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Trial Periods

Let customers try a subscription product before they’re charged. Their payment method is set up when they subscribe, but the first charge only happens automatically once the trial ends.
Trial periods are only available for recurring (subscription) products.

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Enabling a Trial

1

Set your product to recurring

In the product wizard’s pricing step, enable Is Recurring and configure your billing interval.
2

Turn on Enable Free Trial

A new section appears with trial settings.
3

Set the trial duration

Trial Duration (days) — how many days the trial lasts, from 1 to 365 days.
4

Add a trial description (optional)

Trial Description — a short line explaining what’s included, shown to the customer (e.g. “Full access for 14 days”).
5

Save the product

The trial applies to every new subscription created for this product from now on. Existing subscriptions are unaffected.

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How It Works for Customers

  1. The customer subscribes and sets up their payment method (SEPA mandate, card, or other supported method) as normal
  2. No charge happens at signup — the subscription status is trial
  3. The customer has full access for the configured number of trial days
  4. When the trial ends, PayRequest automatically charges the customer and the subscription moves to active
  5. From then on, billing follows the product’s normal billing cycle
The subscription only converts to a paid, active subscription after a successful payment at the end of the trial. If the charge fails, the subscription follows your normal failed payment handling flow instead of silently becoming active.

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Where Customers See the Trial

  • The trial description (if set) is shown on the payment page when the customer subscribes
  • The customer portal shows the subscription status as Trial with the trial end date
  • Once the trial ends and payment succeeds, the status updates to Active

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FAQ

No. Trials only apply to recurring/subscription products, since they work by delaying the first automatic charge.
They can cancel like any other subscription — see Cancellation Requests. No charge occurs since the subscription never reached its first billing date.
No. Trial settings only apply to new subscriptions created after you enable and configure the trial — existing subscriptions keep their original terms.
Changing the trial duration on the product only affects new subscriptions going forward. Customers already in a trial keep the trial end date that was set when they signed up.

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Next Steps

Creating Subscriptions

Set up recurring billing for your products

Subscription Lifecycle

Understand every subscription status, including Trial

Failed Payment Handling

What happens if the trial-to-paid charge fails

Creating Products

Learn about all product types and settings