Pausing or Canceling: What You Keep

Pausing and canceling both stop your bill. They differ in what you can still do while you’re away, and in how you get back in. This guide explains both in full, so you can pick the one that fits the break you need.

The short version

While paused After canceling
Sign in, read everything, download your data Yes Yes, until the deletion date
Save changes No No
Newsletters, royalty statement emails, beta-reader reminders Don’t send Don’t send
Your website’s pages Stay up, don’t update Stay up, don’t update
Smart links Keep working Keep working
Book cards and buy buttons embedded elsewhere Keep working Stop working
Newsletter sign-up forms Visible, but can’t accept a new signup Stop working
Beta readers Can read, can’t send feedback Can’t reach the manuscript
Billing Stopped Stopped
Comes back By itself, on the date shown Only if you pay again before the deletion date

Pausing your subscription

Pause when you need a short break and expect to come back within about a month.

Click Pause subscription on the Billing page. Nothing happens straight away — the pause is booked, not started. It begins when the month you’ve already paid for ends, and it lasts one calendar month from that day. Until it begins, nothing about your workspace changes.

Once the pause begins, your workspace is read-only. Everyone can sign in, read everything, and download data. Nobody can save a change, including you. Newsletters, sequences and royalty statement emails don’t send. Beta-reader deadline reminders don’t send either — but one due during your pause goes out, late, once billing resumes. Your published website keeps showing what it showed before the pause — pages stay online, but nothing new goes live. Smart links keep resolving.

Book cards and buy buttons you’ve embedded on other sites keep working, because they only display information. Newsletter sign-up forms still load. If someone tries to sign up, they see a message saying the form isn’t accepting entries right now, and nothing is saved. Beta readers can keep reading a manuscript, but can’t submit feedback.

Who can do what. An owner or an admin can press Pause subscription, and either can cancel a pause that’s booked but hasn’t started yet — neither of those charges anyone. Only the workspace owner can resume a pause that’s already running, because resuming restarts billing on the owner’s card that day.

The workspace comes back by itself, on the date you were shown when you booked the pause. You don’t have to do anything.

Before you pause. Pausing is only available on monthly plans. An annual plan runs to the end of its paid year. You also can’t pause while on a free trial or during a payment problem. You can’t book a second pause right away after your first one ends. Wait until the paid month that follows has finished.

Canceling your subscription

Cancel when you need longer than a pause allows, or you’re not sure you’re coming back. It’s also your only way to stop paying on an annual plan, since an annual plan can’t pause.

Only the workspace owner can cancel. Canceling can trigger a refund, and it closes the workspace for everyone in it.

Click Cancel subscription on the Billing page. A dialog opens with your choices.

If you’re outside your plan’s refund window, you get two choices:

  • Stop subscription at the end of the period keeps your access until the period you’ve paid for ends. Then the workspace closes.
  • Stop subscription now closes the workspace today.

If you’re inside the refund window, canceling refunds this period in full either way, so there’s only one choice: Refund and close today.

Closing the workspace today — through Stop subscription now or Refund and close today — asks you to type your workspace’s name to confirm. Closing at the end of the period doesn’t ask for that, since nothing happens right away.

If you had a newsletter campaign scheduled to send, closing the workspace returns it to draft. It won’t send.

Once your workspace is closed

Everyone who opens it sees one page, saying your workspace is closed. Nothing else opens. Your website’s pages stay online exactly as they were, but book cards, buy buttons and newsletter sign-up forms stop working. Smart links keep resolving until the workspace is actually deleted. Beta readers can no longer reach the manuscripts they were reading.

The page offers two buttons: Pay to come back and Download your data. Paying is owner-only. Downloading depends on your role. If you can’t use one of them, the page tells you to ask a workspace owner or administrator instead.

Your workspace is deleted 90 days after it closes, unless you pay again first. You’ll get warning emails before that date.

Coming back after canceling

Canceling isn’t necessarily final. Pay again before the deletion date and your whole workspace comes back exactly as it was — same titles, same editions, same settings. Click Pay to come back, choose a plan, and check out. Paying to come back is owner-only too.

While you’re closed, your book cards, buy buttons and sign-up forms stay offline. Nothing comes back until you pay — there’s no return date to watch for, the way there is with a pause.