Subscriptions

Subscriptions are at the core of any subscription-based business model. They allow you to manage recurring billing, automate invoicing, and provide customers with access to your products or services based on their subscription level. Subsriptions hold information about:

• The customer account
• The plan they are subscribed to
• The billing cycle and payment method
• The start and end dates of the subscription
• Upcoming changes to the subscription
• The entitlements associated with the subscription

Core concepts

Billing cycle

The billing cycle defines how often a customer is billed for their subscription. The billing cycle can be anniversary-based (e.g., every month on the same date) or calendar-based (e.g., on the 1st of each month).

Proration

Proration is the process of adjusting the billing amount when a subscription is changed mid-cycle. For example, if a customer upgrades their plan halfway through the billing cycle, proration ensures they are only charged for the remaining time on the new plan.

Entitlements

Subscriptions can include entitlements, which define the features or services that a customer has access to as part of their subscription. Entitlements can be used to manage access to different tiers of service, limit usage, or provide additional benefits to subscribers.

Create a subscription

To create a subscription, you typically need to define the following components: