The company grew from 15 to 50 employees and hit the user limit on the Standard plan. Moving to Professional seems like the only way out, but there is a fear of losing configured business processes and integrations.
Or the opposite — after staff reductions, they pay for a license that is 40% more expensive than needed.
Switching between Bitrix24 plans is an operation with real pitfalls: without a preliminary audit and careful preparation, you can end up without automations, lose tasks, or block the portal due to exceeding limits.
Our engineers have performed more than 100 such transitions and know well what traps lie in wait, how to avoid them, and what to do if something goes wrong.
Below is a breakdown of typical scenarios with specific cases and step-by-step instructions: practical experience only, no generalities.
What restrictions exist when changing a plan?
The current lineup of cloud B24 includes five plans:
| Plan | Users | Disk | CRM | Automation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Unlimited | 5 GB | Basic, no robots | No |
| Basic | 5 | 24 GB | Full, robots | Limited |
| Standard | 50 | 100 GB | Full, business processes | Full |
| Professional | 100 | 1024 GB | Full, BI builder | Full + HR |
| Enterprise | 250-10000 | From 3 TB | Full, clustering | Full + HRMS |
Key restrictions when downgrading a plan:
- User limit. On Basic — 5. If there are 20 active users — you need to deactivate 15 before the transition. Deactivated users lose access, but their data (tasks, deals, files) remains.
- Disk space. When downgrading to a plan with a smaller limit, files are not deleted, but uploading new ones is blocked if the limit is exceeded.
- Business processes. Not available on Basic. All active BPs stop running — they are not deleted, but frozen.
- CRM robots. On Free, they are disabled completely. Configured chains are preserved but do not trigger.
How is an upgrade performed?
When upgrading a plan, everything is simple — additional features become available instantly. You pay the difference in cost taking into account the remaining period of the current subscription.
An upgrade takes on average 2–3 hours — that is 5 times faster than migrating from on-premise to cloud. User and disk limits increase immediately. New tools (business processes, BI, HR) appear in the menu but require configuration. Data is not affected: deals, tasks, contacts, files — everything is in place.
Pitfall: after an upgrade, the team gets access to tools that are not configured. Employees start experimenting — creating chaotic business processes, duplicating funnels. It is recommended to create an implementation plan for new features before the upgrade.
For example, an annual subscription is 20–30% more cost-effective than a monthly one — take this into account when choosing the period.
How to prepare for a downgrade?
A downgrade requires 3 times more preparation than an upgrade — on average 1–2 days. Here is the mandatory checklist:
Downgrade preparation checklist
-
User audit. Make a list of active users. Determine who stays and who is deactivated. Transfer tasks and deals of deactivated employees to active ones. Otherwise — hanging tasks without a responsible person.
Check that deactivated users are not administrators of workgroups, owners of business processes, or authors of automations.
-
Feature audit. Create a table of used features and check their availability on the target plan:
Feature Current plan Target plan Status Business processes Professional Basic Unavailable — BPs will stop CRM robots Professional Basic Available with restrictions BI builder Professional Standard Unavailable Multi-funnels Professional Basic Available Online documents Professional Basic Available Data audit. Disk file volume. If it exceeds the target plan limit — export archived files. Number of CRM records. CRM record limits depend on the plan — check them. Integration settings. Some connectors (REST applications from the Marketplace) work only on certain plans.
Backup. Before the transition — export critical data: CRM (export deals, contacts, companies via
crm.deal.list,crm.contact.list), tasks (tasks.task.list), Disk (download important files), business processes (export BP templates).According to Bitrix24 help, when changing a plan, data is not deleted, but a backup will additionally protect against errors.
Typical mistakes and their cost
- Did not deactivate users — exceeding the limit blocks the transition. You have to urgently sort it out, losing up to 2 working days.
- Did not check integrations — after a downgrade, third-party services stop working. Recovery takes another day.
- Forgot to transfer tasks — employees are left with tasks without responsible persons. Without a responsible person, tasks are not completed, which slows down business processes.
- Did not warn the team — users panic because features disappear. Training and adaptation are needed, which adds a week.
Example: switching from Professional to Basic
A company with 40 employees decided to cut Bitrix24 costs. The audit showed: only CRM and tasks are actively used; business processes and HR are not launched. The target plan is Basic for 5 users.
Preparation took 3 days: 35 users were deactivated, their tasks and deals were transferred, and BP templates were exported in case of a future upgrade. The transition went smoothly. Savings amounted to up to 60% of monthly costs.
Financial nuances
- Upgrade within the period. B24 calculates the additional payment proportionally to the remaining term. The paid period is not lost.
- Downgrade. The new plan takes effect after the end of the current paid period. Early downgrade — via a request to support; refunds are not guaranteed.
- Changing the payment period. A monthly subscription is more expensive than an annual one (the difference is 20–30%). With stable use, annual is more cost-effective.
- Promotions. B24 regularly offers discounts on upgrades — it makes sense to wait for a promotion during a planned transition.
What is included in the work
Our support for plan changes includes:
- Full audit of the current portal: users, features, integrations, data volume.
- Selection of the optimal plan taking into account the actual load and budget.
- Migration plan with a checklist of risks and stages.
- Data preparation: export of CRM, tasks, BP templates, files.
- Performing the transition: deactivating users, changing the plan, checking functionality.
- Setting up new tools after an upgrade (if required).
- Training the team to work under new conditions.
- Support for one week after the transition.
Cost is calculated after audit and depends on the scope of work. Contact us for a consultation.
Approximate timelines
- Audit: from 1 day.
- Preparation and backup: 1–2 days.
- The actual transition: 2–3 hours for an upgrade, 1–2 days for a downgrade.
- Setup and training: from 1 day.
Our experience
We have been implementing Bitrix24 for more than 5 years. We have performed over 100 successful transitions between plans. Order an audit of your current plan — we will help you avoid overpaying and prevent downtime.