Does Stripe offer payment plans? Three ways, compared

Checked against Stripe's documentation and pricing pages on 6 October 2026. Stripe changes these tools; the changelog at the end records each update.

Does Stripe offer payment plans?

Yes, but not as one feature. Stripe's own guide to splitting a purchase into payments points to subscription schedules and to buy now, pay later methods. (Stripe: recurring payments) Its invoicing product has added a third option, still in preview.

One plan, two phases in StripeDeposit$1,500.00Phase 1$12,191.63Phase 2$1,108.3711 payments of $1,108.33, then one of $1,108.37 · a new amount needs a new phase

• Subscription schedules (Stripe Billing): a subscription set to stop after a fixed number of payments, charged to a card or bank account the customer saved.
• Invoice payment plans (Stripe Invoicing): one invoice split into installments with their own due dates, each one paid by the customer.
• Buy now, pay later: the customer accepts a provider's repayment terms, and you're paid in full at the start.

They put the plan in different hands. With the first two, the plan is yours and so is the risk that a payment doesn't arrive. With the third, the plan is between your customer and the provider.

How does a subscription schedule work as a payment plan?

You create a recurring price for the payment amount, then a schedule whose phase runs that price a set number of times and cancels the subscription at the end. Stripe's own example charges $1,000 a month for six months, $6,000 in all. (Stripe: subscription schedules, installment plans)

• Any regular frequency. A price bills by the day, week, month or year, or every so many of them, up to an interval of three years. (Stripe API: create a subscription schedule)
• Charged automatically. By default the schedule's subscription charges automatically, using the payment method saved for the customer. The alternative is emailing an invoice for each payment.
• Built in the Dashboard or the API. Stripe's subscription editor creates schedules without code.

When a card payment fails, Stripe Billing can retry it. The recommended default is eight tries within two weeks, at times Stripe picks. After the last try, the subscription is cancelled, marked unpaid, left past due or paused, whichever you've chosen. Failed ACH debits are retried only if you turn that on, and only for insufficient funds: up to two retries within 40 days. (Stripe: automate payment retries)

What does a real plan look like as a schedule?

Take a $14,800 program with a $1,500 deposit and the other $13,300 over twelve monthly payments. Twelve into $13,300 is $1,108.333…, so the plan is eleven payments of $1,108.33 and a last payment of $1,108.37.

• The last payment needs its own phase. A recurring price is one fixed amount, so the $1,108.37 payment is a second phase with its own price, run once. Each phase can have its own prices and length.
• The deposit rides on the first invoice. A one-time item added to a phase is appended to that phase's next invoice, so the customer pays $2,608.33 on day one: the deposit and the first payment together. To take the deposit on a day of its own, charge it separately before the schedule starts.
• Ten phases at a time. A schedule holds up to ten current or future phases. A plan where the amount changes more than ten times ahead doesn't fit in one schedule.

Changing a running schedule takes care. Through the API, each update has to include every current and future phase, and anything left out is unset. Stripe recommends changing the schedule, not the subscription under it, because a direct change can be overwritten when the next phase begins. Phases already in the past can't be changed. (Stripe: subscription schedules) For what your customer has to be told before an amount changes, see Changing a payment plan after it starts.

What are Stripe's invoice payment plans?

They split an invoice's total into separate payments with their own due dates: a deposit and then the balance, or a run of smaller installments. (Stripe: invoice payment plans)

• Up to 50 installments, each with a label (such as "Deposit"), a due date and an amount, set in dollars or as a percentage.
• Frequencies: weekly, every two weeks, monthly, every two months, every six months, or custom.
• Reminders: Stripe emails the customer about each installment, on the same reminder schedule as your other invoices.
• Changes after sending: the schedule of unpaid installments can still be changed through the API without voiding the invoice.

The limits matter for a plan that runs for months:

• Nothing is charged automatically. Customers go back to the payment page for each payment, even with a card on file, and the feature can't be used on automatically charged invoices.
• Not on subscription invoices.
• Private preview. You request access from Stripe before you can use it.
• Not buy now, pay later. Stripe says it isn't responsible if your customer doesn't pay.

What about buy now, pay later through Stripe?

The customer picks a provider at checkout, signs in or creates an account with it, and accepts its repayment terms. You're paid immediately and in full. (Stripe: buy now, pay later)

The terms are the provider's, not yours, and so is the relationship once the customer starts repaying. A 0% plan or a lender loan? works through what that difference costs the customer and the business.

Stripe also supports card installments, where one card payment is split across the customer's card statements: meses sin intereses on cards in Mexico, installments on cards in Japan, and Mastercard Installments virtual cards, which pay in four. (Stripe: installments) The schedule there belongs to the card, not to you.

What does Stripe charge for each?

Stripe's payment processing fees apply to every payment on top of these. For what card fees add up to over a long plan, see What does ACH save on a $15,000 plan?

What should you decide before building plans in Stripe?

• Where the plan starts. Someone has to create each schedule or invoice, in the Dashboard or in code. If your sales happen on a deal in a CRM, decide how the deal's terms become the plan and how payments get back to the deal.
• Which Stripe account gets paid. Stripe ties each account to one business's tax ID, so locations that are separate legal entities need a Stripe account each. (Stripe: multiple accounts) One LLC per location, or one for all? and Can you connect multiple Stripe accounts to HubSpot? cover the choices.
• Who hears about a failed payment. Retries recover some failures. Someone still has to call the customer whose card keeps declining.
• How payments reach the books. Each payment has to land in the right location's books. Reconciling Stripe payouts per location covers matching them.

Which option fits?

• Customers pay automatically, in fixed amounts: a subscription schedule, set up by someone comfortable with Stripe's phases.
• Customers pay each installment themselves, from one invoice: invoice payment plans, once Stripe gives you access.
• You'd rather be paid in full and let a lender carry the plan: buy now, pay later, within the provider's limits on purchase size and term.

Changelog

• 6 October 2026: first published.