Everything about your plan lives on Settings → Billing & credits: the plan, hosted-site billing, your card, invoices, the billing time zone, canceling and failed payments. Only the agency Owner or an Admin can make changes there.
What's on the page
From the top: three cards (Credit balance, Current plan, Next refill), then Subscription, Billing time zone, Hosted sites (once you're on a plan), Buy credits, Low-credit alert, What things cost, Plans, Payment history (Owner and Admins only) and Credit history.
The Current plan card can show your plan name, "Growth — free trial" (your plan during a card trial), Free trial (an invitation trial), No plan, or Internal (unlimited) for an internal ContentForge account that is never billed.
During your free trial
The Subscription card shows your plan, the date the trial ends and what will be charged then. You won't be charged before that date.
- To stop, click Cancel trial, then Yes, cancel. Nothing is charged. You keep access until the trial's end date. On that date your published sites go offline and your clients' portal and editor close, until you choose a plan (see Cancel or resume below).
- Changed your mind? Click Resume plan before the end date.
- Want a different plan, or annual billing? Change it here during the trial; the trial end date stays the same.
Subscribe
If you're not on a plan (for example after an invitation trial, or after canceling):
- In Plans, choose Monthly or Annual, then click Subscribe on the plan you want.
- Pay on the secure checkout page.
- You return to Billing & credits with "Thanks — your subscription is being set up." Your plan credits appear as soon as your payment is confirmed, and they replace any leftover trial credits.
If you close the checkout page without paying, nothing is charged and nothing changes. You're back on Billing & credits and can try again.
Your bill is the plan price, plus your hosted sites on their own subscription. See Plans and hosted sites.
Change plan
Click Upgrade or Switch to this plan on another plan.
You stay on the page; there's no checkout for a change. A green message confirms it.
- Upgrades start now. The prorated difference is charged today, and the extra plan credits for this month are added once that payment goes through.
- Downgrades start with your next invoice. You keep this month's credits until then.
- Your hosted sites move to the new plan's per-site price.
Switch between monthly and annual
- Your plan: in the Subscription card, click Switch to annual — 2 months free (or Switch to monthly). A new billing period starts today. Unused time on the old one is credited, and a fresh month of plan credits is added once the invoice is paid.
- Hosted sites: in the Hosted sites card, use the Monthly / Annual switch. They stay on your billing day. Unused time is credited and the rest of the new period is charged now. Before you've published a site, the switch just sets how hosted sites will be billed.
Switching always happens here in ContentForge, not on an external billing page.
Card and invoices
In the Subscription card, click Card & invoices to open the secure billing page. Update your card or download past invoices there.
Every payment is also listed in Payment history on Billing & credits, with a link to its invoice and PDF, and we email a receipt after each one. See Payment history and the billing emails you'll get.
Billing time zone
The Billing time zone card sets the time zone for billing dates: when we retry a failed payment, the reminder dates and the suspension date, in the app and in every billing email. Each notice ends with "Dates are in …" so you always know which zone it means.
- Pick your time zone from the list. If you haven't chosen one yet, your browser's time zone is suggested.
- Click Save.
Until you choose one, Eastern Time is used. The setup steps after sign-up save your browser's time zone for you, and you can change it here at any time. If a payment has already failed, that payment keeps the dates we've already sent you; the new time zone applies from the next one.
Cancel or resume
Click Cancel plan, then Yes, cancel. Your plan, plan credits and hosting carry on until the end of the period you've paid for. We email the owner to confirm, and again about 7 days before the end date.
On the end date your account goes offline, the same way as an account suspended for an unpaid invoice:
- every published site shows a plain "This site is temporarily unavailable" page to visitors;
- your clients can't open their portal or the editor;
- your dashboard only opens Billing & credits; every other page says your plan has ended;
- hosted-site billing stops and unused plan credits expire.
Nothing is deleted. Your sites, content, settings and pack credits are kept.
Paid for hosting past that date? If your hosted sites are billed separately and already paid beyond your plan's end date (for example annual hosted-site billing), your published sites stay online until the end of that paid hosting period. Everything else locks on the plan's end date as above. Your hosting isn't renewed, and nothing is refunded or cut short. Our emails give you both dates, and we remind you 7 days before your sites go offline.
To keep your sites online, click Resume plan any time before the end date: both your plan and hosted sites continue.
To come back after the end date, open Billing & credits and choose a plan. As soon as your payment is confirmed, everything comes back online: your dashboard, the client portal and editor, and all of your sites.
Changing plans, switching between monthly and annual, and annual renewals each get an email too, and an annual plan gets a reminder about 30 days before it renews.
If a payment fails
If we can't charge your card (for your plan or your hosted sites), the agency Owner and Admins see a red notice at the top of every ContentForge page, and the Owner gets an email. Both say exactly:
- how much is owed and when it was due,
- the date we'll try your card again,
- the last day to pay, and the date your account will be suspended if it's still unpaid.
For example: "If we have not received payment by Tuesday, October 13, 2026, your account will be suspended on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 and all of your sites will go offline until payment is received."
To settle it, use the buttons in the notice (or on Billing & credits):
- Pay now charges your card on file straight away. If it's declined, or your bank wants you to confirm, the secure payment page opens so you can confirm or use a different card.
- Update card opens the secure billing page. Saving a new card tries the payment again straight away.
What happens next if it stays unpaid (counted from the day the payment was first due):
- Day 0: the payment fails. You get an email with the dates.
- Days 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14: we try your card again automatically, in the morning. Each failed try sends an email with the next date.
- 3 days before, and the day before, the suspension date: reminder emails, unless a failed-charge email already went out that day.
- Day 15: your account is suspended.
All of these dates are in your billing time zone (see Billing time zone above; Eastern Time until you choose one).
A hosted-sites charge stays owed until it's paid. If its invoice is canceled, we send a new invoice for the same amount, and the dates above stay the same.
Until the suspension date nothing is blocked: your pack credits and any plan credits left keep working, but plan credits only refill once the invoice is paid. Your published sites stay live.
If your account is suspended
We don't host sites for free, so when an account is suspended for an unpaid invoice:
- you and your team can only sign in to Billing & credits to pay. Every other page and tool is locked, and so are your API keys and AI connections (MCP): they answer "Account suspended" until you pay;
- your clients can't open their portal, the editor, or your onboarding, upload and other client links. They see "temporarily unavailable" and nothing about billing;
- every published site shows a plain "This site is temporarily unavailable" page to visitors, with no ContentForge or agency branding.
As soon as the payment goes through, by Pay now, a new card, or the secure payment page, everything comes back immediately: your dashboard, the client portal and editor, and all of your sites. We email you to confirm.
Need more time? Contact support before the suspension date. We can arrange a payment date with you, and we'll email you to confirm the amount and the date.
What Members see
Team members with the Member role can open Billing & credits, but only to look:
- they see the balance, plan, hosted sites, prices, plans and Credit history, with no buttons to change anything;
- pack buttons show Owner / admin only, and the low-credit alert says "Only the agency owner or an admin can change this.";
- Payment history and Card & invoices are hidden;
- if they follow an email's update-card link they see "Ask your agency owner or an admin to update the card."
Limits and what it can't do
- No self-serve account deletion. Canceling stops billing and takes sites offline at the end of the period, but your account and everything in it are kept. To have your agency deleted, contact support.
- No ownership transfer in the app. The agency owner can't hand the account to someone else from Settings. Contact support to change the owner.
- One plan per agency. You can't have different plans for different clients.
- Canceling doesn't refund the current period, and unused plan credits are lost on the end date. Pack credits are kept.
- Billing emails only go to the owner.
Who can use it
- Owner and Admins: everything on this page.
- Members: read-only (see above).
- Client people never see your billing. When your account is suspended or your plan has ended, they just see "temporarily unavailable".
Troubleshooting
- The plan buttons are missing and I see "Online plan checkout is being set up — contact us to switch.": online checkout isn't switched on for your account yet. Contact support to change plans.
- I don't see any buttons at all: you're a Member. Ask the Owner or an Admin.
- "Only the agency owner or an admin can manage billing": the same; your role can't change billing.
- "You're already on the … plan.": you picked the plan you're on. Use the Monthly / Annual switch first if you want to change how it's billed.
- "… isn't available to buy yet" or "That plan is not available.": that plan or billing period isn't on sale right now. Pick another, or contact support.
- "Your bank needs you to confirm a payment" on the dashboard: click it, then Pay now, and confirm on the secure page your bank opens.
- "This is an internal agency — it is never billed.": your account is internal and has unlimited credits.
- Every page says my plan has ended: choose a plan on Billing & credits. Everything comes back as soon as the payment is confirmed. You'll be taken to Billing & credits when you sign in until then.
- I want to close my account: click Cancel plan to stop billing, then contact support if you also want your data deleted.