Handling Inactive Tenants

Learn what happens when tenant subscriptions expire and how to handle inactive tenants — automatic cleanup, grace periods, and re-activation.

Over time, some tenants will let their subscriptions expire — this is normal in any SaaS business. This guide covers what happens to inactive tenants and how to manage them.

What Is an "Inactive" Tenant?

A tenant becomes inactive when:

• Their subscription has expired and they haven't renewed

• Their trial period has ended without converting to a paid plan

• You've manually deactivated their account

What Happens When a Tenant Becomes Inactive?

When a subscription expires:

1. Tenant's CRM becomes inaccessible — They can no longer log in or use their CRM

2. Data is preserved — Their database and data are NOT deleted immediately

3. Grace period — If you've configured a deletion period in Tenant Settings, the database will be preserved for that many days

4. After the grace period — The tenant's database is automatically deleted (if configured)

Subscription expires
        ↓
Tenant can't access CRM (locked out)
        ↓
Data preserved for X days (your configured grace period)
        ↓
If tenant renews → Access restored instantly ✅
If grace period expires → Database deleted ❌ (if auto-delete is configured)

Configuring the Grace Period

The grace period is set in SaaS Management → SuperAdmin Settings → Tenants Settings:

Setting	Recommended Value	Description
Delete Inactive Tenant Database After	90 days	How long to keep inactive tenant data before deletion
Set to 0	Never delete	Data is preserved forever (you manage cleanup manually)

Be generous with grace periods! A tenant who missed a payment might come back in 30 days. If you've deleted their data, they'll be furious and never return. 90 days is a safe minimum.

Re-Activating an Inactive Tenant

If a tenant wants to come back:

1. Open their profile in Customers

2. Go to the SaaS Tenant section

3. Assign them a new plan or extend their existing subscription

4. Their CRM becomes accessible again immediately

5. If their database still exists — all their data is intact!

Best Practices

Before Expiration

• Send reminder emails before subscriptions expire

• Perfex CRM handles invoice reminders automatically through Setup → Email Templates

After Expiration

• Send a "We miss you" email with a discount offer

• Keep data for at least 90 days to allow re-activation

• Consider reaching out personally to high-value tenants

Preventing Churn

• Offer annual plans with a discount (reduces churn dramatically)

• Enable auto-renewal where possible

• Make it easy for tenants to upgrade (not just cancel)

• Provide excellent support and documentation (you're reading this, so you're on the right track!)

Business Insight: In the SaaS world, it's 5-7x cheaper to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one. Investing time in retention (good support, reliable uptime, useful features) pays off much more than spending the same time on acquisition.

Understand tenant lifecycle? Learn about Billing & Subscriptions to manage the financial side.