## Stripe Subscriptions: Managing Recurring Payments and Customer Billing

This documentation group provides comprehensive guidance on implementing and managing subscription services using Stripe Billing. It covers the entire lifecycle of a subscription, from initial setup and pricing models to advanced features like entitlements, prorations, and various payment methods.

### Core Concepts and Setup

*   **How subscriptions work:** Understand the fundamental concepts of recurring payments, subscription lifecycles, and Stripe's features for managing them.
*   **Build a subscriptions integration:** Learn the essential steps to create and manage subscriptions, including product catalog setup, customer registration, payment collection, and monitoring.
*   **Design a subscriptions integration:** Explore different pricing models (flat rate, per-seat, tiered, usage-based) and checkout strategies to best suit your business needs.
*   **Recurring pricing models:** Delve into the details of flat-rate, per-seat, tiered, and usage-based pricing for your subscription offerings.
*   **Set up flat rate pricing:** Implement a straightforward pricing model where customers pay a fixed amount for a service tier.
*   **Set up per-seat pricing:** Configure pricing based on the number of users or licenses required.
*   **Set up usage-based pricing:** Charge customers based on their actual consumption of your product or service.
*   **Set up tiered pricing:** Implement pricing where the unit cost varies based on quantity or usage volume.
*   **Embeddable pricing table for subscriptions:** Learn how to create and embed a visually appealing pricing table on your website that directs customers to Stripe Checkout.

### Subscription Management and Lifecycle

*   **Entitlements:** Manage customer access to product features based on their subscription status, allowing for dynamic provisioning and de-provisioning.
*   **Set the subscription billing renewal date:** Configure the billing cycle anchor to align future billing dates for your subscriptions.
*   **Modify subscriptions:** Learn how to update existing subscriptions, including changing prices, quantities, and billing periods, and understand the impact on billing and prorations.
*   **Manage prorations:** Understand how Stripe calculates prorated charges and credits when subscription details change, ensuring accurate billing.
*   **Pending updates:** Handle payment failures during subscription updates by using pending updates to apply changes only after successful payment.
*   **Cancel subscriptions:** Implement the functionality to cancel customer subscriptions, with options for immediate cancellation or cancellation at the end of the billing period.
*   **Pause subscriptions:** Temporarily suspend service delivery and invoice generation for subscriptions, useful for scenarios like vacations or temporary non-usage.
*   **Pause payment collection:** Temporarily halt payment collection for subscriptions, often used to offer grace periods or free service.
*   **Bill customers in advance:** Utilize prebilling to charge customers for multiple service periods at once, either at subscription creation or for upcoming renewals.
*   **Subscription schedules:** Automate changes to subscriptions over time, such as backdating, future start dates, or upgrades/downgrades.
*   **Configure trial offers on subscriptions:** Set up free or paid trial periods for your subscription items to attract and convert customers.
*   **Use free trial periods on subscriptions:** Implement free trial periods using legacy parameters for existing integrations.
*   **Manage compliance requirements for trials and promotions:** Ensure compliance with card network rules for trial offers and promotional pricing.
*   **Backdate subscriptions:** Bill customers for past periods of service, useful for migration or record-keeping purposes.
*   **Mixed interval subscriptions:** Include multiple subscription items with different billing periods on a single subscription for consolidated invoicing.
*   **Enable increased flexibility for subscriptions:** Understand and enable the "flexible" billing mode for enhanced functionality and more accurate billing.
*   **Compare classic and flexible billing mode:** Learn the differences between the two billing modes to make an informed decision for your integration.

### Payment Methods and Integrations

*   **Set up payment methods for subscriptions with no initial payment:** Authorize and store payment methods for subscriptions that don't require an immediate charge.
*   **Set payment methods per-subscription:** Specify available payment methods for individual subscriptions, offering greater flexibility.
*   **Set up a subscription with pre-authorized debit in Canada:** Integrate Canadian pre-authorized debit for subscription payments.
*   **Set up a subscription with BECS Direct Debit in Australia:** Implement BECS Direct Debit for Australian subscription payments.
*   **Set up a subscription with bank transfers:** Configure subscriptions to accept payments via bank transfers.
*   **Set up a subscription with PayPal:** Integrate PayPal for recurring subscription payments.
*   **Set up a subscription with iDEAL and SEPA Direct Debit:** Combine iDEAL for initial payment details collection with SEPA Direct Debit for recurring payments.
*   **Set up a subscription with SEPA Direct Debit:** Implement SEPA Direct Debit for recurring subscription payments in the EU.
*   **Set up a subscription with ACH Direct Debit:** Configure subscriptions for US bank account payments via ACH Direct Debit.
*   **Set up a subscription with Bacs Direct Debit:** Integrate Bacs Direct Debit for UK subscription payments.
*   **Set up a subscription with Amazon Pay:** Enable Amazon Pay for subscription payments.
*   **Use Boleto with subscriptions:** Integrate Boleto, a Brazilian voucher payment method, for subscriptions.
*   **Set up a subscription with Cash App Pay:** Implement Cash App Pay for subscription payments.
*   **Set up a subscription with Kakao Pay:** Integrate Kakao Pay for subscription payments in South Korea.
*   **Set up a subscription with local South Korean cards:** Accept payments using local South Korean card networks.
*   **Set up a subscription with Naver Pay:** Integrate Naver Pay for subscription payments.
*   **Set up a subscription with Klarna:** Offer Klarna's payment options for subscriptions.
*   **Set up a subscription with Pix:** Integrate Pix, Brazil's instant payment system, for subscriptions.
*   **Set up a subscription with Revolut Pay:** Enable Revolut Pay for subscription payments.
*   **Set up a subscription with TWINT:** Integrate TWINT, a Swiss mobile payment solution, for subscriptions.
*   **Set up a subscription with Nigerian cards:** Accept payments using Naira cards in Nigeria.
*   **Accept subscription payments with PayTo:** Integrate PayTo for subscription payments in Australia.
*   **Integrate with third-party payment processors:** Learn how to use Stripe subscriptions and invoices with external payment processors.
*   **Set up a subscription with stablecoin payments:** Accept recurring payments using stablecoins.

### Advanced Features and Migration

*   **Entitlements:** Map internal service features to Stripe products to automate access provisioning and de-provisioning.
*   **Migrate subscriptions to Stripe Billing:** Learn how to import existing subscriptions into Stripe Billing using either the migration toolkit or Stripe APIs.
*   **Migrate subscriptions using a toolkit:** Utilize the Billing migration toolkit for a no-code approach to migrating subscriptions.
*   **Migrate subscriptions using Stripe APIs:** Import subscriptions programmatically using Stripe's APIs.
*   **Using webhooks with subscriptions:** Configure webhook endpoints to receive notifications of subscription events and manage asynchronous activities.
*   **Manage subscriptions on iOS:** Implement subscription management directly within your iOS applications using the Stripe Billing SDK.
*   **Script language definition:** Understand the syntax and semantics of Stripe's scripting language, a subset of TypeScript, used in Stripe Billing.
*   **Integrate a SaaS business on Stripe:** Learn how to leverage Stripe Billing and other products to build and manage a SaaS business.