.
If your balance appears to be zero immediately after downgrading, allow a few minutes for the system to apply your new plan's credit allocation. If the balance remains at zero after some time, this may need to be reviewed by our team.
🛠️ What to Have Ready When Escalating
If your Universal Credits balance does not update correctly after a plan downgrade, our team will need to investigate your account. Please have the following ready before reaching out:
- Your account email address or project name
- The plan you downgraded from and the plan you downgraded to
- The approximate date and time the downgrade took place
- A description of your current UC balance and what you expected it to show
- Any error messages displayed on your screen, copied exactly as they appear
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.