Downgrading to a lower-tier plan, removing a package, or moving to the Free plan changes what data and features you can access, and some of these changes take effect immediately. Before you downgrade, work through this checklist to avoid losing access to anything you still need.
Download the reports and data you'll need
If you're moving to a lower tier or leaving Workable altogether, download anything you might need to reference later before you downgrade.
Learn more here:
Employee and HR reports
A full data export only covers recruiting data, such as candidates, jobs, comments, and events. It does not include employee or HR data, so if you use our HR features, download these separately first:
- The Employee details report, covering each employee's profile and field values.
- The Headcount report, for a point-in-time view of your workforce by department, entity, and location.
- Any other HR reports you rely on, such as time off or performance data, if those features are enabled on your account.
Candidate and recruiting data
- Export the Candidate details report as a CSV to keep a record of your candidates outside Workable.
- If you're leaving Workable entirely and need resumes and files included, request a full data export — see How do I export candidate data for your options.
Note: Once you downgrade, the Report Center becomes inaccessible, apart from the Candidate details report, until you resubscribe. Your data isn't lost, just locked, and any additional data can still be retrieved through the API even after you move to the Free plan.
Save anything that becomes read-only or unavailable
Some features aren't removed when you downgrade, but they stop accepting changes or become inaccessible. Note your current setup before you lose the ability to edit it.
For the exact impact of your specific plan change, see Managing plan and package transitions: upgrades/downgrades.
Reports
- Reports built with custom or higher-tier functionality appear greyed out.
- Scheduled reports remain in the Report Center but switch to a disabled state and stop sending automatically, so let anyone who relies on them know in advance.
Roles and permissions
If you use custom permission sets, make sure everyone who needs one is already assigned before you downgrade. Existing sets are preserved afterward, but become read-only: you won't be able to edit them, create new ones, or assign them to additional members.
See Configuring custom access with permissions sets.
Hiring Plan and requisitions
If you use the Hiring Plan, download or note down anything you need from your requisitions first (you can download the Hiring Plan reports or access requisition data via the API). Below Premier, the Hiring Plan page is no longer accessible, and requisitions are no longer required to hire a candidate.
See Using the Hiring Plan dashboard.
Referrals portal
Moving from Enterprise or Premier to Standard disables the Referrals portal and deactivates all referral members' access. Let your employees know before this happens, and download any referral reporting you want to keep. You can find the full list of referral members under the Referrals settings.
Wrap up active recruiting activity
A downgrade can interrupt work in progress, not just settings and reports. Take care of the following before you make the change.
Candidate interviews and communication
If you're downgrading all the way to the Free plan, all jobs are automatically unpublished and archived, and candidates move into read-only mode. This means you won't be able to interact or communicate with candidates through Workable afterward, so wrap up or reschedule any imminent interviews before you downgrade. Your careers page stays live, just without any open positions.
See How do I cancel my subscription or delete my account for the full list of changes.
Third-party integrations
If you use integrations such as job boards (for example, LinkedIn) or other connected tools (for example, Bob), disconnect them — you may need help from our Support team to do this. Once access to certain features is removed, you will no longer be able to manage or retrieve data through these integrations.
Notify your team
Some of these changes affect other people in your account, not just admins. Give the following a heads-up before you downgrade:
- Anyone who receives a scheduled report, since it will stop arriving.
- Employees using the Referrals portal, as it will be disabled.
- Hiring managers who rely on the Hiring Plan for approvals or budget tracking.
Check your timing and account access
- Only a Super Admin can access Plan settings and downgrade the account, so confirm who holds that role.
- You can only downgrade to a lower-tier paid plan once your current subscription has expired or moved to the Free plan; an active subscription can't be downgraded directly.
- Refunds aren't issued for early cancellations or downgrades, so time the change close to your renewal date where possible.
Note: 45 days after your account moves to the Free plan, candidates are archived automatically. You can still unarchive them manually afterward, so this isn't a permanent loss, but it's worth knowing if you plan to return to a paid plan later.
Deleting your account entirely
Downgrading and deleting your account are not the same thing. Before you permanently delete your account, confirm you truly won't need the data again — deletion is irreversible, while a downgrade only locks your data and keeps it recoverable if you resubscribe.