> For the complete MongoDB documentation index, see www.mongodb.com/docs/llms.txt

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# Scale a Free or Flex Cluster to a Dedicated Cluster

You can scale the cluster tier of a Free cluster or a Flex cluster to a dedicated cluster.

## Required Access

To scale the cluster tier, you must have at least the [`Project Cluster Manager`](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/reference/user-roles.md#mongodb-authrole-Project-Cluster-Manager) role for the project.

## Database Editions

You selected either Atlas Core or Atlas Infinite when you created the Free cluster or Flex cluster. Atlas stored that selection and didn't apply it to the Free cluster or Flex cluster itself, so it didn't change how that cluster works.

To learn about each edition, see [MongoDB Atlas Infinite: Overview](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/infinite/atlas-infinite-landing.md#std-label-atlas-infinite-edition) and [MongoDB Atlas Core: Overview.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/atlas/atlas-core-edition.md#std-label-atlas-core-edition)

When you scale the cluster tier to a dedicated cluster, Atlas uses the edition that you already specified and that Atlas stored. If you want, you can select the other edition at that point.

Selecting Atlas Infinite is opt in. By default, Atlas scales the cluster tier to a dedicated cluster on Atlas Core, unless you selected Atlas Infinite when you created the Free cluster or Flex cluster.

## Considerations

- Scaling a Free cluster or a Flex cluster to a dedicated cluster requires downtime. To prevent data corruption, halt write operations for the duration of the scale operation.

- You can't scale a dedicated cluster back to a Free cluster or a Flex cluster.

- You can't change the database edition of a cluster after you create it, in either direction between Atlas Core and Atlas Infinite.

## Procedure

### Atlas Administration API

To scale a Free cluster or a Flex cluster to a dedicated cluster, send a request to the tenant upgrade endpoint for your source cluster type. The `databaseEdition` field in the request body sets the database edition of the resulting dedicated cluster. If you omit `databaseEdition`, Atlas scales the cluster to a dedicated cluster on Atlas Core.

Set the `Accept` header to the resource version for the endpoint that you call: `application/vnd.atlas.2023-01-01+json` for the Free cluster endpoint, and `application/vnd.atlas.2024-11-13+json` for the Flex cluster endpoint.

- To scale to a dedicated cluster on Atlas Infinite, set `databaseEdition` to `INFINITE` in the request body:

  - For a Free cluster, send a `POST` request to [/groups/\{groupId}/clusters/tenantUpgrade.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/api/doc/atlas-admin-api-v2/operation/operation-upgradegroupclustertenantupgrade)

  - For a Flex cluster, send a `POST` request to [/groups/\{groupId}/flexClusters:tenantUpgrade.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/api/doc/atlas-admin-api-v2/operation/operation-tenantgroupflexclusterupgrade)

- To scale to a dedicated cluster on Atlas Core, omit `databaseEdition` or set it to `CORE`:

  - For a Free cluster, send a `POST` request to [/groups/\{groupId}/clusters/tenantUpgrade.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/api/doc/atlas-admin-api-v2/operation/operation-upgradegroupclustertenantupgrade)

  - For a Flex cluster, send a `POST` request to [/groups/\{groupId}/flexClusters:tenantUpgrade.](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/api/doc/atlas-admin-api-v2/operation/operation-tenantgroupflexclusterupgrade)