---
key: set-up-recurring-billing
title: Set up recurring billing
audience: staff
section: sales-billing/payments
routes: ["/payments/recurring"]
permissions: ["billing.stripe.subscriptions.read"]
features: ["billing.payments.subscriptions"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: Create a recurring plan, put a customer on a subscription charged to their saved card, and pause, resume or cancel a subscription or repeating invoice series.
keywords: [subscription, maintenance plan, monthly billing, service agreement billing, autopay, repeat invoice, recurring invoice]
related: [save-a-customer-payment-method, schedule-a-future-payment, create-an-invoice]
---

In the sidebar, open **Sales & Billing**, then **Getting Paid**, then **Recurring**. The page address is `/payments/recurring`. The page heading reads **Recurring Billing**.

The page holds three kinds of record: **Plans** (a price that repeats, such as a maintenance plan at $29 a month), **Subscriptions** (a customer on a plan, charged to a saved card) and **Invoice series** (an invoice Nova makes again on a schedule).

## Before you start

- Nova Payments has to be set up. See [[set-up-nova-payments]].
- **Subscriptions**, **Saved cards** and **Charge saved cards automatically** have to be on under **Payment options** on the Nova Payments page. See [[check-on-nova-payments-after-launch]].
- A subscription needs a saved card with future charges allowed. See [[save-a-customer-payment-method]].
- Creating plans and subscriptions are separate permissions. A greyed-out button explains when you hover it.

## Steps

To create a plan:

1. Press **New plan**. The **New recurring plan** panel opens.
2. Type the **Plan name** and a **Plan code**, then the **Amount** and **Currency**.
3. Choose the **Interval** (**Daily**, **Weekly**, **Monthly** or **Yearly**) and the **Interval count**, for example 3 and **Monthly** for every quarter.
4. Add a **Description** and press **Create recurring plan**.

To put a customer on it:

1. Press **New subscription**.
2. Pick the **Customer account**, the **Recurring price** and the **Saved payment method**.
3. Set the **Quantity** and give it a **Subscription label** the customer will recognize.
4. Press **Create subscription**. Nova charges the card each interval.

For recurring invoices sent by email, the delivery message uses the shared formatting editor. On a phone, press **Formatting** to show the tools. The saved message formatting is reused on each invoice, including a retried delivery, and text delivery uses the plain-text counterpart.

## What you see

- The list shows every **Record** with its **Account**, **Status**, a **Summary** and when it was **Updated**. Filter it to **Invoice series**, **Subscriptions** or **Plans**, or leave **All records**.
- A subscription's panel offers **Pause collection** and **Resume collection**, **Cancel at period end** (the customer keeps service until the paid period runs out), **Cancel now**, and **Refresh subscription status**.
- An invoice series panel offers **Pause series**, **Resume series** and **Cancel series**, plus **Generate invoice now** (or **Generate and charge now** when the series charges a saved card) to make the next invoice without waiting.
- The invoice series controls ask you to confirm before they run. The subscription controls act as soon as you press them, so check which subscription is open first.

## If something looks different

- A notice at the top says "Subscriptions are turned off for your business." (or that subscriptions need **Saved cards** or **Charge saved cards automatically**, which is turned off): press **Turn it on**. The Nova Payments page opens on **Payment options** with that switch highlighted. If the notice says to ask an owner or admin instead, your role cannot change payment settings. If it says **Not included in your plan**, your plan does not include subscriptions. Invoice series keep working either way. The **New subscription** panel shows the same notice.
- The notice says Nova Payments isn't set up yet, so subscriptions can't run: press **Finish setting up Nova Payments**. See [[set-up-nova-payments]].
- **New subscription** is greyed out: Nova Payments is not ready, one of the switches above is off, or your role cannot create subscriptions. Point at the button to see why. When a switch is off, pressing the button explains which one, and **Open Nova Payments settings** opens **Payment options** with that switch highlighted.
- The **Saved payment method** list is empty for a customer: their card is saved but not authorized for future charges. Save it again with **Authorize future charges** ticked.
- A subscription shows **Action required**, **Retry scheduled** or **Failed terminally**: a charge did not go through. Open it to see the reason, then ask the customer for a new card.
- You want a repeating invoice rather than a card charge: open an existing invoice and choose **Make recurring** from its actions menu. The series then appears here under **Invoice series**.
- A series' card charge is waiting because Nova Payments is paused or closed, or card payments are stopped for now: the charge stays on the invoice already made. When card payments are off for a reason you did not choose (Stripe needs information or is reviewing the account, or Nova Payments is not launched yet), the charge is tried again each day without counting as a failed attempt, and after a week the payment administrators get a message titled Recurring card charges are waiting; its button opens this list, showing invoice series. **Generate and charge now** (and **Generate invoice now**) then charges that same invoice once payments are back on, and never makes a second one. While the charge still cannot run, Nova says why, starting "This charge is on hold".
- A series' card is declined: Nova charges the card again on the same invoice a little later, a few times at most, and each try is listed under that run in **Recent runs**. A decline the bank will never approve (a lost or stolen card, for example) is not tried again: the series stops. When a series stops, after that decline or after the last try, everyone who manages Nova Payments gets a message that the payment failed (its button opens this list of invoice series), and the customer gets an email asking them to update their card, unless **Ask customers to update a card that keeps failing** is off or the customer has opted out of invoice messages or prefers texts.

[[route:/payments/recurring|Open Recurring Billing]]