Billing Spec Template for Product Growth

Prorate upgrades. Charging the full new plan price mid-cycle feels unfair to customers and generates support tickets. Most billing providers (Stripe, Chargebee) handle proration automatically. The key decision is whether to prorate to the day or to the second. Day-level proration is simpler and sufficient for most products.

At the end of the current billing period. The customer already paid for the current period at the higher rate. Immediate downgrades require either a prorated credit (complex) or a perception of unfairness (the customer paid for features they lose immediately). End-of-period downgrades are simpler and feel fair.

Seven to fourteen days is standard for B2B SaaS. Shorter grace periods recover less revenue. Longer grace periods allow unpaid access for too long. The optimal approach is graduated: no access impact for the first 3 days (most failures are transient), then restricted access, then cancellation. Track your recovery rate at each stage to optimize timing.

Yes, at minimum read-only access for 30-90 days. Customers who lose data access immediately rarely come back. Customers who can still log in, see their data, and realize they miss the product resubscribe at higher rates. Many SaaS companies offer read-only access on the free plan after cancellation. See the [cancellation flow template](/templates/cancellation-flow-template) for retention strategies. ---