🔍 What Is This Issue?
When your Search Atlas subscription requires a plan selection or payment update, you may be redirected to a checkout screen. In some cases, clicking a plan — such as the Growth plan — triggers a "Please wait" loading screen that never completes. This can lock you out of your dashboard entirely, making it impossible to pause projects, manage campaigns, or navigate the platform.
This article explains what causes the issue and the steps you can take right now to recover access.
⚙️ Why Does This Happen?
This loading freeze is a known intermittent issue that can occur during the plan selection or Stripe checkout flow. Common triggers include:
- Clicking a plan button while the payment processor (Stripe) is still initialising in the background.
- Returning to the platform after a Stripe checkout session times out or encounters an error.
- A pre-selected plan passed via a URL parameter conflicting with your account state.
- Browser cache or session data from a previous incomplete checkout attempt.
🛠️ Steps to Recover Access
- Wait 60 seconds. If the "Please wait" screen appeared just after clicking a plan, give it up to one minute before taking any action. Occasionally the request resolves on its own.
- Refresh the page. Press F5 (Windows) or Cmd + R (Mac) to reload. Do not click the plan button again immediately — let the page fully load first.
- Clear your browser cache and cookies. Cached session data from a previous checkout attempt can cause the screen to loop. Clear your cache, then close and reopen your browser before logging back in.
- Try a different browser or an incognito window. Open Search Atlas in a private/incognito window or a different browser entirely. This rules out any browser extension or session conflicts interfering with the checkout flow.
- Log out and log back in. From any page you can access, log out of your account. Then log back in and navigate to your account settings to attempt plan selection again.
- Check your email for a payment confirmation. In some cases, the payment processes successfully in the background even though the loading screen appears stuck. Check your inbox for a Search Atlas or Stripe receipt before attempting to pay again.
🚫 How to Pause Projects Before Selecting a Plan
If your goal before selecting a plan was to pause active projects, but the stuck screen is blocking access to your dashboard, follow these steps once you regain entry:
- Log in using the incognito or alternative browser method described above.
- Navigate to your Projects section from the main sidebar.
- Open each active project and select Pause before proceeding to update your plan.
If you are still unable to reach the dashboard after completing all steps above, our team can pause your projects on your behalf — see the section below.
✅ What to Do If You Are Still Locked Out
If none of the steps above restore access, do not attempt the checkout multiple times, as this may result in duplicate charges. Instead, contact our support team immediately so we can manually resolve your account state and, if needed, pause your projects on your behalf.
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.