Subscription Plan in ERPNext
A Subscription Plan in ERPNext defines the product or service being subscribed to, along with its pricing structure and billing cycle. It acts as the foundation of subscription management and determines how recurring invoices are generated for customers or suppliers.
Before creating a Subscription, you must first create a Subscription Plan. Every subscription is linked to a plan that controls pricing and billing frequency.
To access Subscription Plans:
Home > Accounting > Subscription Management > Subscription Plan
1. What is a Subscription Plan?
A Subscription Plan stores important subscription-related information such as:
- The Item being subscribed to
- Pricing method
- Billing frequency
- Billing interval count
- Payment configuration
ERPNext uses this information to automatically generate recurring Sales Invoices or Purchase Invoices for active subscriptions.
2. How to Create a Subscription Plan
Follow these steps to create a new Subscription Plan:
- Go to the Subscription Plan list and click New.
- Select the Item that customers or suppliers will subscribe to.
- Choose the Price Determination method.
- Select either Fixed Rate or pricing based on a Price List.
- Choose the Billing Interval.
- Select whether billing should occur Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly.
- Enter the Billing Interval Count.
- Save the Subscription Plan.
The Billing Interval Count determines how often invoices are generated. For example, a yearly interval with a count of 5 will generate invoices every 5 years.
3. Price Determination Methods
ERPNext supports two methods for calculating subscription pricing:
3.1 Fixed Rate
When Fixed Rate is selected:
- A predefined amount is charged for every billing cycle.
- The subscription always generates invoices with the same value.
- Suitable for standard subscription packages.
3.2 Price List Based
When Price List Based pricing is selected:
- Pricing is fetched from an assigned Price List.
- Different customers can be billed according to different pricing structures.
- Useful for customer-specific pricing models.
Using Price Lists provides greater flexibility when managing multiple customer groups with different subscription rates.
4. Billing Intervals
Subscription Plans support multiple billing frequencies:
- Daily – Invoice generated every specified number of days
- Weekly – Invoice generated every specified number of weeks
- Monthly – Invoice generated every specified number of months
- Yearly – Invoice generated every specified number of years
Examples:
- Monthly + Count 1 = Invoice every month
- Monthly + Count 3 = Invoice every quarter
- Yearly + Count 1 = Invoice every year
- Yearly + Count 5 = Invoice every five years
5. Payment Configuration
ERPNext allows you to configure additional payment-related settings within a Subscription Plan.
You can:
- Configure payment details
- Link a Payment Gateway
- Support automated subscription payments
- Simplify recurring billing workflows
Integrating a Payment Gateway helps automate subscription collections and reduces manual payment follow-ups.
6. Relationship Between Subscription Plan and Subscription
The Subscription Plan acts as a template for subscriptions.
When a Subscription is created:
- The selected plan is linked to the subscription
- Billing frequency is inherited from the plan
- Pricing is automatically applied
- Recurring invoices are generated according to the defined schedule
A Subscription Plan is linked directly to an Item, and ERPNext generates recurring invoices based on that Item and the plan configuration.
7. Benefits of Subscription Plans
- Standardize recurring billing processes
- Automate invoice generation
- Reduce manual subscription management
- Support fixed and dynamic pricing models
- Enable long-term subscription billing cycles
- Integrate with payment gateways for streamlined collections
