Subscription Overview
What Are Subscriptions?
Inflow Subscriptions let you charge customers on a recurring basis — weekly, monthly, yearly, or any custom interval. You create a Subscription Offer that defines the pricing and billing terms, then customers subscribe through a shareable link or via the API.
Key Concepts
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Subscription Offer | A template that defines the product, price, currency, billing interval, and optional features (trials, waitlist, entry fees, Discord roles) |
| Subscription | An active relationship between a customer and an offer. Created when a customer completes the checkout |
| Subscription Link | A shareable URL generated automatically when you create an offer. Customers visit this link to subscribe |
How It Works
- Create a Subscription Offer — from the Dashboard or via the API. This generates a subscription link.
- Share the Link — send the link to your customers via email, social media, or embed it on your website.
- Customer Subscribes — the customer completes the checkout and their payment method is charged.
- Recurring Billing — Inflow automatically charges the customer on each billing cycle.
- Manage Subscribers — view, cancel, or handle failed payments from the Dashboard or API.
Available Features
Inflow subscriptions support:
- Custom billing intervals: day, week, month, or year (with configurable interval count)
- Trial periods: offer a free trial before the first charge (1–365 days)
- Entry fees: charge a different amount for the first payment
- Waitlist: require manual approval before activating a subscription
- Cycle limits: optionally end the subscription after a set number of billing cycles
- Discord integration: automatically assign Discord roles to active subscribers
- Coupons: apply discounts at checkout
- Tax handling: automatic VAT calculation with TAX_EXCLUSIVE or TAX_INCLUSIVE pricing modes
- Metadata: attach custom key-value data to subscriptions
Payment Links vs Subscription Links
| Type | Purpose | URL Format |
|---|---|---|
| Payment Link | One-time payment | checkout.inflowpay.com/l/{linkId} |
| Subscription Link | Recurring payment | checkout.inflowpay.com/subscribe/{offerId} |
Both redirect customers to the Inflow hosted checkout. Payment links are for one-time charges; subscription links are for recurring billing.
Dashboard vs API
Most subscription features are available from both the Dashboard and the API:
| Action | Dashboard | API |
|---|---|---|
| Create offer | Yes | Yes |
| List offers / subscriptions | Yes | Yes |
| Initiate subscription (checkout) | Yes | Yes |
| Initiate subscription (server-to-server) | -- | Yes |
| Cancel subscription | Yes | Yes |
| Waitlist management | Yes | -- |
| Archive/unarchive offers | Yes | -- |
| Subscription metrics (MRR) | Yes | -- |
Updated 1 day ago