diff --git a/projects/packages/videopress/changelog/fix-vidp-245-upgradetrigger-base-ui-crash b/projects/packages/videopress/changelog/fix-vidp-245-upgradetrigger-base-ui-crash
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fb278af93a12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/projects/packages/videopress/changelog/fix-vidp-245-upgradetrigger-base-ui-crash
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Significance: patch
+Type: fixed
+
+Fix admin page crash on video upload/delete when the free-plan upgrade nudge is shown
diff --git a/projects/packages/videopress/src/client/admin/components/admin-page/index.tsx b/projects/packages/videopress/src/client/admin/components/admin-page/index.tsx
index ea63b60545ec..ebe083924eb0 100644
--- a/projects/packages/videopress/src/client/admin/components/admin-page/index.tsx
+++ b/projects/packages/videopress/src/client/admin/components/admin-page/index.tsx
@@ -211,6 +211,19 @@ const Admin = () => {
 
 export default Admin;
 
+// VIDP-245: keep these `__()` calls at module scope as separate statements.
+// If they live as the two arms of an inline ternary, terser folds them into a
+// single `__( cond ? 'a' : 'b', domain )`, which breaks string-literal POT
+// extraction (the i18n-check-webpack-plugin fails the production build).
+const UPGRADE_TRIGGER_USED_VIDEO_TEXT = __(
+	'You have used your free video upload',
+	'jetpack-videopress-pkg'
+);
+const UPGRADE_TRIGGER_FREE_PLAN_TEXT = __(
+	'The free plan includes one video upload.',
+	'jetpack-videopress-pkg'
+);
+
 const UpgradeTrigger = ( { hasUsedVideo = false }: { hasUsedVideo: boolean } ) => {
 	const { adminUri, siteSuffix } = window.jetpackVideoPressInitialState;
 
@@ -236,9 +249,18 @@ const UpgradeTrigger = ( { hasUsedVideo = false }: { hasUsedVideo: boolean } ) =
 		run
 	);
 
+	// VIDP-245: keep the `Notice.Root` children shape invariant across the
+	// `hasUsedVideo` flip. base-ui@1.4.1's `useRenderElement` swaps between two
+	// different ref-merge hooks depending on subtree shape, so conditionally
+	// mounting `<Notice.Description>` (as this did before) misaligns its stored
+	// fork-ref and crashes on the next upload/delete. Always render the
+	// Description — mirroring the modern dashboard's `free-tier-notice.tsx` —
+	// varying only its text, with a non-empty fallback nudge before the first
+	// upload so we never render an empty styled row. The two strings are hoisted
+	// to module scope (above) to avoid the terser i18n ternary-fold.
 	const description = hasUsedVideo
-		? __( 'You have used your free video upload', 'jetpack-videopress-pkg' )
-		: '';
+		? UPGRADE_TRIGGER_USED_VIDEO_TEXT
+		: UPGRADE_TRIGGER_FREE_PLAN_TEXT;
 
 	const cta = __(
 		'Upgrade now to unlock unlimited videos, 1TB of storage, and more!',
@@ -247,7 +269,7 @@ const UpgradeTrigger = ( { hasUsedVideo = false }: { hasUsedVideo: boolean } ) =
 
 	return (
 		<Notice.Root intent="info" className={ styles[ 'upgrade-trigger' ] }>
-			{ description && <Notice.Description>{ description }</Notice.Description> }
+			<Notice.Description>{ description }</Notice.Description>
 			<Notice.Actions>
 				<Notice.ActionButton onClick={ onButtonClickHandler }>{ cta }</Notice.ActionButton>
 			</Notice.Actions>
diff --git a/projects/plugins/jetpack/changelog/fix-vidp-245-upgradetrigger-base-ui-crash b/projects/plugins/jetpack/changelog/fix-vidp-245-upgradetrigger-base-ui-crash
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8e717ff646f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/projects/plugins/jetpack/changelog/fix-vidp-245-upgradetrigger-base-ui-crash
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Significance: patch
+Type: bugfix
+
+VideoPress: fix admin page crash on video upload/delete when the free-plan upgrade nudge is shown
diff --git a/projects/plugins/videopress/changelog/fix-vidp-245-upgradetrigger-base-ui-crash b/projects/plugins/videopress/changelog/fix-vidp-245-upgradetrigger-base-ui-crash
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fb278af93a12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/projects/plugins/videopress/changelog/fix-vidp-245-upgradetrigger-base-ui-crash
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Significance: patch
+Type: fixed
+
+Fix admin page crash on video upload/delete when the free-plan upgrade nudge is shown