Most subscriptions renew on a rolling cycle counted from each customer's sign-up date — subscribe on the 3rd and you renew on the 3rd, subscribe on the 19th and you renew on the 19th. A Fixed Billing Schedule works the other way around: you choose a set of calendar dates, and every subscriber renews on those same dates, no matter when they joined.

For example, a quarterly box could renew on March 20, June 20, September 23, and December 21. Whether a customer subscribes in January or in early March, their next renewal lands on March 20 along with everyone else.

Checkout is unchanged. The customer is charged immediately at checkout and their first order ships right away, exactly like a normal subscription. At checkout the plan presents as a normal recurring subscription — a four-date quarterly schedule uses an every 3 months frequency — and your fixed calendar dates then control the exact day each renewal is billed. Appstle sets their next renewal to the next date on your fixed schedule, and from that point on every renewal follows the schedule.

If a customer subscribes only a day or two before the next fixed date, charging them again that soon feels wrong. The cutoff setting prevents this. It is a number of days before each fixed date during which new subscribers skip that date and start on the following one instead.

Example — schedule of Mar 20 / Jun 20 / Sep 23 / Dec 21, with a cutoff of 10 days:

Both customers are billed immediately at checkout for their first order; the cutoff only affects when their first renewal falls. Set the cutoff to 0 to never skip a date.

After the first renewal, every later charge simply moves to the next date in your list, rolling into the next year when it reaches the end. Using the schedule above, a customer billed on September 23 renews next on December 21, then March 20 of the following year, and so on — always in step with every other subscriber.

Because the dates are fixed for everyone, two controls are turned off in the customer portal for these subscriptions:

Everything else works as usual. Customers can still pause, skip, cancel, edit products, change quantities, swap items, and update their address or payment method. When a paused subscription is resumed, it simply picks up at the next fixed date.

Fixed Billing Schedules are being rolled out gradually. While the feature is in its early-access phase, the Appstle team configures it for you — reach out to support and let us know the plan you'd like it on, your list of billing dates, and the cutoff (in days) you want to use. We'll set it up and confirm once it's live. A self-serve editor inside the plan form is on the way.

Is the customer charged twice if they join right before a date? No. They're charged once at checkout, and the cutoff window pushes their first renewal to the following date so they aren't billed again right away.

Can different customers be on different dates? No — that's the point of the feature. Everyone on the plan shares the same dates.

What if I need a customer on a custom date? Use a standard (non-fixed) subscription plan for that customer; fixed dates apply to everyone on the fixed plan.

Does this change checkout or how the first order ships? No. Checkout and the first order are exactly the same as any other subscription; only the renewal dates differ.