> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dmly.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Subscriptions

> Bill your clients on a repeating plan — auto-charge, renewals, pausing, cancelling and failed payments.

A subscription bills one of your clients on a repeating schedule — a monthly gym membership, a
retainer, a package of treatments. You start it from a Plan in your catalogue, and DMLY tracks
the billing period, the invoices and the payments against it.

<Note>
  **This is not your DMLY bill.** Subscriptions in **Finance** are money your clients pay *you*.
  What you pay for DMLY itself lives in [Plans and billing](/billing/plans) and is completely
  separate. Cancelling here never touches your own account.
</Note>

## Before you start

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Create a Plan" icon="cubes" href="/offerings/plans-and-credits">
    Subscriptions are started from a Plan, which sets the price, the billing interval and any
    credits granted each period.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Connect a gateway" icon="credit-card" href="/finance/payments-and-gateways">
    Needed for pay links and for auto-charge. Without one you can still track a subscription,
    but you cannot collect online. Auto-charge additionally needs a gateway that supports
    saved cards — Mercado Pago does not.
  </Card>
</Columns>

## Start a subscription

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the tab">
    Go to **Finance → Subscriptions** and select **New subscription**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick the client and the plan">
    Choose the client, then **Select a plan**. Use **Price override** if this client pays a
    different rate, and add **Notes** for your own reference.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Start it">
    Select **Start subscription**. Any credits the plan grants are added to the client's
    balance now, and the first billing period begins today.
  </Step>
</Steps>

The price, billing interval and granted contents are copied onto the subscription when you
start it. Editing the Plan later never changes a subscription that is already running — which
is what you want, but it does mean a price rise has to be applied to existing clients
deliberately.

## Auto-charge, or bill by hand

This is the decision that matters most, so make it consciously.

<Warning>
  **A subscription without auto-charge never charges anyone.** When the billing date arrives,
  DMLY rolls the period forward and stops there — no invoice is created, no payment is taken,
  and the plan's credits are **not** granted for the new period. Nothing tells you it happened.
  If you want to be paid automatically, set up auto-charge. Otherwise you must bill each period
  yourself.
</Warning>

**With auto-charge**, on the billing date DMLY charges the client's saved card, rolls the
period, grants the period's credits, sends and marks the invoice paid, and sends the client a
receipt.

To turn it on, open the subscription's menu and select **Set up auto-charge**. DMLY sends the
client a link to save their card once — you never see or handle the card details. You'll see
**Auto-charge setup link sent**; the **Auto-charge** badge appears on the subscription only
after the client completes it. **Turn off auto-charge** ends it.

DMLY picks which connected gateway handles the setup — there is no picker. If that turns out
to be Mercado Pago, setup fails with `Mercado Pago does not support saved-card auto-charge
yet.`, which can happen even when a gateway that does support it is connected too.

**Without auto-charge**, bill each period yourself with one of:

* **Share subscription link** — the WhatsApp-first option. It issues the invoice for the
  current period if one isn't already open, then sends the client a pay link over **WhatsApp**,
  **SMS** or **Email**. Needs a connected gateway.
* **Generate invoice** — drafts an invoice for the current period. It is only a draft; send it
  from [Invoices](/finance/invoices) to actually bill the client.

<Note>
  Credits are granted when you start the subscription, and on each auto-charged renewal. On a
  manually billed subscription they are **not** re-granted each period, even after the client
  pays the invoice. Grant them from the [client's profile](/contacts/client-profile) if the
  plan is meant to include them.
</Note>

## Renewal reminders and receipts

Three days before the next billing date, DMLY messages the client that the subscription is
about to renew. Receipts and failure notices are sent the same way, WhatsApp first.

These are **on by default** for every subscription. Turn them off for one client with **Edit
notifications**: **Renewal reminder**, **Payment receipt** and **Payment failed**.

<Note>
  **Edit notifications** also shows an **Invoice sent** toggle, but it currently has no effect —
  sending an invoice ignores it and messages the client either way.
</Note>

## Pause and resume

**Pause subscription** stops billing and renewals immediately. **Resume subscription** starts
them again.

<Warning>
  Pausing does not move the billing date — it just stops DMLY acting on it. If you resume after
  the billing date has already passed, the nightly run at 02:00 treats the subscription as due
  and renews or charges it.

  **Adjust end date** only moves the billing date on a subscription that is already **Active**.
  On a paused one it moves the period end and leaves the billing date in the past, so the
  charge still lands. To avoid it, **Resume subscription** first, then **Adjust end date** to a
  future date — before the next 02:00 run.
</Warning>

## Cancel

**Cancel subscription** asks you to confirm — `Cancel the subscription for <name>? Billing will
stop immediately.` — then stops billing and clears the next billing date.

A few things worth knowing before you use it:

* **Cancelling refunds nothing.** It stops future billing only. Refund any payment already
  taken from [Payments](/finance/payments-and-gateways).
* **It cannot be undone from the list.** **Resume subscription** only brings back a *paused*
  subscription. To restart a cancelled client, start a new subscription.
* Credits already in the client's balance stay there.

If you want to keep billing but stop it later, **Adjust end date** is usually the better tool.

## When a payment fails

Auto-charge failures are retried automatically:

<Steps>
  <Step title="First failure">
    The client is told the payment failed. DMLY schedules a retry two days later.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Second failure">
    Another two-day wait, then a final attempt.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Third failure">
    After three failed attempts the subscription is **Paused** and DMLY stops retrying. It will
    not charge again on its own.
  </Step>
</Steps>

To recover, select **Turn off auto-charge** first. A subscription paused this way still counts
as having auto-charge on, so **Set up auto-charge** stays hidden until you do. Then **Set up
auto-charge** to send the client a link for a working card, and **Resume subscription** —
noting the pause warning above about a past-due billing date.

<Accordion title="A charge failed but the client says their card is fine">
  A failure isn't always the card. A charge also fails if the subscription has no active saved
  payment method, or if the gateway it was set up with has since been disconnected. Check
  [Payments and gateways](/finance/payments-and-gateways) is still connected, then select
  **Turn off auto-charge** and run **Set up auto-charge** again.
</Accordion>

## Statuses

| Status        | Means                                                                   |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Active**    | Billing and renewals are running.                                       |
| **Paused**    | You paused it, or three auto-charge attempts failed. Dates do not move. |
| **Cancelled** | Billing stopped. Not reversible from the list.                          |

<Note>
  **Expired** appears in the interface but DMLY never sets it — no subscription reaches that
  status. Ignore it.
</Note>

## Other actions

* **View subscription** — the client, price, **Next billing**, **Current period** and whether
  auto-charge is on.
* **Edit credits** — changes how many credits *future* renewals grant. It does not add to or
  remove from credits already in the client's balance.
* **Delete subscription** — removes it from the list. Cancel instead if you want a record of
  what the client was billed.

## Related

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Invoices" icon="file-invoice" href="/finance/invoices">
    Every subscription period bills through an invoice. Send, share and collect here.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Plans and credits" icon="cubes" href="/offerings/plans-and-credits">
    The catalogue side: price, interval and credits a subscription is copied from.
  </Card>
</Columns>