Odoo Subscriptions: Recurring Billing Setup Guide

Recurring revenue needs reliable billing. Odoo Subscriptions automates recurring invoices and payments and shows the health of your subscription base.

Recurring plans

A recurring plan defines the billing period: monthly, quarterly, yearly or custom. Products can have different prices per plan, for example a discount for yearly billing.

Creating subscriptions

A subscription is a sales order with a recurring plan. It can be created by a salesperson, from the website or through the customer portal. When confirmed, Odoo creates the first invoice and schedules the next ones.

Automatic payments

Connect a payment provider such as Stripe that supports saved cards. Customers pay once, the card is tokenised, and future invoices are charged automatically. Failed payments trigger retries and emails. See our Odoo payment providers guide.

Renewals and changes

• Renewals happen automatically unless the subscription has an end date.
• Upsells add products mid-period with prorated charges.
• Downgrades and plan changes can be handled from the subscription.
• Closing records a reason so churn can be analysed.

Usage-based billing

Some services combine a fixed fee with usage. Usage can be added as lines before each invoice, either imported or from an integration. Keep the logic simple, or build a small module for complex metering.

Customer portal

Customers can see their subscriptions, invoices and payment methods in the portal, and update cards themselves. This cuts admin work a lot.

Reporting

Subscription analysis shows:

• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and annual recurring revenue
• New, expansion, contraction and churned MRR
• Subscriptions by plan and salesperson

Revenue recognition

For annual prepaid plans, finance may need deferred revenue. Odoo supports deferred revenue entries depending on version and settings. Agree the approach with your accountant.

Setup checklist

1. Define plans and prices.
2. Set up the payment provider with saved cards.
3. Configure invoice and reminder emails.
4. Import existing subscriptions with next billing dates.
5. Test renewals and failed payments.

See Odoo Subscriptions or our subscription management solution.