Non-payment does not end a service immediately, and it does not leave it alone forever either. There are two dates, and the difference between them is the difference between an inconvenience and a total loss.
The two dates
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| The due date | An unpaid invoice suspends the server. The container is shut down. |
| Seven days after | The container, its databases and its backup storage are permanently deleted. |
Files deleted for non-payment cannot be recovered, and no backup of a terminated service is kept. This is the single point on this page where waiting a day longer changes the outcome permanently rather than temporarily.
If you know a payment will be late
- Download a backup now
While the service is still active. A copy on your own machine is unaffected by anything that happens to the account, and it is the only thing that makes day seven survivable.
- Open a ticket on the billing portal
Before the due date rather than after. A conversation started early is a different conversation from one started on day six.
- Check the invoice actually reached you
An invoice sitting in a spam folder produces exactly the same timeline as one you ignored. Confirm the address on the account is one you read.
During the seven-day window the data is still there. If you settle the invoice inside it, the service resumes. The window exists precisely so that a missed payment is recoverable — but it is a window, not an indefinite grace period.
Keeping a copy is the general answer
Whatever the reason a service might end — a missed payment, a card that expired, a decision to stop — a downloaded backup means the world is yours regardless. It is the same habit that protects you from corruption and from a bad restore, and it covers this case for free.