Billing, Invoices, and Managing Your Plan
This guide covers everything related to your subscription, payments, and invoices in KPanel.
Where to Find Your Billing Information
All billing information is in KPanel > Billing.
From this section you can:
- View your current plan and next billing date.
- Download invoices from your billing history.
- Add or update your payment method.
- Upgrade or downgrade your plan.
- Add a GST number to your account.
How Billing Works
Billing Cycles
Plans are available on monthly or annual billing cycles. Your billing date is set on the day you first subscribed.
- Monthly: You are charged on the same date each month.
- Annual: You are charged once per year. Annual billing typically costs less than paying monthly for 12 months.
Switching to annual billing is often the most straightforward way to reduce your monthly equivalent cost. The saving is shown on the Plans page before you commit.
When Charges Occur
KapsuleHost billing is prepaid. You pay at the start of each billing period for the period ahead. When you subscribe, your first charge covers the period from today through to your next renewal date.
Add-ons (such as additional domains or extra storage) are billed on the same cycle as your main plan, with any first charge prorated to align with your renewal date.
Adding or Updating Your Payment Method
- Go to KPanel > Billing.
- Click Manage saved cards.
- To add a new card, click Add payment method and enter your card details.
- To set a different card as the default, click Set as Default next to it.
- To remove a card, click the delete icon. You cannot remove the only payment method on an active subscription.
All card details are processed and stored by our payment processor. KapsuleHost does not store raw card numbers.
Downloading Invoices
- Go to KPanel > Billing.
- Scroll to the Invoices section.
- Each invoice shows the date, amount, and status (Paid, Due, or Failed).
- Click Download all next to any invoice to save it.
Understanding Invoice Line Items
A typical invoice includes:
| Line Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Plan (Monthly/Annual) | Your hosting plan subscription |
| Domain Registration | Any domains registered through KapsuleHost |
| Domain Renewal | Annual domain renewal fees |
| Add-ons | Additional storage, email accounts, or other extras |
| GST (if applicable) | Goods and Services Tax if your account has no GST number |
Upgrading Your Plan
- Go to KPanel > Billing > Change Plan.
- Select the plan you want to upgrade to.
- Review the summary, which shows the prorated charge for the remainder of your current billing period.
- Confirm the upgrade.
Upgrades take effect immediately. Your account limits (storage, sites, email accounts) are updated as soon as the upgrade is confirmed. You will be charged a prorated amount for the remainder of the current billing period, then the full new plan amount from your next renewal date.
Upgrading does not affect your existing sites, files, databases, or settings. Everything continues running without interruption.
Downgrading Your Plan
Before downgrading, check that your current usage fits within the limits of the lower plan:
- Sites: If you have more sites than the lower plan allows, you will need to remove the excess before downgrading.
- Storage: If you are using more storage than the lower plan includes, you will need to reduce usage.
- Email accounts: If you have more mailboxes than the lower plan supports, some may be deactivated.
KPanel will warn you if your current usage exceeds the target plan's limits before the downgrade is confirmed.
Downgrades take effect at the end of your current billing period. You keep your current plan's features until then.
What Happens When a Payment Fails
If a scheduled payment fails (for example, an expired card or insufficient funds), a fixed ladder runs, counted in days from the day the charge first failed. Nothing is switched off at the first decline: the grace period starts on day 0, and every stage sends an email to your billing address.
| Days after the failure | What happens |
|---|---|
| Day 0 | The charge is declined and the subscription goes past due. You get a payment-failed email straight away. Your account and all services stay fully active. |
| Day 1 | If there is a card on file, it is retried automatically. If it fails again, a second payment-failed email goes out. |
| Day 3 | The card is retried once more, with another email. |
| Day 7 | A service suspension warning email, naming the exact date your services will be suspended. |
| Day 14 (no card on file) / Day 31 (card on file) | Services are suspended. Your sites stop serving and show a holding page. Mail is unaffected. |
| Day 30 (no card on file) / Day 61 (card on file) | The subscription is cancelled. |
Which of the last two rows applies to you depends on one thing: whether this account has a card on file at all. If it does, working or expired, you run the longer ladder and have a full month of running service from the first decline, then another month after suspension before the subscription is cancelled. If there is no card on file, you run the shorter one, because there is nothing for us to retry and the conversation needs to happen sooner. Either way the day 7 email names your exact suspension date, and a date we have given you in writing never moves earlier.
Nothing on this ladder deletes your data. Suspension stops your sites serving; mail is unaffected. It is a switch, not a delete, and your files, databases, backups and domain registrations are untouched. Cancellation at the end of the ladder ends the subscription, which is a different and much more disruptive situation to undo, because there is no invoice left to retry and you are buying the plan again rather than restoring it. If you are anywhere near that date, contact support before it rather than after.
To resolve a failed payment, update your payment method in KPanel > Billing > Manage saved cards, then click Retry payment now on the failed invoice. Full walkthrough: What Happens When a Payment Fails. If services are already suspended, see Why Your Account Was Suspended.
If you receive a payment failure notice, update your payment method promptly. Services suspended for non-payment are restored as soon as payment is processed, but restoration is not instant and may take a few minutes.
Adding a GST Number
If you are GST-registered, you can add your GST number to remove GST from future invoices (reverse-charge applies).
- Go to KPanel > Billing > Billing Details.
- Enter your GST registration number in the GST Number field.
- Click Save.
Your GST number will appear on all future invoices. Previously issued invoices cannot be reissued with a GST number, but you can contact support to request amended invoices for recent billing periods.