# No starter upgrade option
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** hosted-support, free-plan
**Created:** [May 16, 2026, 10:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167 "2026-05-16T22:00:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Crown1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Crown1)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 10:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/1 "2026-05-16T22:00:54Z")
I have a free community and want to upgrade to Starter but it doesn’t offer that option. What is going on?
I refuse to start a Pro trial and should not be required to activate the Pro features. I simply want starter. Why is this setup this way? Why can’t I just upgrade to the plan I actually want?
Clicking on Upgrade ONLY displays the Pro option for $100USD/mth - not what I want.
Clicking Compare Plans shows the Starter plan but offers NO OPTION to start a community on Starter - which wouldn’t upgrade my existing community anyway from what I understand.
What is going on here? Why would you prevent users from upgrading to what they actually want. This coercion to upgrade to a Pro trial is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.
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### Author:  [@darkpixlz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/darkpixlz)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 10:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/2 "2026-05-16T22:34:45Z")
Are you sure? The “upgrade” button prompts me to buy Starter.
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### Author:  [@Crown1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Crown1)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 10:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/3 "2026-05-16T22:53:37Z")
Well that would be great to see!
This is what I get on my instance:
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### Author:  [@darkpixlz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/darkpixlz)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 10:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/4 "2026-05-16T22:56:57Z")
Hmm, maybe the team is A/B testing something. Weirdly I don’t even see Starter available on the plans page so something is going on here that I can’t explain.
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### Author:  [@Crown1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Crown1)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 10:57pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/5 "2026-05-16T22:57:49Z")
That page is currently the same for me as well - Starter plan is detailed below but not a selectable option.
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### Author:  [@darkpixlz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/darkpixlz)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 11:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/6 "2026-05-16T23:00:27Z")
Unfortunately you will have to wait for staff to clarify, I’m not sure if this was ever announced anywhere but it seems like theyre in the middle of A/B testing it.
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### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 11:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/7 "2026-05-16T23:01:21Z")
We have deprioritized Starter on the pricing page, but it should still be available as an option to upgrade to from the Free plan.
Where are you clicking?
(It will show Pro or Business if you are clicking on a plugin that comes with one of those plans, for example)
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### Author:  [@Crown1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Crown1)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 11:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/8 "2026-05-16T23:01:42Z")
Thanks for the reply.
If this is A/B testing they have 1 result - I’d sooner chew glass than start a Pro subscription 😅
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### Author:  [@Crown1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Crown1)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 11:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/9 "2026-05-16T23:12:41Z")
I’ve tried the Upgrade button on the Dashboard as well as the Upgrade hyperlink on the Account Settings page. The only option available is Pro - same dialog from both places.
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### Author:  [@Crown1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Crown1)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 11:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/10 "2026-05-16T23:15:44Z")
I’d also like to mention that the pricing page also has nowhere to purchase the Starter plan either - it wasn’t just deprioritized, it has effectively been disabled entirely in my case, whether starting a new community or trying to upgrade my existing community.
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### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 11:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/11 "2026-05-16T23:18:26Z")
OK, I think you should still see Starter there when clicking the Upgrade button. We’ll take a closer look on Monday.
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### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 11:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/12 "2026-05-16T23:26:02Z")
Actually, I may have found what is causing the issue in your case. Try again now and I think it should work.
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### Author:  [@Crown1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Crown1)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 11:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/13 "2026-05-16T23:26:44Z")
Thanks for your assistance Dave. I assume this was unintentional - but I nearly pulled the trigger on starting my own infrastructure to self-host instead. I really don’t need that kind of overhead for a very small community that is just starting out. I felt betrayed and angry that the system was trying to push my brand new community into a full Pro package that we don’t want or need quite yet. I would love to have the Pro level, don’t get me wrong, and we love the platform you’ve built. I also want to support open-source projects and value that business decision highly - which is what brought me to this platform in the first place. I had no experience with Discourse prior to a week ago, and stumbled upon it when looking specifically for a project like this to support - that’s where the feeling of betrayal came from. I moved my people here looking to support this exact business model. We are a private group, not a business, and I’m paying for it personally from my own pocket with no income potential.
Thank you for addressing this, I appreciate it very much!
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### Author:  [@Crown1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Crown1)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 11:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/14 "2026-05-16T23:28:41Z")
I tried again with a refresh as well as logout and login, but still only have the Pro option dialog when clicking Upgrade.
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### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2026, 11:31pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/15 "2026-05-16T23:31:49Z")
Hmm… OK, we’ll have to take a closer look.
Hang tight and we’ll do that when the week starts and sort it out with you.
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### Author:  [@Crown1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Crown1)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2026, 10:07pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/18 "2026-05-20T22:07:05Z")
Just checking in, is there any update on this issue? I still don’t see the upgrade to Starter available from anywhere.
@mcwumbly
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2026, 10:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/19 "2026-05-20T22:17:55Z")
starter is definitely still an option, or it should be
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### Author:  [@Crown1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Crown1)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2026, 10:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/20 "2026-05-20T22:20:30Z")
Yes, it shows the details for the Starter plan but there is no button to actually select it. Likewise, if you check the screenshots that I attached above, the Upgrade options from the admin dashboard only offers the Pro subscription. It is currently not possible for me to upgrade my community to Starter edition through any page or dialog.
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### Author:  [@darkpixlz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/darkpixlz)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2026, 10:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/21 "2026-05-20T22:44:30Z")
Looks like you’re able to upgrade to any plan now from your admin panel.
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### Author:  [@Crown1](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Crown1)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2026, 11:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/no-starter-upgrade-option/403167/22 "2026-05-20T23:16:31Z")
Ah, from Manage Account it is now working. Admin \> Dashboard \> Upgrade Account still only provides Pro plan which I feel is still misleading, but I do have all options from Manage Account as you described.
Thanks to the team for getting this fixed for us!
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