Migration
Migration to Posit Connect Cloud
We’re consolidating our publishing platforms, and shinyapps.io is moving to Connect Cloud. This page explains what’s changing, when, and what it means for your account.
The short version: a self-serve migration tool is available, you can test everything before committing, and doing nothing is also an option.
shinyapps.io was created more than 10 years ago as a simple solution to deploy and share Shiny applications. Connect Cloud, which launched in 2024, is the next-generation Posit publishing platform with more capabilities and better security.
The migration process
A self-serve migration tool is available in Connect Cloud that puts you in control. Link your shinyapps.io account and select which applications to migrate. You can test each app on Connect Cloud before finalizing. Finalizing sets up a redirect from your shinyapps.io URL to the new Connect Cloud URL — so links you’ve already shared keep working — and archives the app on shinyapps.io.
See the migration guide on the Connect Cloud docs site for step-by-step instructions.
If you don’t migrate yourself
If you choose not to use the migration tool in Connect Cloud, we’ll begin automatically migrating accounts in waves starting in 2027:
| Date | Accounts |
|---|---|
| January 28, 2027 | Free users |
| March 31, 2027 | Starter & Basic users |
| June 30, 2027 | Standard & Pro users |
A note for paid customers
We appreciate your continued use of shinyapps.io and want to make this transition as simple as possible. When you link your shinyapps.io account, Connect Cloud automatically grants you an equivalent plan at no charge. See the plan mapping below. If you are on a paid plan, you’ll keep your current pricing through your 2029 renewal. See seat-based pricing and grandfathering below for what happens at that renewal.
Plan mapping
Linking your shinyapps.io account grants you the mapped Connect Cloud plan immediately, at no charge:
| shinyapps.io plan | Connect Cloud plan |
|---|---|
| Free | Free |
| Starter | Basic |
| Basic | Enhanced |
| Standard, Professional | Advanced |
Your shinyapps.io subscription itself is not transferred or billed on Connect Cloud until June 30, 2027, regardless of your plan or migration wave. Until then, you can work in both Connect Cloud and shinyapps.io while paying only for your current shinyapps.io subscription.
To benefit from grandfathering, do not cancel your shinyapps.io subscription.
Users who need more advanced functionality, such as Single Sign-On (SSO), data source authentication integrations, or additional compute, can move to the Enterprise plan. Contact sales to discuss Enterprise options. This upgrade path does not include grandfathering.
Frequently Asked Questions
General
Why are shinyapps.io users being migrated to Connect Cloud?
Connect Cloud provides users with a more modern, more secure, and significantly more feature-rich environment than shinyapps.io.
We are focusing all our development efforts on Connect Cloud, which represents the future of Posit-hosted publishing. This migration ensures you have access to the best tools, performance, and security features available for cloud deployments.
When will my shinyapps.io account be migrated to Connect Cloud?
You have two paths:
- Migrate yourself, on your own schedule. A self-serve migration tool in Connect Cloud lets you migrate your applications and test each app before finalizing.
- Do nothing and be migrated automatically. If you don’t use the migration tool, we’ll migrate accounts automatically in waves starting in 2027: Free users on January 28, 2027; Starter & Basic users on March 31, 2027; and Standard & Pro users on June 30, 2027.
What do I need to do to prepare for the migration?
Nothing right now. If you are satisfied with your service on shinyapps.io, you can continue to use it as is. Using the migration tool, you can test your apps on Connect Cloud before committing to anything.
Can I opt-out of the migration?
You can’t remain on shinyapps.io indefinitely, but you are in control of how and when you move. You can migrate yourself with the self-serve tool, or do nothing and be migrated automatically in the 2027 waves. If you don’t want to use Connect Cloud after the migration, you can delete your account.
Publishing workflow
Seat-based pricing and grandfathering
Will a free plan continue to be available on Connect Cloud?
Yes. A free plan with public sharing is already available on Connect Cloud. It offers more compute power and features than the existing free plan on shinyapps.io.
Will the price of paid plans be the same on Connect Cloud?
When you link your shinyapps.io account, Connect Cloud automatically grants you an equivalent plan at no charge. See the plan mapping above. If you are on a paid plan, you’ll keep your current pricing through your 2029 renewal. See seat-based pricing and grandfathering below for what happens at that renewal.
What counts as a “seat” on Connect Cloud, and how is that different from shinyapps.io?
This applies only if your shinyapps.io plan had a notion of per-user access: authorized users on the Standard and Professional plans, or account members on the Professional plan. On shinyapps.io, those authorized users and account members were bundled into your plan price. Other plans do not have this concept. On Connect Cloud, every person who logs in to administer, publish, or view private content uses a billable seat. Public sharing does not require a seat.
My plan is grandfathered until 2029: what happens at renewal?
The seat-based right-sizing described here applies only if your shinyapps.io plan had authorized users (Standard, Professional) or account members (Professional). You will keep your current price through your 2029 renewal, and will not need to pay for additional users before then. At that renewal, your account will be right-sized based on the number of seats needed for everyone who logs in to administer, publish, or view content. That means your total headcount of people who need to authenticate, not just publishers. You can see what this costs today by adjusting the seat toggle on the Advanced plan pricing page.
Keep your shinyapps.io subscription active until June 30, 2027. Canceling your subscription early means you will lose access to Connect Cloud and grandfathered pricing.
I have a lot of viewers but few publishers: is there a lower-cost option for view-only access?
This applies if your shinyapps.io plan had authorized users (Standard, Professional) or account members (Professional). There is no view-only or reduced-cost tier on Connect Cloud. Anyone who logs in to view private content uses a seat. Two options avoid the per-seat cost: make the content public if it can be, or use a cryptic link, available on the Enhanced plan and above.
A cryptic link does not require viewers to log in. It simply gives you more control over the sharing link than public sharing does.
App compatibility
Will my existing Shiny application code need to be modified to run on Connect Cloud?
We’re working so that most applications can be migrated without modification. That said, older content — for example, apps relying on older dependencies and libraries — may run into issues. This is exactly why the migration tool lets you test each app on Connect Cloud before finalizing, so you can confirm it works as expected before committing.
Will my environment variables carry over?
Yes. If your app uses an .Renviron file on shinyapps.io, that file migrates with your content and continues to work on Connect Cloud.
My app uses R’s reticulate package to call Python: will it work after migration?
Connect Cloud does not support apps that create their own Python virtual environment through reticulate today, and those apps will fail after migration. Test your app on Connect Cloud before finalizing the migration if it relies on this.
Will my app run differently after migrating even if it succeeds?
Some apps migrate successfully but behave differently on Connect Cloud. See the full list of migration warnings.
My app failed to migrate: what do I do?
See troubleshooting failed migrations for common causes and fixes.
Custom domains
I have a custom domain configured on shinyapps.io. What happens to it when I migrate?
It keeps working automatically. shinyapps.io continues serving that domain, displaying your migrated Connect Cloud application inside it. The address bar still shows your shinyapps.io domain. To serve directly from Connect Cloud instead, set up the domain there separately.
Keep the archived shinyapps.io application in place after finalizing. Deleting it breaks the custom domain’s connection to your content.
See custom domains for details.
Account and billing
Does using the migration tool cancel or move my shinyapps.io subscription?
No. The migration tool moves your applications and content to Connect Cloud, but it does not cancel or transfer your shinyapps.io subscription. Your subscription stays active and billed on shinyapps.io, separately from Connect Cloud, until June 30, 2027, regardless of your plan or migration wave. Until then, you can access and manage both accounts.
Do I need to cancel my shinyapps.io subscription once I have migrated my apps?
No. Keep your shinyapps.io subscription active. Your grandfathered pricing and user count on Connect Cloud is tied to that subscription remaining in place through June 30, 2027. Canceling early might cause you to lose grandfathering.
I already have a separate Connect Cloud subscription I purchased directly. What happens when I also link my shinyapps.io account?
The migration tool does not change your subscription on either platform. It only moves your applications and content. Linking your shinyapps.io account separately grants you a Connect Cloud plan tier based on your shinyapps.io plan (see the plan mapping above), independent of any subscription you purchased directly.
If your migration-linked plan matches or exceeds your existing directly-purchased plan, you can cancel that subscription. For example, if migration links you to the Advanced plan and you had separately purchased Enhanced, canceling Enhanced makes sense because Advanced already covers it. Posit will not refund the directly-purchased subscription.
How do I delete my shinyapps.io account if I do not want to migrate at all?
Account deletion is not self-serve. Submit a request through the account deletion process in Billing & Account Management.
Platform comparison
Is there any functionality that shinyapps.io has that Connect Cloud does not?
The main gap is horizontal scaling: shinyapps.io can add multiple instances of an application to handle load, while Connect Cloud runs each application on a single instance. Posit expects to add horizontal scaling to Connect Cloud in 2027.
In the meantime, Connect Cloud’s maximum instance size is substantially higher than shinyapps.io’s: 8GB RAM and 2 CPU on shinyapps.io, compared with 16GB RAM and 4 CPU on the Advanced plan, and 32GB RAM and 8 CPU on the Enterprise plan. For many paying users who rely on multiple instances on shinyapps.io today, the practical difference may be negligible.
What are the key advantages of publishing data applications and documents on Connect Cloud?
Connect Cloud already offers several advantages for individuals and teams compared with shinyapps.io.
General
| Feature | Connect Cloud | shinyapps.io |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub Integration | ✅ | ❌ |
| Secret Variable Management | ✅ | ❌ |
| Max Compute | 32GB RAM and 8 CPU | 8GB RAM and 2 CPU |
| Scheduling | ✅ | ❌ |
| Logs for Current and Historic Revisions | ✅ | ❌ |
| Custom Domains with SSL | ✅ | ❌ (HTTP only) |
Supported Frameworks
| Framework | Connect Cloud | shinyapps.io |
|---|---|---|
| Shiny | ✅ | ✅ |
| Streamlit | ✅ | ❌ |
| Dash | ✅ | ❌ |
| Bokeh | ✅ | ❌ |
| Quarto | ✅ | ❌ |
| R Markdown | ✅ | ❌ |
| Jupyter Notebooks | ✅ | ❌ |
Deployment Options
| Option | Connect Cloud | shinyapps.io |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub | ✅ | ❌ |
| RStudio with push-button publishing | ✅ | ✅ |
| Positron and VS Code with Posit Publisher | ✅ | ❌ |
| rsconnect | ✅ | ✅ |
| Quarto CLI | ✅ | ❌ |
Organization Collaboration
| Feature | Connect Cloud | shinyapps.io |
|---|---|---|
| SSO | ✅ | ❌ |
| Role Based Access Controls | ✅ | ❌ |
Please see the Connect Cloud plans and documentation pages for more information about what is available on each plan.
Additional Questions
If you are on a free plan, the additional resources in the Appendix — including the shinyapps.io Community forum — are the best place to get your questions answered.