Set the billing cycle date in Checkout

You can explicitly set a subscription’s billing cycle anchor to a fixed date (for example, the 1st of the next month) in Checkout.

For the initial billing period up until the anchor, you can customize how to handle prorations with the proration_behavior parameter. By default, proration_behavior is set to create_prorations, and customers receive a prorated invoice. If proration_behavior is none, customers receive the initial period up to the billing cycle anchor for free.

Starting on the billing cycle anchor, customers are billed the full subscription amount. The billing cycle anchor and the recurring interval of its price determine a subscription’s future billing dates. For example, a monthly subscription created in Checkout on May 15 with an anchor at June 1 is billed on May 15, then always on the 1st of the month.

Create a Checkout Session with a billing cycle anchor

To configure a billing cycle anchor, set the subscription_data.billing_cycle_anchor parameter when you create a Checkout Session in subscription mode.

The anchor must be a future UNIX timestamp before the next natural subscription billing date.

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/checkout/sessions \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "line_items[][price]"=
{{PRICE_ID}} \
  -d "line_items[][quantity]"=1 \
  -d "mode"="subscription" \
  -d "success_url"="https://example.com/success?session_id={CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}" \
  -d "cancel_url"="https://example.com/cancel" \
  -d "subscription_data[billing_cycle_anchor]"=1611008505

If the billing cycle anchor is during a session’s active period and a customer attempts payment after it has passed, Checkout displays and charges for the full period starting with the billing cycle anchor instead of the prorated period before the billing cycle anchor.

Disable prorations

To disable prorations, set the subscription_data.proration_behavior parameter to none when creating a Checkout Session.

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/checkout/sessions \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "line_items[][price]"=
{{PRICE_ID}} \
  -d "line_items[][quantity]"=1 \
  -d "mode"="subscription" \
  -d "success_url"="https://example.com/success?session_id={CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}" \
  -d "cancel_url"="https://example.com/cancel" \
  -d "subscription_data[billing_cycle_anchor]"=1611008505
  -d "subscription_data[proration_behavior]"="none"

Similar to a free trial, the initial period up to the billing cycle anchor is free. Unlike a trial, no 0 USD invoice is generated. Customers receive an invoice with the full subscription amount on the billing cycle anchor date.

In the Checkout Session response object, amounts attached to the line items and total details are always 0 when prorations are disabled. Additionally, the payment status of the Session is set to no_payment_required to reflect that payment is delayed to a future date.

Current limitations

• You can’t use trials in Checkout with a billing cycle anchor.
• One-time prices can’t be used in Checkout Sessions when proration_behavior is none.
• You can’t apply amount_off coupons to Checkout Sessions with a default proration_behavior of create_prorations.