Use this guide when something is wrong with your community's platform plan — the plan you pay Mateflow for. Each section describes what you see, why it happens, and how to fix it. For problems with member payments (Subscription Plans), see Connect Stripe and get paid.
Who can do this: Community owners, admins, and billing admins. · Where: Web (admin console and creator dashboard). · Plan: Applies to every platform plan.
Your free trial is ending or has ended
Symptom: A banner says Only N days left in your [plan] trial or Your trial has ended. You have N days of grace period remaining. The Billing overview shows Trial ended — choose a plan.
Why it happens: The free trial doesn't need a card, so nothing is charged until you subscribe. When the trial ends, the community moves to the Free plan. If your account already has a Free community, a short grace period starts instead, and when it ends the community is paused.
Fix: Click Subscribe Now (or go to Admin → Billing → Overview → Subscribe), choose a plan, click Subscribe, and pay in checkout. You can also choose a plan under Choose a plan on the community's Plan page in the creator dashboard. Saving a card doesn't keep a plan. You can't extend a trial yourself; to ask for more time, contact Mateflow support.
The whole community shows "temporarily closed"
Symptom: Everyone who opens the community, including owners and admins, sees that it's temporarily closed while the owner updates the subscription. The admin console doesn't open.
Why it happens: The community was paused because the trial and its grace period ended without a subscription, a cancelled plan's billing period and grace period ended, a failed payment wasn't fixed in time, your account's Free plan was moved to another community, or the platform suspended it.
Fix: Open the creator dashboard at app.mateflow.com and go to Communities → [your community] → Plan. What to do depends on the notice there:
- Your free trial has ended: under Choose a plan, pick Monthly or Yearly and a plan, click Continue to payment, and pay on Stripe.
- This community is paused after you cancelled the plan: do the same under Resubscribe.
- This community is paused because the Free plan was moved to another community: click Move Free plan here, or resubscribe to a paid plan.
- Your subscription has expired: click Add payment method or Retry payment.
- This community was suspended by the platform: paying won't bring it back. Click Contact support to open a support ticket.
The community reopens as soon as the payment goes through. If it stays closed, contact Mateflow support.
"Your community admin access is restricted" covers the admin console
Symptom: A notice blocks the admin console and names the Current billing state: Trial ended, Payment failed, Subscription ended, Complimentary plan ended, or Subscription inactive.
Why it happens: The community has no active platform plan, but it hasn't been paused yet.
Fix: Click Choose Plan and Restore, pick a plan, and complete checkout. If you think this is a mistake, click Contact Us to email Mateflow support.
A payment failed or your plan shows Past due
Symptom: The plan shows Past due, the Billing overview says Last payment failed, or a banner says Payment failed. Your service may be interrupted…
Why it happens: The card on file was declined or has expired. On the Billing overview, the Payment card marks an old card Expired or Expires soon.
Fix: Click Update payment on Admin → Billing → Overview. In the Stripe page that opens, add a working card and make it the default. In the creator dashboard, a community's Plan page may also offer Retry payment (to charge the card on file again) or Add payment method.
You added a card, but the community is still on a trial or restricted
Symptom: You added a card with Manage in Stripe, but the status didn't change. Or Manage in Stripe shows No active subscription to manage yet. Choose a plan to subscribe first.
Why it happens: A saved card doesn't start a subscription by itself.
Fix: Go to Admin → Billing → Overview, click Subscribe, choose a plan, and complete checkout. See Your platform plan and free trial.
The Cancel subscription or View Plans button is missing
Symptom: You can't find Cancel subscription, or an upgrade dialog says Please contact a community administrator instead of showing View Plans.
Why it happens: Cancel subscription appears only when the community has an active paid subscription, you can manage billing, and no cancellation is already scheduled (then you see Reactivate). During a free trial there's nothing to cancel. View Plans is only shown to people who can manage billing.
Fix: Ask the community owner, an admin, or a billing admin. See Change or cancel your plan.
"Manage plan in community admin" is disabled in the creator dashboard
Symptom: The button is greyed out with Only the community owner can open the admin for this community.
Why it happens: Only the community's owner can jump from the creator dashboard into the admin console.
Fix: If you're an admin or billing admin of the community, sign in to the community directly and go to Admin → Billing. Otherwise, ask the owner.
You can't pause billing on an annual plan
Symptom: The cancel flow doesn't offer Pause billing, or you see Pause is monthly-only.
Why it happens: Annual subscriptions can't be paused.
Fix: Switch to monthly billing first, or choose another option. See Change or cancel your plan.
You can't remove a card in the creator dashboard
Symptom: Removing a card shows This card still pays for an active community subscription. Make another card the default first.
Why it happens: Workspace cards pay for every community in the workspace.
Fix: In Dashboard (app.mateflow.com) → Billing → Payment methods, click Make default on another card, then remove the old one. See Invoices, payment methods, and tax details.
Plan changes are disabled
Symptom: The plans page says Couldn't load your subscription status. Plan changes are disabled until it loads., or a change fails with Subscription changed elsewhere.
Why it happens: The page couldn't read your current subscription, or someone else changed it at the same time.
Fix: Click Retry, or refresh the page and try again. If it keeps failing, open Help → Contact support in the creator dashboard.
You can't open a support ticket for a Free community
Symptom: The creator dashboard's Support page shows Your communities are on the Free plan, which includes Help Center and community support. instead of New ticket, or a community in the ticket form is greyed out with Ticket support isn't included in the Free plan.
Why it happens: Ticket support isn't included in the Free plan. A community suspended by the platform can still get a ticket, whatever its plan.
Fix: Use the Help Center or Builders community links on the notice, or open a ticket for one of your communities on a paid plan. To get ticket support for a Free community, click Upgrade and choose a paid plan.
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