Free trials and sign-up fees

Let customers try a subscription free for a set time, or charge a one-time sign-up fee when they join.

A free trial lets customers use a subscription for a while before the first regular payment. A sign-up fee is a one-time charge when they join. You can use either one, or both, on any subscription product, and you can set them separately for each plan.

Before you start

Have a subscription product ready. See Sell a subscription product.

Add a free trial and a sign-up fee

In your site dashboard, click Products, then click the subscription product to open it.
Scroll to the Subscription / membership product section.
In Free trial, enter the length of the trial. Leave it at 0 to bill straight away.
In Trial unit, choose Days, Weeks, Months or Years.
In Sign-up fee, enter the one-time amount, such as 10.00. Leave it empty for no fee.
Click Save.

You can use the two settings alone or together. Customers see both on the product page.

How a free trial works

Customers still check out and enter their payment details. The regular price is not charged until the trial ends.
Checkout shows the date of the first payment, under Recurring totals.
While the trial runs, the subscription appears under Subscriptions with the status On trial and the date the trial ends.
If you set Stop renewing after, the count starts when the trial ends.
A subscription that ships cannot charge shipping on the first payment only while it has a trial. Choose shipping on every payment instead.
Payly turns the trial into days: a month counts as 30 days and a year as 365 days. A trial is capped at 730 days.

How a sign-up fee works

The fee is charged once, when the customer subscribes, on top of the regular price. A trial does not delay it: even during a free trial, the fee is charged at checkout.

For example, take a $39.00 monthly subscription with a 7-day free trial and a $10.00 sign-up fee:

At checkout, the customer pays $10.00.
Seven days later, the first $39.00 payment is taken.
After that, $39.00 is taken every month.

Take away the fee and the customer pays nothing at checkout. Take away the trial and the customer pays $49.00 at checkout, which is the fee plus the first month, before any tax or shipping.

Different terms for each plan

If you offer monthly and yearly plans, each plan has its own Free trial and Sign-up fee boxes. A blank box uses the product's setting. To remove the trial or fee from one plan, enter 0 in that plan's box.

Discount codes

A discount code can be limited to subscriptions only, or to sign-up fees only, using its Applies to setting. A code set to Everything also takes its discount off sign-up fees; Everything except sign-up fees leaves them at full price. See Create discount codes.