PRACTICAL GUIDE
What happens to your website when you cancel an AI builder?
Check deployment, data, domains, credits, and connected services before changing a builder subscription. Use a cancellation worksheet.
Editorial guidance from Free Website Builder. Product details can change.
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Cancellation can affect several different services
A builder subscription, a public deployment, a domain registration, and an external email or database service may be separate commitments. Cancelling one does not necessarily cancel the others. Equally, keeping a domain does not guarantee that the website behind it remains available.
There is no universal answer for every AI builder and plan. Check the current terms in your account and the dependencies of your project. This guide helps you collect the right answers before changing a subscription, rather than assuming that code ownership or a successful preview determines what happens afterward.
Separate access, operation, and ownership
Access means whether you can open, edit, or export the project in the builder. Operation means whether the published site and connected services continue running. Ownership concerns rights to materials and accounts. These can have different outcomes when a plan changes.
| Area | Question to verify | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Editor access | Can you still open and revise the project? | Future maintenance |
| Public site | Does deployment continue, pause, or change? | Visitor availability |
| Custom domain | Does the connection remain supported? | Stable public address |
| Data | Can records still be read and exported? | Business continuity |
| Files | What happens to uploaded assets? | Documents and media |
| Credits | What happens to unused balances? | Remaining entitlement |
| Integrations | Which external subscriptions continue? | Charges and working features |
Ask these questions for the specific account and plan. Do not infer the answer from another user’s experience on a different subscription or from an old tutorial.
Read the current account information
Lovable’s public pricing FAQ describes how remaining paid credits are treated after cancellation and a move to Free. That is a credit rule, not a complete guarantee about every deployed feature or connected service. Review current account terms and the project’s requirements together. Official pricing reference.
For Emergent, review the active deployment and subscription settings applicable to the project. Older deployment tutorials may describe numerical charges that differ from the current account. Keep the subscription question separate from whether a running deployment has its own continuing requirement. Deployment source note.
Make an inventory before taking action
List each project, its public address, its important data, and the services it uses. Include domains, email, storage, databases, payment providers, and AI APIs. Record the owner and renewal arrangement for each service. This prevents a surprise charge or outage caused by assuming everything belonged to one subscription.
For a business site, identify the critical journey: enquiries, bookings, orders, or client access. Determine which service each step depends on. A site can remain visible while its form delivery or private data stops working, so a homepage check is not enough.
Preserve the materials you need
Keep original copy, images, project briefs, and operating notes outside the builder. Use supported source-code and data export options where available. Verify what the export includes. Source files may not contain database records, uploaded files, identity configuration, or secrets.
Test whether a qualified maintainer can use the export in the intended destination if migration is the plan. A downloaded archive is not a proven recovery path. For important records, keep a backup appropriate to the service and verify restoration with sample data.
Choose among pause, downgrade, migrate, and retire
If the project is temporarily inactive, a lower-cost arrangement may be suitable if it preserves the required access and operation. If the site is still important but the builder is no longer needed, investigate a supported hosting or export route. If the project is being retired, plan what visitors and existing users should see.
| Situation | Planning priority |
|---|---|
| Temporary pause | Required access, retained data, and continuing costs |
| Lower usage | Whether a smaller plan still supports essential features |
| Move to another host | Complete dependency and migration review |
| Retire a public site | Clear visitor message and intentional routing |
| Retire a private app | User communication, data handling, and access closure |
Choose based on the actual purpose. Keeping an unused subscription forever and cancelling everything immediately are not the only options.
Test a replacement before ending a working service
If moving, build and verify the destination first. Test forms, internal routes, authentication, files, and integrations with labelled sample data. Preserve important URLs or plan redirects. Keep the old environment available until the replacement handles the required journeys.
Record a rollback path and consider data created during the transition. A code rollback does not automatically undo database changes. If the application is actively used, decide how records will remain consistent during cutover.
Check domain and email separately
Domain registration commonly has its own renewal schedule. Keep the business in control of the registrar and DNS accounts. If hosting changes, preserve mail-routing and email-authentication records. Cancelling a website service should not accidentally break the company’s email.
After any change, inspect the primary address, alternate hostname, HTTPS, and a representative internal page. Verify that links in emails and third-party listings still lead to an intentional destination. If the site is retired, provide a useful explanation rather than leaving a confusing error where practical.
Record the final state and continuing charges
After a plan change, read back the effective date and subscription status. Review the remaining services individually. Do not assume that cancellation of the builder also stops an independently purchased API, storage account, or domain renewal.
Keep a short record of what remains active, who owns it, and what visitors can still do. Test the critical journey after the change takes effect. This is especially important when the account changes at the end of a billing period rather than immediately.
Make cancellation a controlled project decision
The useful question is not only “Can I cancel?” but “What needs to remain available afterward?” Answer that first, then choose the account changes and migration steps that support it. Current terms and verified project behaviour should guide the decision.
A clear inventory, tested export, and deliberate transition can make a change straightforward. Skipping those steps can leave a visible website with broken functions or a stopped site with continuing charges. Treat access, data, operation, and billing as related but distinct parts of the plan.
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