You can downgrade to a lower plan or cancel by moving to Free, both from Settings → Plans. Choosing Switch to Free cancels your paid subscription. Understand what happens to your published content and limits before you confirm.
How to downgrade or cancel
Open Settings → Plans.
On the plan you want, click Switch to — or Switch to Free to cancel your paid subscription.
Review the downgrade summary. It lists the publishing limits you'll be capped at, what you'll no longer be able to do, and your new cost per month. Click Continue with downgrade to go on, or Keep my plan to stay where you are.
Follow the prompts to confirm the change.
If more layouts are published than your new plan allows, the Unpublish layouts screen opens next. Select layouts to unpublish, then click Unpublish & downgrade.
Approve the new charge to finish a move to a lower paid plan. Moving to Free has nothing to approve — your paid subscription is cancelled right away.
Cancelling only affects your Instant subscription — it does not delete your Shopify store or your Instant project.
What happens to your layouts on Free
Nothing you built is deleted. Every layout stays in the project, and you can keep opening, editing, and previewing all of it on Free.
What changes is how much you can keep published. On Free you can have one page, one section, and one blog post live on your storefront. Anything beyond that has to be unpublished before the downgrade completes, and headers, footers, and carts can't be published on Free at all. See the Plan limits reference.
While a project is on Free, Instant also shows a Built with Instant badge on your Instant layouts. Shopify development stores never show it. The badge disappears again as soon as you move back to a paid plan.
Switching a new project to Free
If you've just connected your Shopify store and the project has never had a paid subscription, the builder shows a full-screen 7-day Starter trial screen that you can't dismiss. On a Shopify development store you can close it and keep using Instant for free.
To use a new project on Free, take the trial first and then leave it:
Click Start free 7-day trial.
Approve the subscription to start the trial. Nothing is charged yet.
Open Settings → Plans and click Switch to Free.
You aren't charged as long as you switch before the 7 days are up, and the trial screen doesn't come back afterwards. See Upgrade your plan for the trial details.
Unpublishing to fit lower limits
Lower plans allow fewer published sections and templates, carts need Pro or higher, and Free can't have a published header or footer. When your storefront is over the new plan's limits, Instant sends you to Unpublish layouts before the downgrade can go through.
The screen lists your published layouts grouped by type and flags each group that's over the limit. Select the layouts you want to take off your storefront until every group fits, then click Unpublish & downgrade — Instant unpublishes what you selected and continues the plan change on its own.
Your project and its layouts aren't deleted. Whatever fits the new plan's limits stays published, and you can republish the rest if you upgrade again. On Free that means one page, one section, and one blog post.
What happens to features
When you move to a lower plan you lose that plan's gated features:
Cart drawer and draft-theme publishing require Pro or higher.
A/B testing requires Pro or higher; end running tests before downgrading so traffic isn't split across variants you can no longer manage.
Click and scroll heatmaps require Pro or higher.
Shopify Markets across all layout types requires Business.
The Liquid code block requires Starter or higher; moving to Free removes it. Liquid already published to your Shopify theme stays in the theme until you change or republish it.
AI credits
Your monthly AI credits drop to the new plan's amount as soon as the change goes through, so a lower tier means fewer credits each month. If you've already used more than the new plan includes, you'll have none left until they refill next month.
Cancelling clears the credits you've bought. Moving to Free ends your subscription, so any purchased credits left on the project are removed, and they don't come back if you subscribe again later — use them before you switch. Moving between paid plans doesn't affect them. See AI credits and the Plan limits reference.
Re-subscribing
You can upgrade again anytime from Settings → Plans — see Upgrade your plan. Your project stays tied to your Shopify store, so you pick up where you left off once entitlements are restored.
Need help?
If a downgrade is blocked or your storefront looks wrong after cancelling, contact Instant support with your store URL.