If you pay after your renewal date, your payment does not start a new period from today. It continues from the date your plan ran out, so no day is ever charged twice and no day is given away. Most of the time that is invisible: you pay a few days late, the payment reaches past today, and your sites come straight back. But if you are more than one period behind, one payment can cover dates that are already over – and then your sites stay paused even though you have paid. This guide shows how to see exactly what a payment covers before you make it, and what happens if you still owe something afterwards.
💡 The short version
Before you pay, read the What this payment buys box on your Subscriptions page (or at the top of your Sites page). It shows the dates the payment covers, any balance owed, and whether your sites come back. If one month is not enough, click Pay the full amount owed and the page switches to the number of months that brings you up to date.
What a payment covers
Your paid time always runs on from the end of the period you last paid for. A payment for one month covers the month that starts on that date – not the month that starts today.
- Paying on time or early: the new period is added to the end of the one you already have. Nothing is lost.
- Paying a little late: the payment fills the gap since your plan ran out and still reaches past today, so your account is paid up and paused sites come back within minutes.
- Paying more than one period late: one period can end before today. Your account is then still unpaid after the payment, and paused sites stay paused until the rest is paid.
More detail and a worked example: What happens when you pay late?
See it before you pay
Every place you can pay – the Subscriptions page and the payment box on your Sites page, for card, PayPal and crypto – shows a What this payment buys box first. It tells you:
- the exact dates the payment covers (for example covers 22 Sep 2026 → 23 Oct 2026);
- any balance owed on your account, and for which dates;
- whether your account is paid up afterwards, and so whether paused sites come back online.
The crypto option list shows the dates next to each choice too, so you can pick the right number of months there directly.
If you have a balance owed
Sometimes our team brings your sites back online before an unpaid period has been paid for – for example while a payment problem is being sorted out. That period is then recorded on your account as a balance owed, with its dates and amount. Your sites stay online.
Your next payment pays that balance first. So a payment the same size as the balance clears it but does not move your paid-until date; anything you pay beyond it extends your plan as usual. A smaller payment reduces the balance and never takes your sites offline.
Pay the full amount owed
When one month is not enough – you are several periods behind, or you owe a balance larger than one period – the What this payment buys box shows a Pay the full amount owed button. It switches every payment option on the page to the number of months that clears what you owe and brings your account up to date. You still confirm the payment yourself; nothing is charged by clicking it.
Paying for several months at once costs exactly the monthly price times the months – see Can I pay yearly, quarterly or for several months?
If a payment leaves you still behind
If a payment you make still leaves your account unpaid, or leaves a balance owed, we tell you straight away instead of leaving you to wonder why your sites are still paused:
- an e-mail saying what the payment covered, what is still owed, and a link to pay the rest;
- a notice at the top of your Sites page with the same facts and a Pay the rest now button.
Both are written in the language you use with our support team. As soon as the rest is paid, paused sites come back online automatically within minutes – see I’ve just paid – why are my sites still frozen?
Still not sure?
Ask the support assistant in your dashboard “I paid but my sites are still paused” – it reads your account and tells you which dates your payment covered and how many months bring your sites back. If anything looks wrong, open a support ticket and we will check it with you.