---
title: "Verify a scheduled downgrade preserves current access until renewal"
description: "Schedule a lower plan at the next renewal and verify current entitlements remain until the controlled boundary, then change with matching billing state."
canonical_url: "https://vostride.com/agent-library/billing-subscriptions/scheduled-plan-downgrade.md"
md_url: "https://vostride.com/agent-library/billing-subscriptions/scheduled-plan-downgrade.md"
content_kind: "recipe"
topic: "billing-subscriptions"
---

# Verify a scheduled downgrade preserves current access until renewal

Schedule a lower plan at the next renewal and verify current entitlements remain until the controlled boundary, then change with matching billing state.

## Risk

A scheduled downgrade has two states: the plan active now and the plan promised next. Conflating them can remove paid access too early or fail to apply the cheaper plan after the next billing period begins.

## Fixtures

- A sandbox subscription on a higher plan with a known renewal timestamp.
- A lower plan with an explicit feature difference and a supported billing-clock fixture.
- Subscription, invoice, and entitlement hooks plus the documented treatment of resources exceeding lower-plan limits.

## Steps

1. Open Billing and choose the lower plan; verify the confirmation states the downgrade effective date and next-period price.
2. Confirm scheduling and verify the current plan remains active while a separate pending change identifies the lower plan.
3. Exercise an existing higher-plan capability before renewal and verify it still works according to policy.
4. Advance the sandbox billing fixture across the renewal boundary and reload Billing; verify the lower plan becomes current and the pending change clears.
5. Inspect invoices and entitlements, then verify the former higher-plan capability follows the lower-plan restriction and any over-limit resources receive the documented handling.

## Expected results

- The current paid period retains its promised entitlement set.
- Exactly one scheduled transition activates at the renewal boundary.
- The new invoice and capability restrictions correspond to the lower plan.

## False-pass traps

- A lower-plan badge immediately after scheduling can hide premature entitlement removal.
- A UI-only date update is insufficient unless the sandbox billing lifecycle actually advances.

## Cleanup

- Cancel the disposable subscription and reset any clock override or over-limit fixture resources.

## Use with agent-qa

Adapt this test design to your application's acceptance criteria and configured target using the [recipe execution guide](/agent-library/software-factory/turn-a-recipe-into-an-agent-qa-test.md). External fixture setup and non-UI checks require your own supported hooks or test tooling. Validate the authored test, execute it, and inspect the completed evidence; this recipe is not a recorded test result.

## References

- [agent-qa test](/docs/agent-qa/configuration/test.md)
- [agent-qa hooks](/docs/agent-qa/guides/hooks.md)
- [agent-qa auth state](/docs/agent-qa/guides/auth-state.md)

- [Billing and subscription QA recipes](/agent-library/billing-subscriptions.md)
- [Software factory QA library](/agent-library.md)