Cancel or change your hosting subscription step by step

Do you want to stop using your website, or would you rather move to a smaller, cheaper plan? You can cancel your hosting subscription with LJPc hosting yourself in the customer portal, with no cancellation fees. This article explains step by step how to cancel or change a hosting subscription, what notice period applies, and what happens to your website and data after you cancel.

Cancelling or changing: what is the difference?

Cancelling and changing are two different things. Choose deliberately, because the difference decides whether you keep your website and data or not.

• Cancelling means you stop a subscription completely. The service ends, your website goes offline, and the data on the hosting is removed after the end date.
• Changing or downgrading means you keep the hosting but switch to a different plan. Your website, databases and email stay in place, and from then on you pay the price of the new plan.

Is it mainly about lower costs? Then downgrading is usually a better choice than cancelling. You arrange an upgrade yourself in the portal, while a downgrade is requested through support. You can read how that works in the article on changing or upgrading your hosting package.

Make a backup first

Are you going to cancel for good? Then make a backup of everything you want to keep first. After the end date the hosting is cleaned up, including your website files, databases and email messages. That data cannot be recovered afterwards.

So download a copy of your files and databases in good time, and save your email if you still need it. The article on making a backup of your website explains exactly how to go about it.

Cancelling a hosting subscription in the customer portal

The cancellation itself takes a few minutes. You arrange it entirely yourself, without having to call or email.

1. Log in to the customer portal.
2. In the menu, go to Financial and click Subscriptions.
3. Find the subscription you want to cancel in the list. For each subscription you see details such as the name, category, interval, start date, next payment, amount and status.
4. In the Actions column, click Cancel. A window opens with the title Cancel subscription.
5. Check the details in the window: the name, the interval and the amount including VAT. You also see the date until which your subscription runs.
6. Click Confirm cancellation to record the cancellation.

You then see the message Subscription cancelled. The status of the subscription changes to Cancelled, and from that point the list shows the date it runs until, next to Ends on. You also receive a confirmation from us by email.

Do not see a Cancel button?

The Actions column with the Cancel button only appears if your account has permission to cancel subscriptions. The main account has that permission by default. If you log in with a subaccount that does not have it, you will not see the button. In that case, request the cancellation through a support ticket, or ask the main account to arrange it.

Notice period and costs

You can cancel any hosting plan without cancellation fees. There is a short notice period of about a month, so that your subscription runs neatly until the end of the current period.

If you pay monthly, you cancel on a monthly basis. If you pay per quarter or per year, the subscription continues until the end of the period you have already paid for. You do not have to work this out yourself: the cancellation window shows exactly the date until which your subscription stays active. Everything keeps working until that date, and after that we no longer send invoices for this subscription.

What happens to your website and data after cancelling?

As long as the end date has not been reached, nothing changes about your website, email and settings. You simply have access and everything stays online.

On or shortly after the end date, the hosting is stopped and cleaned up. Your website goes offline and the files, databases and email on the hosting are removed. So make sure you have made a backup beforehand, and move your email and any domain name in good time if you want to use them elsewhere.

Please note: a domain name and standalone email are often separate subscriptions with their own category in the list. If you cancel only your hosting plan, your domain name and other services simply continue. If you want to stop those too, cancel them separately.

Undoing a cancellation

Changed your mind? As long as the end date has not passed, you can undo a cancellation. Next to the cancelled subscription you will find the Reactivate button. Click it and confirm, and you see the message Subscription reactivated. The subscription then continues as if you had never cancelled.

If the end date has already passed and the service has been cleaned up, you can no longer reactivate. You would then take out a new subscription and restore your website from your backup.

Not sure, or stuck?

Are you unsure whether cancelling or downgrading is the best choice for you, or do you get stuck in the portal? Then feel free to contact support before you confirm anything. We will think along with you and make sure you do not lose anything you still need.

Still stuck? Contact support and we will help you further.