Private preview

Create invoice payment plans Private preview

Learn how to create payment plans for your Stripe invoices.

Invoice payment plans let you split an Invoice total into separate payments with different due dates. For example, you can collect a deposit followed by the remaining balance, or offer more favourable terms by dividing the amount due into smaller instalments over time.

Stripe sends instalment reminders and shows customers a history of past payments. This feature is in private preview.

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Limitations

Payment plans have a few limitations. Make sure that the following limitations don’t conflict with your use case:

• Payment plans aren’t supported by Stripe Revenue Recognition or the Stripe Connector for NetSuite.
• Payment plans don’t auto-charge customers with saved payment details. Customers must return to the payment page to make subsequent payments. You can’t use them with charge _ automatically invoices.
• For Connect users, application fees can’t be set on payment plan-enabled invoices. You can only set fees on PaymentIntents.
• Additional fields associated with payment plans aren’t available in Stripe Sigma.
• Some Billing Analytics charts (Top Subscribers) only register invoices that are fully paid. Other charts are unaffected.
• You can’t apply payment plans to subscription invoices.

This guide shows how to set up and manage payment plans without any code using the Dashboard.

Create an invoice and add line item details

In the Dashboard, create an Invoice and add relevant details such as the customer, desired line items, and their prices and quantities.

Create an invoice with the Dashboard

Enable the invoice to collect in multiple payments

After entering customer and line item details, select Request in multiple payments under Payment collection in the invoice editor to enable payment plans on the invoice.

By default, Stripe sets up a payment plan where the amount due is evenly divided into two payments due over 2 months.

Enable multiple payments in the Dashboard

Configure individual payments and due dates

To customise the payment plan, click Edit payment plans. You can customise a payment plan in the following ways:

• Payment frequency : Choose Weekly , Every 2 weeks , Monthly , Every 2 months , Every 6 months or Custom . The frequency sets the spacing between instalment due dates.
• Individual instalments : Each instalment has a label, due date, and amount. You can add up to 50 instalments with + Add instalment .
• Amounts : Toggle between fixed amounts ( $ ) and percentages ( % ) with the selector above the amount column. When you set a value for one instalment, the remaining instalments redistribute evenly.
• Labels : Add a descriptive label to individual instalments, such as “Deposit”. These labels appear on the invoice PDF and payment page.

Select Split total evenly to distribute the invoice total equally across all instalments. The total across all instalments must equal the invoice amount before you can save the plan.

Configure the payment plan through the Dashboard

Finalise the invoice

After customising the payment plan, you can finalise and send the invoice by clicking Review invoice. You can’t finalise an invoice if the amounts of the individual payments don’t add up to the total amount due on the invoice (for example, if line items changed after you set up the payment plan).

Post-finalisation actions on invoices

After you finalise an invoice, you can still update its payment plan through the API. Update the payment plan to change the schedule or metadata. This lets you reschedule or resize unpaid instalments without voiding the invoice and starting over.

When instalment amounts change, Stripe applies payments to instalments using first-in, first-out allocation. Earlier payments fill earlier instalments before applying to later instalments.

Notifications

Stripe emails your customer about each instalment using the reminder schedule in your invoice reminder settings. Payment plans use the same schedule as your other invoices, applied to each instalment due date instead of the invoice due date. To turn off email reminders, disable Invoice reminders.

Listen for payment plan events

Stripe sends the following events for payment plans. Each event contains the full PaymentPlan object, including its instalments array, so you can read the status of every instalment from a single event.

If a schedule change leaves an instalment with nothing left to collect and no money moves, Stripe sends payment_plan.updated and doesn’t send payment_plan.installment_paid.

Verify webhook signatures to confirm that events came from Stripe.

Disclaimer

By using invoice payment plans, you acknowledge the following:

• This feature isn’t a buy now, pay later service. Stripe isn’t responsible to you or your customer for failure to pay or failure to deliver goods or services. To enable buy now, pay later for B2C invoices, read our buy now, pay later guide .
• Some payment methods, such as Affirm, Revolut Pay, and Afterpay, might have contractual or regulatory restrictions on their use in instalment-based payment arrangements. Review your provider’s terms to confirm compliance before enabling payment plans for your customers.

Australia

This feature isn’t intended to provide you or your customers with any form of credit or alter the price of a good or service. Neither you nor your customers are charged additional fees associated with payment plans.

Japan

By reflecting a payment schedule, you can extend more flexible net terms or collect a deposit and allow a single invoice to be paid over multiple due dates.

If you provide a financial product or service, consult with your legal advisors regarding applicable restrictions and requirements before setting up invoices. Installment payments, lending, credit and buy now, pay later services are subject to regulation in Japan, and you might need to register or obtain approvals before engaging in those services.