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Guide

Troubleshoot billing and plan problems

Your plan & billing · 5 min read

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 — add a payment method.

Why it happens: The free trial doesn't need a card, so nothing is charged until you subscribe. After the trial there's a short grace period, 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'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, or a failed payment wasn't fixed in time.

Fix: Open the creator dashboard at app.mateflow.com and go to Communities → [your community] → Plan. Under Your subscription has expired or Your free trial has ended, click Add payment method or Retry payment. If you cancelled the plan, the page shows This community is paused instead: pick a plan under Resubscribe, click Continue to payment, and pay on Stripe. If the community 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, 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.

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