My subscriber count dropped suddenly — will I be auto-downgraded?

A drop of more than 80% from your all-time subscriber high, or a count falling below 5 on a license that previously reported more than 10 subscribers, is flagged as a suspicious drop rather than treated as normal churn. Instead of applying downgrade logic, Benecaster sends an immediate alert: “We noticed your subscriber count dropped — is everything okay? This could indicate a technical issue.” All tier change logic is paused while the flag is active. If your count recovers within one billing period the flag clears automatically with no plan change. If the low count persists, Benecaster resumes normal downgrade evaluation from that point.

Gradual subscriber loss follows a different path. If your count falls below a lower tier threshold and stays there for two consecutive billing periods, Benecaster schedules an automatic downgrade. You get advance notice at each step: a warning email after the first period (“[X] subscribers — if this continues next billing period, your plan will move to [tier]”), then a confirmed date before the change fires.

There’s also a time limit on manual downgrades. If you upgraded from the Launch tier, a one-billing-period lock applies — one month on monthly billing, twelve months on annual — and you won’t be able to manually request a downgrade during that window, even if your subscriber count is below the target tier’s limit. After the lock expires, downgrade is available from your account at benecaster.com if your count still qualifies.