Yes, WooCommerce supports subscriptions, but through a separate extension rather than core. WooCommerce Subscriptions is a premium extension from Woo that lets customers subscribe to products or services weekly, monthly or annually, with automatic renewals and retries when a renewal fails. You install it on top of WooCommerce.
Not in core, but made by Woo
Install WooCommerce and you won't find a subscriptions setting. Recurring billing comes from WooCommerce Subscriptions, which WooCommerce's own documentation describes as a premium extension that lets you sell products and services with recurring payments. It's a separate extension, built by the same team, and it sits on top of your store.
Once it's installed, customers can subscribe on a weekly, monthly or annual basis, and you can sell physical products, digital downloads or services this way.
What the extension handles
| Area | What it does |
|---|---|
| Payments | Works with over 25 gateways for automatic recurring payments, including WooPayments, Stripe and PayPal |
| Manual renewals | Any WooCommerce gateway works, and customers get an invoice automatically when payment is due |
| Failed renewals | Retried automatically, and the customer is emailed to update their payment method |
| Customer control | Subscribers can upgrade, downgrade, suspend or cancel, and update their address or payment method |
| Renewal dates | Billing date alignment puts every subscriber on a plan on the same renewal date |
With aligned billing dates, the first payment can be taken in full, on the next billing date, or prorated. That's useful for a monthly box that ships on the same day for everyone.
Ways to package your offer
- Sell a product as one-time, subscription or both, so customers choose.
- Add free trials, sign-up fees and discounts to a plan.
- Let customers buy a subscription as a gift.
- Combine several subscription products in one order, grouped by billing schedule.
- Release downloads with each renewal, which suits a monthly template pack or course module.
The self-service options matter more than they look. When a subscriber can pause or downgrade on their own, some of the people who'd otherwise cancel stay on instead, and you spend less time answering emails.
Automatic or manual renewals?
You've got a real choice here. Automatic renewals run through one of the 25+ supported gateways and take payment without the customer doing anything, which is what most subscription shops want. Manual renewals work with any WooCommerce gateway, and the customer gets an invoice when payment is due and pays it themselves. That suits businesses whose customers prefer to approve each payment, or who use a gateway that isn't on the automatic list. The trade-off is that manual renewals rely on people acting on the invoice, so expect more chasing.
Whichever you choose, the retry and email on failed renewals only helps when the payment is automatic, so it's one more reason to lean that way if your gateway supports it.
Check compatibility before you update WooCommerce
The WooCommerce documentation's introduction to Subscriptions says the extension generally supports the most recent version of WooCommerce and the one before it, and it inherits WooCommerce's own server requirements. In practice, that means you shouldn't rush a WooCommerce update on a subscription store. Check that Subscriptions supports the new version first, and test on a staging copy if you can, because renewals are the money your business runs on.
Other conditions worth knowing
Subscriptions is compatible with High-Performance Order Storage and with WordPress Multisite. On Multisite, though, each extension subscription is linked only to the site it was purchased for, so a network of shops needs to plan which site holds it.
The Shopify way of doing it
Shopify's manual says you manage subscription products in admin with the first-party Shopify Subscriptions app or a third-party subscription app, and you can sell subscriptions in-store with Shopify POS. My Shopify and WooCommerce comparison covers the wider choice between the two.
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My verdict for a small online shop
If you're already on WooCommerce, WooCommerce Subscriptions is the natural route: it's made by Woo, handles retries and self-service, and keeps everything in one dashboard. Treat it as a separate piece of your store with its own update rule, and check compatibility every time WooCommerce updates. If what you're selling is access rather than products, my guide to WordPress membership plugins may suit you better.
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Frequently asked questions
Does WooCommerce support subscriptions out of the box?
No. It uses the separate WooCommerce Subscriptions extension.
Which payment gateways work?
Over 25 for automatic renewals, including WooPayments, Stripe and PayPal. Any WooCommerce gateway works for manual renewals.
What happens when a renewal fails?
It retries automatically and emails the customer to update their payment method.
Can customers manage their own subscriptions?
Yes. They can upgrade, downgrade, suspend, cancel and update their details.
Does it work with Multisite?
Yes, but each extension subscription is tied to the site it was bought for.
