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Resolve the zone cannot be upgraded error
When trying to upgrade a domain or purchase a subscription, you may see an error that contains one of the following phrases:
- "this zone cannot be upgraded"
- "there is a problem with your billing profile"
Causes
- Your account may have an outstanding unpaid balance.
- Another account previously associated with the domain or zone may have an outstanding unpaid balance.
Solution
This message appears when the account or domain involved has an outstanding unpaid balance. For a domain, this may also be triggered by a previous account that owned the domain.
- Check each Cloudflare account you have access to for an outstanding balance. Refer to Email address and password if you have forgotten these details.
- To pay the balance, refer to Pay an outstanding balance.
- Wait 24 hours after paying this balance.
- Attempt the upgrade again.
As a reference, the full error messages you may see are:
- "Due to a Billing related issue, the zone cannot be upgraded at this time. Please visit the Billing section to ensure there is no outstanding balance."
- "Refer to https://cfl.re/3VUQyyL ↗ for assistance. For security reasons, there is a problem with your billing profile."
Verify the fix
After you pay the outstanding balance and wait 24 hours, return to the domain or subscription you were trying to purchase and retry the upgrade.
Related resources
- Pay an outstanding balance — Resolve unpaid balances
- Change domain plan — Upgrade or downgrade your plan
- Error reference — Look up other billing error messages