Grandfathered Terms and Pricing

What are grandfathered terms and pricing?

Grandfathering means existing customers keep their old price, plan or terms after a vendor changes them for everyone else. New customers get the new deal. You stay on the one you signed up for, at least for a while.

It often comes up when a vendor raises prices, retires a plan or rewrites its terms. The vendor might say current customers keep their price "until renewal," "for 12 months," or "as long as you stay on this plan."

Grandfathering is a choice the vendor makes, or a promise you negotiate. It is not something the law gives you by default.

When the old terms stay and when they end

Look at what your contract actually promises. A few common patterns:

• Until the end of your current term: the GitHub Terms of Service say prices are subject to change at the end of a payment term. Your price holds until then, not after.
• Until your next renewal: under the Atlassian Customer Agreement, most changes to the agreement for paid subscriptions take effect at the next order or renewal. See changes effective at renewal.
• After a notice period: the AWS Customer Agreement lets AWS raise or add fees for services you already use with at least 30 days' notice.
• As long as you stay on the plan: some vendors keep old plans running for current customers, until they retire the plan and move everyone over. See forced plan migration.

Grandfathering can end quietly. A promise made in a blog post, sales email or pricing FAQ may not appear in the contract at all, and the vendor can change those pages too.

A real change we caught

Venpo flagged that Snyk dropped its 5% renewal cap. A cap like that limits how much your price can rise at each renewal. Once it is removed, the next renewal is no longer protected by it. Snyk's terms now say renewals move to "Snyk's then current rates."

Why it matters to you

Your budget assumes your current price. If grandfathering ends at renewal, the increase lands all at once, often with only the notice the contract requires. See renewal price increase.

Old plans can also lose features or support over time, which pushes you to move even if the price holds.

What to check

• Whether any promise to keep your price or plan is written in your contract or order form, not just an email or FAQ.
• How long it lasts: current term, next renewal, a set number of months, or while you stay on the plan.
• What ends it: a plan retirement, a change in seats, an upgrade or a lapse in payment.
• How much notice you get before it ends. See price change notice.
• At renewal, ask for the old price or a cap on increases, in writing.

How Venpo helps

Grandfathering can end through a quiet edit to pricing or billing terms. Venpo watches your vendors' public legal and billing pages and emails you a plain-English alert when they change. Its Fine Print Scan also answers whether each vendor can raise your prices.