How seats work when upgrading to a paid Strapi plan

Last updated: February 5, 2026

When you upgrade a Strapi project to a paid plan (such as Growth or Enterprise), user access to the Admin Panel is governed entirely by seats.

This article explains what that means and what to expect when upgrading.

Seats vs users: what’s the difference?

  • A seat represents one active Admin Panel user

  • Seats are not tied to roles or permissions

  • Any user who can log into the Strapi Admin Panel consumes one seat, regardless of their role (Super Admin, Editor, or custom role)

What happens when I upgrade to the Growth plan?

When you activate a Growth plan:

  • The entire CMS is placed on the Growth plan

  • Only the number of seats included in your subscription are available

  • If your project has more active users than seats, any users beyond the limit are automatically deactivated

For example:

  • Growth includes 3 seats by default

  • If your project has 10 active users, only 3 will remain active after the upgrade

  • The remaining users will be deactivated until additional seats are purchased

This behavior is expected and enforced automatically by the licensing system.

Note: When users are deactivated due to seat limits, this is based on the order users were added to the project. Older users are not deactivated first.

Can I apply Growth features to only some users?

No.
Paid plans apply at the project level, not per user.

It is not possible to:

  • Keep all existing users active while limiting paid features to only some of them

  • Use roles or permissions to bypass seat limits

  • Assign seats selectively

If you need more active users, you must purchase additional seats.

What if I already had more users before upgrading?

Upgrading does not increase your seat count automatically.

If your project previously had more users under the Community plan and you upgrade to a paid plan with fewer seats than active users, some users will be deactivated until the seat count matches your needs.

How do I add more seats?

You can add additional seats to your Growth plan at any time via the Strapi Cloud dashboard. Seats take effect immediately once the subscription is updated.

For step-by-step instructions (including screenshots), see:
https://support.strapi.io/articles/9192409220-how-to-add-more-seats-to-your-strapi-growth-plan-subscription

Key takeaway

Seats define how many users can access the Strapi Admin Panel — not roles, permissions, or features.

When upgrading, always ensure you purchase enough seats to match the number of users who need access.

If you’re unsure how many seats you need, or want help reviewing your setup before upgrading, please contact Support — we’re happy to help you plan ahead and avoid disruption.