Which states require cancellation to be as easy as sign-up?

California's Automatic Renewal Law (amended by AB 2863, in force since July 1, 2025) is the strongest: if you signed up online, you must be able to cancel online, with a clearly visible button. Colorado requires a one-click online cancellation link. Several other states have narrower disclosure-based rules.

Is there a federal law requiring easy cancellation in the US?

Not a broad one. The FTC's 2024 Click-to-Cancel rule, which would have required this nationwide, was vacated by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in July 2025. Only a narrower, older federal rule covering a small category of subscription clubs remains in force.

Subscriptions & Services · US

Can a company make cancellation harder than signing up?

Q: Can a company make cancellation harder than signing up?

Increasingly, no. Several US states, led by California, now legally require that cancelling a subscription be at least as easy as signing up for one — no forced phone call, no hidden button, no retention maze. But this right doesn't exist everywhere yet, and there's no general federal rule after the FTC's Click-to-Cancel rule was struck down in court in 2025.

A handful of states have decided the answer should be no by law — but "a handful" is doing a lot of work in that sentence.

Kibbo Consumer Desk · Updated September 2026 · 6 min read

Increasingly, no — but only in the states that have specifically passed a law saying so. California's Automatic Renewal Law, amended by AB 2863 and in force since July 1, 2025, requires that if you signed up for a subscription online, you must be able to cancel it online too, with a clearly visible option — no forced phone call, no chat-only retention maze, no button buried three menus deep. Colorado has its own, narrower version requiring a one-click cancellation link. But there's no general federal rule requiring this nationwide: the FTC's 2024 "Click-to-Cancel" rule, which would have applied everywhere, was struck down in court in July 2025.

What the law actually requires, state by state

This is a genuinely uneven landscape right now, and where you live determines whether "cancellation should be easy" is a legal right or just a nice idea.

State	What's required
California	Cancellation must be at least as easy as sign-up. If you signed up online, you must be able to cancel online. In force for contracts entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2025 (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17602, as amended by AB 2863).
Colorado	A one-click online cancellation link is required for consumer subscriptions sold online. In force since August 2025 (Colorado Online Cancellation Act).
New York	Requires clear disclosure of renewal terms and consent before price increases — a different, narrower right than California's cancellation-ease rule. Amended rules took effect November 2025.
Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia	Have passed their own auto-renewal disclosure/cancellation rules, generally less strict than California's.
Texas, Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania	Had similar bills pending as of 2026, but no law in force yet — don't assume this protection applies here.

Every other state currently has no specific "cancellation must be as easy as sign-up" law on the books.

What happened to the federal rule?

In 2024, the FTC finalized a nationwide "Click-to-Cancel" rule that would have required this exact protection everywhere in the US, regardless of state. It didn't survive: the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the rule in July 2025, and in February 2026 the FTC restored only a much narrower, older rule — one that covers a small category of subscription clubs (the classic "book of the month" style model), not general subscriptions, streaming, gyms, or software.

The only federal protection still in force for everyone, regardless of state, is the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA), which requires "simple mechanisms" to cancel — but doesn't spell out exactly what that means in the kind of detail California's law does.

What this actually means for you

If you're in California or Colorado

You have a real, specific legal right here. If a company makes you call during limited business hours or navigate a retention flow to cancel something you signed up for online, that's a plausible legal violation, not just bad customer service.

If you're anywhere else in the US

There's currently no equivalent federal backstop. You still have ROSCA's general "simple mechanism" requirement and, separately, your card issuer's own dispute rights if a company effectively makes cancellation impossible — but you don't have a specific "as easy as sign-up" right unless your state has passed one.

What to do if a company is stonewalling you

Check whether your state is one of those with a specific cancellation-ease law (see the table above) — if so, cite it directly when you contact the company.
Request cancellation in writing (email, in-app message) even if the company insists on a phone call — this creates a timestamped record.
If a call is unavoidable, note the date, time, and any hold/wait time — this becomes evidence if you later dispute a charge.
If the company continues charging you despite a documented cancellation attempt, you can dispute the charge directly with your card issuer.
File a complaint with your state Attorney General's office (if your state has a relevant law) or the FTC (ReportFraud.ftc.gov) either way.

Official sources

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