WP Payment Pal Documentation
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Creating a Subscription Plan

Set up recurring billing to accept subscription payments. This guide covers creating subscription price options with various billing intervals.

Reading time: 5 minutes | Difficulty: Intermediate

Overview

Set up recurring billing to accept subscription payments. This guide covers creating subscription price options with various billing intervals.

Prerequisites

  • WP Payment Pal installed
  • PayPal Business account connected
  • Understanding of your billing model

Step 1: Create or Edit a Form

  1. Go to Payment Forms
  2. Click Add New or edit an existing form
  3. Configure your general settings

Step 2: Add a Subscription Price Option

  1. Click the Price Options tab
  2. Click Add Price Option
  3. Set the Type to Subscription
Subscription type dropdown highlighted
Subscription settings expanded

Step 3: Configure Billing

Billing Amount

Set the recurring charge amount:

  • Enter the amount in your default currency
  • This is what customers pay each billing cycle

Billing Interval

Choose how often to charge:

Interval Examples
Daily Every day, every 3 days
Weekly Every week, every 2 weeks
Monthly Every month, every 3 months
Yearly Every year
Billing interval dropdown highlighted

Interval Frequency

Set the number of intervals:

Setting Result
1 Month Monthly billing
3 Months Quarterly billing
6 Months Semi-annual billing
1 Year Annual billing
Billing interval fields highlighted

Step 4: Optional Features

Trial Period

Offer a free trial before billing starts:

  1. Enable Free Trial
  2. Set Trial Days (e.g., 14)

See Configuring Trial Periods for details.

Setup Fee

Charge a one-time fee at signup:

  1. Enable Setup Fee
  2. Enter the fee amount

See Adding Setup Fees for details.

Billing Cycles

Limit the total number of payments:

  1. Enable Limit Billing Cycles
  2. Enter the number of cycles

See Managing Billing Cycles for details.

Step 5: Publish

  1. Configure other form settings (fields, notifications)
  2. Click Publish

Common Subscription Models

Monthly SaaS

Label: Pro Plan
Amount: $29/month
Interval: Monthly (1 month)
Trial: 14 days free
Cycles: Unlimited

Annual Membership

Label: Annual Membership
Amount: $199/year
Interval: Yearly (1 year)
Trial: None
Cycles: Unlimited

12-Month Payment Plan

Label: Payment Plan
Amount: $50/month
Interval: Monthly (1 month)
Trial: None
Cycles: 12 payments

Weekly Service

Label: Weekly Coaching
Amount: $99/week
Interval: Weekly (1 week)
Trial: 1 week free
Cycles: Unlimited

Quarterly Subscription

Label: Quarterly Box
Amount: $75/quarter
Interval: Monthly (3 months)
Trial: None
Cycles: Unlimited

Mixing Subscriptions and One-Time

You can offer both on the same form:

  1. Add a subscription price option
  2. Add a one-time price option
  3. Use single-select mode

Customers choose between:

  • Subscribe for $10/month
  • Buy once for $99

Custom Amount Subscriptions

Let customers choose their recurring amount:

  1. Create a subscription price option
  2. Enable Custom Amount
  3. Set minimum recurring amount

Use cases:

  • Monthly giving programs
  • Flexible membership levels
  • Pay-what-you-want subscriptions

PayPal Plan Creation

When you publish a subscription form:

  1. WP Payment Pal creates a PayPal billing plan
  2. The plan is saved and reused for all subscribers
  3. Custom amounts create dynamic plans as needed

Subscription Flow

  1. Customer selects subscription option
  2. Fills out form fields
  3. Pays with PayPal
  4. PayPal creates the subscription
  5. Customer is charged per billing cycle
  6. Subscription appears in your admin

What Happens After Signup

  • Customer receives confirmation email
  • Subscription appears in Subscriptions list
  • PayPal handles automatic billing
  • You receive payment notifications

Viewing Subscriptions

After launch, view subscriptions at:
WP Payment Pal > Subscriptions

Subscriptions list

Editing Subscriptions

Important: You cannot change the billing amount or interval of an existing subscription. To change terms:

  1. Cancel the current subscription
  2. Have the customer subscribe to a new plan

Cancellation

Subscriptions can be cancelled:

  • By admin in the Subscriptions panel
  • By customer in the Customer Portal (if enabled)
  • In PayPal directly

See Managing Subscriptions in Admin.

Best Practices

  1. Clear pricing – Show exactly what customers will pay
  2. Trial periods – Reduce friction for new subscribers
  3. Annual discounts – Offer savings for yearly commitments
  4. Easy cancellation – Build trust with simple cancellation

Troubleshooting

Subscription not created

  • Verify PayPal connection is active
  • Check you’re using a Business account
  • Test in Sandbox mode first

Billing not occurring

  • Check subscription status in PayPal
  • Verify webhook configuration
  • Check customer payment method

What’s Next?

Last Modified: February 26, 2026