Create subscriptions

Subscriptions allow you to automate subscription management and recurring billing. Use subscriptions to automate recurring payments with your customers or send recurring invoices requesting payment. 

In this article, learn more about how subscriptions work and how to create them. 

Before creating and managing subscriptions, learn how to set up subscriptions in your account.

How subscriptions work

Subscriptions can be set up in two ways:

• Recurring payments: automate the collection of payments. HubSpot will automatically charge the buyer based on the billing frequency you set in the payment link or quote, so you don’t need to create separate payment links or quotes to collect subscription payments.
• Recurring billing: automate the billing of customers. Send invoices using a recurring billing frequency to request payment. Invoices can be due on receipt or have net payment terms.

To collect online subscription payments, you'll need to set up one of the following payment processing options:

• HubSpot payments: set up HubSpot payments, HubSpot's built-in payment processing option, which is available for Starter, Professional, and Enterprise accounts.
• Stripe payment processing: connect your existing Stripe account to use Stripe for payment processing, which is available for all subscriptions.

The subscription process

When a buyer purchases a recurring line item, the following occurs:

• The Super Admins in your account, and the buyer, will receive a payment notification for the first subscription payment. Learn more about setting up your notifications in HubSpot.
  
  

  Buyer receipt	Merchant receipt

• A subscription record is created, to track recurring billing and payments.
  • For automatic payment subscriptions from quotes and payment links, the subscription record will automatically be associated to the contact who paid, and any deals that are associated to the quotes or payment links that were paid.
  • For subscriptions with manual payment collection that are converted from quotes or deals, the subscription record will automatically be associated with the contact, company, associated billing contact (if the billing contact association setting is turned on), deal, and quote it was converted from.
  • For subscriptions created from scratch, you select which contact, company, and billing contact is associated with the subscription.

Please note: a new deal will not be created for recurring payments, even if you have turned on the Allow payment links to create new deals setting in payment link settings. Recurring payments will be recorded on the subscription record, which is associated to any deals the subscription is associated to.

• • Line items with the same billing frequency, billing terms, billing start date, and number of payments are tracked on the same subscription record, as they can be billed together.
  • Line items with different billing frequencies, billing terms, billing start dates, and number of payments are tracked on separate subscription records. For example, if a payment link includes two recurring line items, one monthly and one yearly, two subscription records will be created. Similarly, if a payment link has two recurring line items with different billing terms, two subscription records will be created.
  • If a recurring payment is made via a bank debit method, such as ACH, a subscription record will be created once the payment is authorized and submitted, even if the payment is still pending.

• If you've selected Automatically renew until canceled in the Billing terms dropdown menu of your line item, there will not be an end date associated with the subscription. You can set an end date when adding your line items.

• When the next payment due date arrives, HubSpot automatically charges the buyer using the payment method they originally purchased with, or with the stored payment method, if this option was selected during the creation of the subscription. If the customer needs to update this payment method, you can send them a link to update it.
• For each charge, HubSpot will email the buyer a receipt, and the properties on the subscription record in HubSpot will be updated. You can also turn on reminder emails to notify the buyer 14 days before their next subscription payment. 
• HubSpot will send email notifications to account admins when a subscription payment is made or fails. You can turn these notifications off within your notification settings.

Create subscriptions

Below, learn how to automatically charge customers for their subscriptions through payment links and quotes, or how to send recurring invoices to collect subscription payments.

If you'd like to import existing subscriptions, refer to this knowledge base article.

Collect recurring payments

Subscriptions are automatically set up when a buyer purchases a recurring line item. Set up a payment link or a quote with recurring line items to collect payment from your buyer. Or, you can create a payment link directly from the Subscriptions index page:

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Commerce > Subscriptions.
2. In the upper right, click Create subscription.
3. Click Share a payment link.
4. Continue to create the payment link, making sure to add recurring line items.

Send recurring invoices

You can send recurring invoices to customers and automatically or manually collect payments. To set up automatic invoicing via subscriptions with your customers:

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Commerce > Subscriptions.
2. In the upper right, click Create subscription.
3. Click Send a recurring invoice.
   
   
4. To add a billing contact to the subscription, click add Add contact. In the right panel, select an existing contact or click Create new to create a new contact.
5. To add a billing company to the subscription, click add Add company. In the right panel, select an existing company or click Create new to create a new company. Adding a company is optional but the subscription must have a contact.
6. To add a billing address, under Billing address click Edit. In the right panel, enter the billing address. This address will appear on the invoices sent to the customer and is optional.
7. Add your recurring line items.
8. Under Payment collection, select your collection method:

• • Automatically charge the subscription: charge the invoice to a customer's stored payment method. Both you and the customer will receive a receipt via email.
  • Manually collect payment on each invoice: manually collect the payment for the subscription invoice.

• • • Click the Payment terms dropdown menu and select when the payment will be due.

• • • The Accept online payments toggle will be switched on by default. The pre-filled choices on this screen reflect what's set up in payment settings. Toggle the Accept online payments switch off if you plan to take payment via a different method.
    • Select or clear the Accepted forms of payment checkboxes to choose the payment types you'll accept for this subscription.
    • Select or clear the Collecting billing address for credit card purchases checkbox to choose whether to collect the billing address of your customers.
    • Select or clear the Collect shipping address checkbox to choose whether to collect the shipping address of your customers.
    • Select the Store payment methods for future charges checkbox to collect your customer's payment details at checkout for future charges. 

Please note: if a buyer agrees to store their payment method when paying for the subscription you are setting up, the future subscription charges won't be charged automatically against that stored payment method. Subscriptions can only be automatically charged to a buyer who has already agreed to store their payment method, previous to the subscription being created. If you want to automatically charge a new stored payment method for an existing active subscription, re-create the subscription and select the Automatically charge the subscription option, then cancel the previous subscription.

9. Click the Invoice Settings option to apply settings to invoices associated with this subscription:

• • If you want to add notes for your buyer on the invoice, add them to the Invoice comments field. Use the text options at the bottom of the text field to format your text, add a hyperlink, or insert a snippet. Learn how to add a default comment that'll appear on every invoice in the invoice settings.
  • Under Invoice delivery, select the Automatically email invoices to the customer on each billing date checkbox to automatically send the invoices to the customer on the billing date. Reminder emails are managed through your invoice settings.
  • Under Invoice tax ID, select any tax IDs that should be included in the invoice. Learn how to add tax IDs in settings.
  • Click the Language dropdown menu and select a language.
  • Click the Locale dropdown menu and select a locale.
  • Any custom properties that have been configured in subscription settings will show under Subscription custom fields. If the setting to allow users to override these fields has been turned on, you can make changes to them during invoice creation.

10. When you are finished, click Create in the upper right.
11. In the dialog box, click Create to confirm the subscription, or click Cancel to go back and edit the subscription.

Other ways to create subscriptions

You can also create a subscription:

• In the sidebar of other records. If you can't see Subscriptions in the right sidebar of a record, learn how to customize the record.
• By converting a published quote to a subscription:
  • In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Deals.
  • Click the name of a deal.
  • Navigate to the Quotes section in the right sidebar.
  • Hover over an existing quote that has recurring line items, click Actions, then click Convert quote to subscription. If the deal doesn't have recurring line items, the option displayed is Convert deal to invoice. Learn more about invoices.

Using subscriptions in other HubSpot tools

You can use subscription data in other HubSpot tools, including workflows, lists, and reports.

• Create subscription-based workflows (Professional and Enterprise only) to automate actions based on subscription information. For example, you can send an internal notification to your team when a subscription's status is past due, or automatically update the subscription owner. Learn more about subscription enrollment triggers
• Track recurring revenue in the subscriptions analytics tool, or create a custom report based on subscription data. When creating a custom report, make sure to select Subscriptions as the data source, or the single object if creating a single object custom report.
  
• Segment your contacts or companies into lists based on subscription properties. For example, create a list of contacts with a known subscription end date, then send an email to the list of contacts encouraging them to renew.

A subscription example

Here’s an example of how a subscription could help a business selling coffee beans via a subscription to customers. This process could also be applied to a business selling their services on a subscription basis to customers.

Set up your products or services in the product library

The first step is to add the products you’re selling to the product library. For example:

Product 1:

• Product name: Just one more cup - 1 KG Subscription
• Price: $25.00
• Recurring billing frequency: Monthly

Product 2:

• Product name: Coffee is my fuel - 500g Subscription
• Price: $18.00
• Recurring billing frequency: Bi-Weekly

Product 3:

• Product name: Coffee casual - 250g Subscription
• Price: $12.50
• Recurring billing frequency: Monthly

By creating each coffee offering as products, you can easily add them to deals and track revenue associated with each subscription type.

Configure subscription settings

Next, configure your subscription settings.

Create a payment link

Now, create a payment link. This will be used for your buyers to buy their subscriptions. 

1. In your HubSpot account, navigate to Commerce > Payment Links.
2. Click Create payment link.
3. Give your payment link a clear name, like 1 KG monthly coffee bean subscription.
4. Follow these steps to add the products you added earlier as line items to your payment link (make sure the line items are set as recurring line items). 
5. Add your company logo, customize the button text (e.g., Subscribe Now and Save), and configure confirmation emails.
6. Once you have finished setting up your payment link, click Create.

Your payment link can then be shared with customers directly, or linked to from your content.

If you prefer to invoice customers for each subscription payment, create a recurring invoice subscription.

Purchased subscriptions

• When a buyer purchases a subscription, a subscription record will be created in HubSpot. You can view and manage the subscriptions from the subscriptions index page.
• The subscription will continue billing until the customer cancels, or you cancel on their behalf.

• Each subscription record will show key details like the customer, the subscribed products, the billing frequency, the next billing date, and the subscription status.
• Because these subscriptions are linked to contact records in your CRM, you gain valuable insights into your subscribers. You can see their purchase history, engagement with your marketing emails, and more. This allows for personalized communication and targeted offers.

• You can set up automated workflows triggered by new subscriptions (Professional and Enterprise only). For example:
  • Send a welcome email with information about their first delivery.
  • Create a follow-up task for your team to check in with new subscribers after their first month.
  • Enroll subscribers in a specific marketing list for exclusive content and offers.

Report on subscriptions

Now you’re selling subscriptions, use the commerce analytics suite to track subscription growth, churn rate, and other key metrics, across your subscribers.