Sell subscriptions
on WordPress

Stripe Checkout — hosted, PCI-compliant

Payment forms are served by Stripe, not your server. Your site never handles card data, which means you're PCI compliant without any extra configuration. Stripe Checkout also supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, and local payment methods automatically depending on the customer's region.

Role-based access control

Each subscription plan is linked to one or more WordPress roles. SlimSubs grants those roles when a subscription activates and revokes them when it expires or is cancelled. A customer with two active subscriptions keeps their roles until both lapse — no accidental lockouts.

Free plans and free trials

You can create a plan with a price of zero — it activates immediately with no Stripe session and no card required. Useful for freemium tiers, lead magnets, or beta access. For paid plans, you can add a trial period of any length before the first charge.

Custom billing intervals

Choose daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly, then set the interval count. Bill every week, every two weeks, every 3 months — whatever your business model requires. Each plan has its own cycle.

Stripe Billing Portal

Customers who subscribed on a paid plan get a "Manage subscription" button in their account panel. It opens Stripe's Billing Portal, where they update payment details, see their invoice history, and cancel if they choose. You receive a webhook and access is adjusted automatically.

One-time signup fee

Plans can include an optional one-time fee collected together with the first recurring payment in a single Stripe Checkout session. Subsequent renewals bill only the recurring price. Useful for onboarding costs, setup charges, or any amount you want to collect once at the start of a subscription.

Admin overview

The WordPress admin panel shows all active subscriptions, their status, next payment date, and payment history. No need to cross-reference the Stripe dashboard for day-to-day operations.

Pause & Resume billing

A subscriber who needs a break can pause their billing directly from the account panel. While paused, Stripe stops generating invoices. The subscription can be resumed at any time without going through checkout again.

Limited-run plans

A plan can be set to stop renewing automatically — either after a fixed number of payments, or on a specific date. When the limit is reached, Stripe stops charging and the customer's access continues until the end of the last paid period. No manual cancellation, no chasing customers — useful for intro offers, seasonal access, or any plan that's meant to run for a defined time.

Plan switching — upgrade or downgrade

Subscribers can move to a different plan from the account panel without cancelling and resubscribing. Stripe calculates the prorated credit or charge automatically and applies it to the next invoice. WordPress roles update immediately — roles from the old plan are removed and roles from the new plan are granted.

Coupon and promotion codes

Each plan has a toggle that adds a promotion code field to its Stripe Checkout page. Stripe validates the code and applies the discount — SlimSubs doesn't store or process codes itself. Create discount codes in your Stripe Dashboard, enable them per plan, and Stripe handles the rest.

Webhook-driven status updates

Stripe notifies SlimSubs of every event: successful payment, failed payment, cancellation, renewal. Subscription status and WordPress role assignment follow the webhook, not the checkout redirect — so a browser crash or closed tab never leaves a subscriber in a broken state.

Automatic upsell email

When a limited-run plan is about to end, SlimSubs emails the customer automatically — 7 days before expiry — with a direct link to subscribe to a standard plan. The email subject and body are editable per plan. No manual follow-up needed: the customer gets one email, at the right moment, with one clear next step.