Automatic invoice advancement

Learn how Stripe can automatically advance invoice states and help collect payment.

All invoices start as a draft and must be transitioned to open to accept a payment. If the invoice becomes overdue, or payment on the invoice fails, Stripe can automatically send reminders or retry the payment for you. You can let Stripe manage these state transitions and these collection attempts automatically or manage them yourself. Learn more about the invoice lifecycle.

For invoices created using the API, set the auto_advance property on the invoice to true. You might also want to configure a webhook endpoint to receive associated events. When you set auto_advance to false, you’re responsible for transitioning the invoice between states. Learn more about webhook endpoints and finalizing invoices.

Update automatic invoice advancement

An invoice must be in a draft or open state to update automatic advancement. Invoices that are paid, void, or uncollectible always have automatic advancement turned off.

Automatic invoice advancement is on by default for any invoice created in the Dashboard.

You can manually turn on or off automatic advancement for any invoice. On the invoice details page, click the overflow menu () and select Turn on/off automatic reminders. Invoices set to charge a payment method on file automatically display Turn on/off automatic collection, which changes the auto_advance property on the invoice. See the feature table below for a comparison of turning this on or off.

Automatic advancement feature comparison

When you turn off automatic advancement in the Dashboard or set auto_advance to false, Stripe disables most of the automatic collection features for Invoicing. The following table outlines some key changes in the behavior of automatic collection, depending on whether auto_advance is set to true or false:

Legend

• = Can be enabled depending on your settings.
• = Configurable in your settings.
• = Not enabled. The invoice isn’t automatically transitioned.