How do you handle downgrades?
I have a service that has 3 plans:
- Free: Allows 1 project.
- Starter: Allows 5 projects.
- Pro: Allows unlimited projects.
How would you recommend handling downgrades between the plans?
I'm debating between:
- Not allowing downgrades until the user has disabled or removed enough projects to meet the downgraded plan's requirements.
- Allowing downgrades and simply notifying the user to disable or remove the projects to meet their current plan's requirements.
The prior seems better for enforcement but the latter is better from the user's POV in that they can downgrade immediately and figure out which projects to retain later.
Is there a best practice here?
Allow downgrades, but don't allow the creation of new things until they are below the threshold. Yes, it can be abused, but that's an awful lot of work for them to do to get free services.
How about a downgrade wizard to talk them through meeting the requirements. If it's a definite action they want to do, make them choose which project "survives" there-and-then. When they've completed the wizard, the downgrade takes effect.