WooCommerce Subscriptions

Overview

WooCommerce Subscriptions (the official premium plugin) adds subscription product types — simple subscriptions and variable subscriptions — with configurable billing periods (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly), free trials, sign-up fees, and prorated upgrades/downgrades. It integrates with Stripe, PayPal Reference Transactions, and other gateways that support automated recurring billing. Custom logic hooks into the subscription lifecycle via a rich set of WordPress actions and filters.

When to Use This Skill

• When selling products or services on a recurring billing schedule (SaaS, memberships, box subscriptions)
• When implementing subscription upgrades, downgrades, or plan switching
• When building custom renewal logic or adding business rules around failed payment retry
• When integrating subscription status with access control (e.g., membership site content gates)
• When extending subscription emails or admin reporting with custom data
• When creating subscription add-ons or per-unit quantity scaling

Core Instructions

1. Create a subscription product programmatically