For supporting recurring payments, a WooCommerce Subscription Plugin is needed. Some of the best WooCommerce Subscriptions are developed by Prospress, YITH, Fantastic Plugins, etc.

Necessity of WooCommerce Subscriptions

Subscription Business Model is beginning to gain more popularity in the recent times. Some of the major players especially in the software industry have sensed this opportunity and switching to recurring payments. SaaS also needs recurring payments.

Benefits of Recurring Payments in WooCommerce

• Convenient for Buyers
  Buyers need not make repeated purchases thereby saving time for the buyers. The buyer will place the order initially and they will be automatically charged for their renewals.
• Stock Management
  Site admin can assess the stock required for fulfilling the orders well in advance. So that they can refill the stock based on the upcoming renewals.
• Increased Average Customer Lifetime Value
  The average customer lifetime value for a subscription service depends on the duration of the subscription plan to which they are subscribed. So customer lifetime value will keep on increasing as long as their subscription stays active.
• Assured Price
  Customers who are subscribing to a service/product need not worry about price hike in future. They will receive the product/service for the same price which they subscribed.
• Scalability
  Customers can Upgrade/Downgrade their subscription plan based on their needs.
• Additional Revenue
  During the course of a subscription, the site admin can offer additional offers/deals which can bring in additional revenue.
• Increased Customer Relationships
  Customers who have subscribed to a product for a long time will have good faith in your brand and it is more likely that they will continue to make more purchases in future.

WooCommerce Subscriptions is an important component in your WooCommererce shop since it helps to bring recurring revenue. We will explain the Top 3 WooCommerce Subscription Plugins.

1. WooCommerce Subscriptions

WooCommerce Subscriptions is developed by Prospress. Some of the main features offered by this plugin are as follows

• Automatic Subscription Renewal
  WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin supports automatic subscription renewal using PayPal Subscriptions.
• Multiple Automatic Payment Gateways
  More than 25 payment gateways(To be purchased separately) for handling automatic subscription renewals.
• Renewal Notification Reminders
  Email notifications can be sent to customers about regarding processing.
• Manual Renewal Payments
  Subscription renewal payments can be made with any WooCommerce supported payment gateway.
• Free Trial and Sign up Fee
  Free Trials can be offered to buyers before purchasing the subscriptions. Initial setup costs can be charged using Sign up fees.
• Upgrading/Downgrading Subscriptions
  This feature allows your subscribers to upgrade to a higher subscription or downgrade to a lower subscription based on their preferences.
• Synchronized Payments
  Allows you to align the renewal date such that all your subscribers are charged on the same date.
• Automatic Retry on Failed Subscription Payments
  If the payment charging is unsuccessful for an automatic subscription renewal, then it will retry for payment charging and also send an email to the subscriber about the payment failure. If the payment charging is not successful in the next retry, the subscription will proceed with manual payment. So, you don’t need to worry about revenue loss.

Price: $199/year

This plugin comes up with 1-year subscription package for updates and support. For a single site license, it costs $199 per year, for 5 site license it costs $249 per year and for 25 site license it costs $399 per year.

Check out more details and purchase WooCommerce Subscriptions here.

2. YITH WooCommerce Subscription

YITH – WooCommerce Subscription is developed by YITH. Some of the main features offered by this plugin are as follows

• Automatic Subscription Renewal
  YITH – WooCommerce Subscriptions allows you to charge automatic subscription renewal using PayPal Subscriptions.
• Additional Automatic Payment Gateway
  YITH WooCommerce Stripe payment gateway(To be purchased separately) can be used as an automatic payment gateway for subscription renewals.
• Free Trial and Sign up Fee
  A free trial can be offered, so that the buyers can try the product before purchasing the subscription. Initial setup fees can be charged through Sign up fees.
• Subscription Discount Coupons
  Coupons can be created for 2 actions
  1. Coupon for sign up fee discount
  2. Coupon for renewal fee discount
• Reactivate Expired Subscriptions
  If the purchased subscription has expired then, you can allow your customers to renew their subscription for the same subscription price.

Price: $97/year

This plugin comes up with 1-year subscription package for updates and support. For a single site license, it costs $97 per year, for 6 sites license it costs $149 per year and for 30 site license it costs $249 per year.

Check out more details and purchase YITH WooCommerce Subscription plugin here.

3. SUMO Subscriptions – WooCommerce Subscription System

SUMO Subscriptions – WooCommerce Subscriptions is developed by Fantastic Plugins. It is one of the most comprehensive solution.

• Automatic Subscription Renewal
  SUMO Subscriptions – WooCommerce Subscriptions comes with 4 inbuilt payment gateways which are as follows
  1. PayPal Subscriptions
  2. PayPal Adaptive Payment
  3. PayPal Reference Transactions
  4. Stripe
• Compatibility with SUMO Reward Points
  When used with SUMO Reward Points – WooCommerce Reward System, an additional payment gateway “SUMO Reward Points Payment Gateway” can be used for automatic subscription renewals.
• Free Trial and Sign Up Fees
  SUMO Subscriptions supports Free Trial where the buyer can try the product before purchasing the subscription. Installation/Set up fees can be charged using sign up fees.
• Paid Trial Support
  SUMO Subscriptions supports Paid Trial feature where the buyer has to pay an amount for availing the subscription trial.
• Synchronized Payments
  Payment Synchronization allows you to align the renewal payment date. SUMO Subscriptions provides some advanced options for synchronization.
• Order Subscriptions
  SUMO Subscriptions – WooCommerce Subscriptions allows your customer to convert an entire order into one Subscription. This feature may come in handy when the buyers want to subscribe to monthly provisions, medicines etc.
• Manual Subscriptions
  Site Admin can manually create subscriptions and assign it to customers
• Payment Reminder Emails
  Multiple subscription renewal payment reminder emails can be sent during each subscription renewal.
• Switching Payment Methods
  Customers can disable the current payment method and choose a new payment for the upcoming renewal
• Automatic Retry on Failed Subscription Payments
  In a case of Payment failure during an automatic subscription renewal, the plugin provides advanced options to charge the subscription renewal.
• Resubscribing to Expired Subscriptions
  This feature allows your users to subscribe to the subscription for the same price after the Subscription is expired.
• Pause/Resume Restrictions
  The following restrictions can be set on subscription pause
  – Maximum number of pauses per subscription can be set
  – Maximum pause duration per subscription can be set after which the Subscription will automatically become active.

Price: $39

The Regular license of this plugin costs $39 and Extended license of this plugin costs $195 which includes 6 months of support and updates are free.

Check out more details and purchase SUMO Subscriptions – WooCommerce Subscription System plugin here.

Check out YayMail – WooCommerce Email Customizer Pro if you wish to customize the templates of Subscription Email Notifications using a Drag and Drop interface.