Failed payment and the grace period
What happens when a SupaHost payment fails: your projects keep running, you have 14 days to update your card, and how to pay the invoice and keep your data safe.
What you see
An email with the subject:
Action needed: payment failed for <instance>
It says the payment couldn't be taken and that your projects are still running, with an Update payment method button. An entry such as "Payment of $49.00 failed" also appears in Dashboard → Activity.
What happens next
- Your projects keep running. Nothing is paused or slowed when a payment first fails.
- You have 14 days to update your payment method. The card is retried during that time, and you can fix it yourself at any point.
- If the invoice stays unpaid, the instance can be paused until it's paid. If the subscription ends unpaid, we contact you and give you 30 days to export your data before the instance and its projects are removed.
Why payments fail
- The card expired or was replaced (a new number after a loss or a bank change).
- Not enough funds, or a spending limit on a virtual or company card.
- The bank flagged the charge and wants you to approve it (often 3-D Secure in Europe and the UK).
- The amount was higher than usual because of overage or annual billing, and the card has a per-payment limit.
How to fix it
- Click Update payment method in the email, or go to Dashboard → Usage & billing → Manage billing. That opens the billing portal.
- Add a working card and make it the default.
- Pay the open invoice from the portal (Invoices & payment on the billing page lists it too). Updating the card alone doesn't always retry an invoice right away.
- If your bank asks for approval, complete it in your banking app.
- Check the invoice now shows as paid in the billing portal.
Only the instance owner can manage billing.
If you can't pay right now
Reply to the payment email or write to [email protected] within the 14 days. Include the instance name and when you expect to pay.
If you've decided to leave, export your data first:
- Create pg_dump on each project's Backups tab for the database.
- Package files on the same tab for Storage files.
Download links last 24 hours. See Moving off SupaHost.
On SupaHost
- Billing emails, including failed payments and receipts, are always on and can't be turned off in Settings.
- Emails come from
[email protected], and replies go to[email protected]. - Prices are flat per instance, so a surprise bill usually means overage. Check the quota tiles on Usage & billing, and see Quota alert emails and going over.