1 When you should upgrade
- Console shows
Server overloaded! Running X ms behindor low TPS warnings. - Memory usage in the panel sits above 85% for hours at a time.
- Your player count is starting to bottleneck — Minecraft chunk loading lags, Rust raids drop connections, ARK's tribe action gets sluggish.
- You're adding a heavy mod pack or texture-heavy modpack.
2 When downgrading makes sense
- Player base shrunk — you bought 16 GB during launch hype and now only need 6.
- Wipe is over and you don't expect heavy traffic until the next one.
- You're putting the server on hold for a few months but want to keep your world.
3 Upgrade / downgrade your plan
- Log into your Solace billing panel.
- Click Services → My Services.
- Pick the server you want to change.
- Click Upgrade/Downgrade in the side menu.
- Select the target plan or the RAM / storage configuration you want.
- The panel shows the prorated cost (or credit) before checkout. Confirm and pay.
The change usually applies within a couple of minutes. Your server restarts once on the new resource pool — your world, configs, plugins, schedules, and SFTP credentials all carry over unchanged.
4 What stays the same
- IP address and port — players don't need to update the server entry.
- World data and saves — nothing is wiped.
- Mods, plugins, configs — all preserved.
- Backups — your existing backups carry over.
- Schedules — restart, broadcast, and backup schedules stay attached.
- Panel users — anyone you've granted sub-user access keeps it.
5 What might change
- Disk allocation: if you downgrade to a plan with less storage and your world is bigger than the new limit, you'll get a warning. Trim files (old backups, log files) before downgrading.
- Java args / startup flags: usually Solace re-tunes these to match your new RAM. Check the Startup tab after upgrade.
- Modpack memory tweaks: modpack launchers sometimes hardcode RAM into config files. After a big change, double-check anything in
user_jvm_args.txtor the panel's Java memory variable.
6 Prorated billing — how it works
Solace bills monthly. When you upgrade mid-cycle, we charge the price difference for the remaining days. When you downgrade, we credit the difference toward your next invoice.
Example: you're on a $8/mo plan and 10 days into the cycle (20 days left). You upgrade to $14/mo.
- Difference: $14 − $8 = $6 per month, or $0.20/day.
- Days left in cycle: 20.
- Charged today: 20 × $0.20 ≈ $4.00.
- Next month's invoice: $14 (full new rate).
7 Switching games (different product entirely)
Want to convert a Rust server to Minecraft, or vice versa? That's not technically an upgrade — it's a product swap, and we have to rebuild the file system. Open a ticket from your billing panel and we'll walk you through it (and credit any unused time on the old product toward the new one).
8 Cancel vs. downgrade vs. pause
- Cancel: server is permanently deleted at end of billing cycle. World gone unless you download a backup first.
- Downgrade: keep everything, lower the tier and bill.
- Pause: we don't currently offer formal pauses, but you can downgrade to a $2/mo holding tier to keep your world available between active runs. Open a ticket and we'll set that up.