Colorado auto-renewal law: reminders and cancellation

Colorado's automatic renewal law (C.R.S. 6-1-732) asks subscription businesses to show the renewal terms clearly before sign-up, send an acknowledgment, remind customers 25 to 40 days before a renewal (for monthly plans, about once a year), and give notice of material changes. Since 2025 it also asks for one-step online cancel for anyone who signed up online, and allows a save offer only with a direct cancel link right beside it.

Everything below was read on 26 October 2026 from official Colorado General Assembly sources: the section as printed in the Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, plus the 2025 amending act, SB25-145, read from the act itself. If you'd like a quick read of your own pages first, PlainRenew's free checker scans your public pricing and terms pages for the wording these rules are about.

Who it covers

The section applies to "a person that offers an automatic renewal contract to a consumer in this state," meaning a paid subscription that renews at the end of a set term or continues on a recurring basis.

Until 15 February 2026, a "consumer" was an individual buying for personal, family or household purposes. From 16 February 2026, SB25-145 defines it as "a person that seeks or acquires, by purchase or lease, any goods, services, money, or credit," without that limit. Read plainly, business customers may now be covered too. We haven't found official guidance on this, so if you sell only to businesses, ask your adviser.

Section 6-1-732(5) leaves out:

• services under a local government franchise or a Colorado Public Utilities Commission authorization, and providers regulated by the FCC, FERC or that Commission;
• entities regulated by the Colorado Division of Insurance;
• licensed banks, bank holding companies and their affiliates, credit unions and other licensed financial institutions;
• air carriers regulated under the Federal Aviation Act.

What "automatic renewal offer terms" means

Subsection (1)(b) defines the "automatic renewal offer terms" as clear and conspicuous disclosure of:

1. that it renews automatically after the initial period, for a set term of at most one year unless the consumer gives express written consent to longer;
2. the cancellation policy for the offer;
3. any recurring charges;
4. the length of the renewal term;
5. any minimum purchase obligation.

"Clear and conspicuous" means larger type than the text around it, a contrasting type, font or color, or set off by symbols or marks so it stands out.

At sign-up: terms, links and an acknowledgment

What	What it asks for	Subsection
Terms before the contract	Show the offer terms clearly and conspicuously before the contract is made. By voice, close in time to asking for consent	(2)(a)
Trial offers	Also explain clearly the price that will be charged after the trial, and any further purchase obligations	(2)(a)
Links to the details	A link to the renewal details must work before purchase, sit right next to the purchase link, and carry a clear note that buying enrolls the customer in automatic renewal	(2)(b)
An acknowledgment they can keep	Send the terms, cancellation policy and how to cancel. For a trial, let the customer cancel before they pay	(2)(c)

The renewal reminder

Subsection (4) asks for a notice that the contract will renew or continue unless the customer cancels. It must explain how to cancel, clearly identify the sender, and match the cancel options below. Send it by physical mail, email, or another easy channel such as a text or your app if the customer agreed to it or usually uses it with you.

When to send it:

Plan	When	Subsection
Renewal terms of 12 months or longer (for example, yearly plans)	At least 25 and at most 40 days before the first renewal, and before each renewal after that	(4)(b)
Renewal terms shorter than 12 months (for example, monthly plans)	At least once in the 25 to 40 days before the renewal that would take the contract past a continuous 12 months, and again before each further 12 months	(4)(b)(I), (II)

So a monthly subscriber gets one reminder a year, roughly a month before their sign-up anniversary. The windows count back from the renewal date itself.

When the terms change

If the terms of an accepted contract change materially, subsection (3) asks for a clear and conspicuous notice of the change, in a form the customer can keep, with how to cancel. The statute sets no number of days; sending it before the change takes effect, with time to act, is the customer-friendly reading.

Cancellation

SB25-145 rewrote subsection (2)(d). You must offer a simple, cost-effective, timely, easy-to-use and readily accessible way to cancel an automatic renewal or a trial. You're treated as meeting that if:

• They signed up online (a website, other online medium or electronic communication): you offer a one-step online cancellation link on your website, in your app or service, or in an email to them, available right after a reasonable sign-in used only to confirm they can change the account.
• They signed up another way: you offer that kind of link, or an in-person way to cancel where they regularly use the service.

"One-step online cancellation" means an online way to cancel that doesn't add actions that obstruct or delay ending the contract right away (subsection (1)(d.7)).

Save offers are allowed, with a condition. Under subsection (2.5), during online cancellation you may show a discount, retention benefit or information about cancelling, if a prominent, direct cancel link stays alongside it. If they use that link, process the cancellation promptly without other delay.

Dates. The section first took effect on 1 January 2022 (HB21-1239). Under section 2 of SB25-145, the cancellation rules apply from 6 August 2025 and the broader "consumer" definition from 16 February 2026, to contracts offered or renewed on or after those dates.

Enforcement

Only the Attorney General and the district attorneys can enforce the section (subsection (6)), and since 2025 the Attorney General may adopt rules (subsection (7)). We found no adopted rules on 26 October 2026. A violation of this part of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act is a deceptive trade practice (C.R.S. 6-1-105(1)(x)), with civil penalties of up to $20,000 per violation, counted per consumer or transaction (6-1-112(1)(a)). We read those two sections in the 2024 printout and didn't check them for later changes.

Searching the General Assembly's bill database on 26 October 2026, we found no 2026 bill that changed section 6-1-732.

A simple setup for Stripe subscriptions

1. Put the five terms above "Subscribe" in a style that stands out, plus the after-trial price for trials.
2. Send an acknowledgment email after checkout with the terms, the cancellation policy and a cancel link.
3. Schedule the reminder about 30 days before each yearly renewal, or before each sign-up anniversary for monthly plans.
4. Offer a one-step online cancel, such as the Stripe customer portal, reachable straight after sign-in.
5. Keep a "Cancel subscription" link on screen next to any discount or pause offer.
6. Email a notice for material changes, such as a new price, with a cancel link.

Why it's worth doing well

An easy, visible way out builds trust. In PlainRenew's cancel-flow dataset, 97 of 169 subscription sites (57%) had no cancel or manage-billing link on the public pages our checker read (21 and 22 October 2026). Those are text matches on public pages only; the link may be behind a login. And 9 of the 20 official cancel help articles that were clear on the point (45%) described a reason or survey step before cancelling. In Colorado, extra steps shouldn't block a one-step cancel.

Quick FAQ

Do monthly plans need a reminder? Yes, about once a year, 25 to 40 days before the renewal that takes the subscription past each 12 months.

Can it be an email? Yes. Mail and email are both listed; texts or app messages work if the customer agreed to them or usually uses them with you.

Note: PlainRenew's rules page doesn't list Colorado yet, so this guide is based directly on the statute text. For other states, see our guides to California, New York and Illinois.

Want to see how your public pages read against these rules? Run the free checker at plainrenew.com/check. It takes about a minute.