Upgrading Sume Pro to Scale mid-month: what happens to unused usage
An upgrade starts a new billing cycle now and grants the new plan's full included usage. Unused usage from the old plan is superseded, not added.

When you upgrade a Sume workspace, the new plan starts immediately: the billing cycle restarts, an invoice is issued, and when it is paid the workspace gets the full included usage of the new plan. Included usage left over from the old plan is superseded, so it does not stack. A failed payment does not grant anything. Included usage figures come from Sume's plan catalog; the Billing and subscription page in the dashboard shows what is left on your workspace.
The sequence
Per the subscription architecture doc, an upgrade changes the plan with the billing cycle anchored to now and invoices straight away. The credit grant is tied to the paid invoice, not to the click.
- You choose a higher plan, for example Pro to Scale.
- Stripe creates the invoice for the new plan; the cycle restarts today.
- When the invoice is paid, the workspace receives the full catalog amount for the new plan, here $800 for Scale.
- Prior included usage lots are superseded and stop counting.
- If payment is incomplete, the request returns 402 with a hosted invoice URL and the plan does not change.
What the timing does to your money
Because a new full allowance is granted and the old one is replaced, the best moment to upgrade is when you have already used most of the old allowance. Upgrading with $35 of Pro usage left gives up that $35. Top-up credit is a separate lot and is not superseded.
Downgrades behave differently: they take effect at the period end, so you keep the higher allowance until then.
| Change | When it applies | Included usage |
|---|---|---|
| Upgrade (for example Pro to Scale) | Immediately, new cycle | Full new-plan amount after invoice.paid; old lots superseded |
| Downgrade | At the end of the period | Current plan's allowance until then |
| Upgrade with unpaid invoice | Not applied | None granted; 402 with invoice URL |
A rule of thumb
Wait until the old allowance is nearly spent, unless you need the higher concurrency now: Scale runs 20 jobs at once against Pro's 4. If you are unsure which plan fits, compare against your expected monthly usage first.
One more point about timing: a failed or incomplete payment leaves the old plan in place, so nothing is lost if a card is declined. The 402 response carries a hosted invoice URL that you can open to pay it. The grant is tied to the paid invoice, so check the balance after payment rather than assuming it updated at the click.
Sources
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