Selling one-time digital products is a great start. But recurring revenue — subscriptions that charge customers monthly or yearly — is what transforms a side project into a sustainable business. Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) supports recurring payments through the EDD Recurring Payments extension, and this guide walks you through the complete setup.
You will learn how to create subscription products, configure Stripe for recurring billing, handle upgrades and downgrades, manage cancellations, and track subscription revenue. If you have not set up EDD yet, start with our complete EDD setup guide first.
What You Need
Before setting up recurring payments, make sure you have:
- Easy Digital Downloads (free core plugin or Pro)
- EDD Recurring Payments extension (included in EDD Pro, or available separately)
- A compatible payment gateway — Stripe (recommended), PayPal Commerce, or Authorize.net
- SSL certificate — Required for processing payments
Stripe is the recommended gateway for recurring payments because it handles subscription billing natively, supports automatic retries for failed payments, and provides detailed subscription analytics. Our Stripe and PayPal gateway guide covers the initial gateway setup.
Recurring revenue is the single most important metric for digital product businesses. A subscription model with even modest monthly pricing creates predictable income that compounds over time, making your business more valuable and sustainable.
Step 1: Install and Activate EDD Recurring Payments
If you are using EDD Pro (the all-access pass), Recurring Payments is already included. Activate it from Downloads → Extensions.
If you purchased the extension separately:
- Download the extension from your EDD account
- Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin
- Upload the ZIP file and activate
- Enter your license key under Downloads → Settings → Licenses
Once activated, you will see new options when creating or editing downloads.
Step 2: Create a Subscription Product
Go to Downloads → Add New (or edit an existing product). Scroll to the Download Prices section.
Simple Subscription (Single Price)
- Set your price (e.g., $19.99)
- Check “Recurring” to enable subscription billing
- Configure the subscription details:
| Setting | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Period | Billing frequency | Month, Quarter, Semi-Year, Year |
| Times | Number of billing cycles (0 = unlimited) | 0 for ongoing, 12 for one year of monthly |
| Signup Fee | One-time fee charged on first payment | $49 setup fee |
| Free Trial | Trial period before first charge | 14 days, 1 month |
Variable Price Subscriptions (Tiered Plans)
Most SaaS and membership products offer multiple tiers. EDD handles this with variable pricing:
- Enable “Variable Pricing”
- Add your price options (e.g., Starter, Professional, Agency)
- Check “Recurring” for each price option that should be a subscription
- Configure period, times, and trial for each tier independently
Example tier structure:
| Tier | Monthly Price | Annual Price | Trial | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $9/mo | $89/yr | 7 days free | 1 site license, basic support |
| Professional | $29/mo | $289/yr | 7 days free | 5 site licenses, priority support |
| Agency | $99/mo | $989/yr | None | Unlimited sites, white-label, dedicated support |
If you are selling software with license keys, combine Recurring Payments with the Software Licensing extension to automatically manage license activations tied to subscription status.
Step 3: Configure Stripe for Recurring Billing
Stripe is the most reliable gateway for EDD subscriptions. Here is how it works behind the scenes:
- Customer completes checkout on your site
- EDD creates a Stripe Customer object and stores the payment method
- Stripe creates a Subscription object with the billing schedule
- On each billing date, Stripe automatically charges the stored payment method
- EDD receives a webhook notification and records the renewal payment
- If payment fails, Stripe retries according to your retry rules
Stripe Webhook Configuration
Webhooks are critical for recurring payments. Without them, EDD will not know about successful renewals or failed payments.
- Go to your Stripe Dashboard → Developers → Webhooks
- Click “Add endpoint”
- Set the URL to:
https://yourdomain.com/?edd-listener=stripe - Select events to listen for (EDD needs:
invoice.payment_succeeded,invoice.payment_failed,customer.subscription.deleted,customer.subscription.updated) - Save and copy the webhook signing secret to EDD settings
Stripe Billing Settings
In Stripe Dashboard, configure smart retries under Settings → Billing → Subscription and emails:
- Smart Retries — Enable to let Stripe automatically retry failed payments using machine learning to pick optimal retry times
- Failed payment emails — Enable to notify customers when their payment fails
- Upcoming renewal emails — Enable to send a heads-up before each renewal charge
Step 4: Handle Upgrades and Downgrades
Customers will want to change their subscription tier. EDD Recurring Payments supports this:
Enabling Upgrades/Downgrades
- Go to Downloads → Settings → Extensions → Recurring Payments
- Enable “Allow Upgrades” and “Allow Downgrades”
- Choose the proration method:
| Proration Method | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Prorate immediately | Customer pays the difference right away and the new plan starts immediately |
| Prorate at next renewal | New plan pricing takes effect at the next billing date |
| No proration | Customer pays full price of the new plan immediately |
Customer Experience
When upgrades are enabled, customers see an “Upgrade” or “Change Plan” button on their subscription management page. The flow is:
- Customer clicks “Upgrade” on their current subscription
- They see available tiers with pricing differences clearly shown
- They select the new tier and confirm
- EDD calculates proration and processes the payment change
- The customer gets immediate access to the new tier’s features
Step 5: Manage Cancellations
Cancellations are inevitable. How you handle them impacts both retention and customer experience.
Self-Service Cancellation
By default, EDD allows customers to cancel their own subscriptions from their account page. When a customer cancels:
- The subscription status changes to “Cancelled”
- Access continues until the current billing period ends
- No further charges are made
- The customer can resubscribe at any time
Admin Cancellation
To cancel a subscription from the admin:
- Go to Downloads → Subscriptions
- Find the subscription and click to edit
- Change status to “Cancelled”
- Optionally issue a refund for the current period
Reducing Cancellations
Use these strategies to reduce churn:
- Cancellation surveys — Ask why they are leaving and offer alternatives (pause, downgrade, discount)
- Win-back emails — Send a series of emails after cancellation with incentives to return
- Grace period — Give customers a few days after a missed payment before suspending access
- Annual discount — Offer 15-20% off annual plans to lock in customers for longer
Step 6: Track Subscription Revenue
EDD provides built-in reporting for recurring revenue:
EDD Reports Dashboard
Go to Downloads → Reports and select the “Subscriptions” tab to see:
- Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) — Total revenue from active subscriptions normalized to monthly
- Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) — MRR multiplied by 12
- Churn rate — Percentage of subscribers who cancel per month
- New subscriptions — Number of new subscribers in the period
- Renewal rate — Percentage of subscriptions that successfully renew
Key Metrics to Monitor
| Metric | What It Means | Healthy Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Churn Rate | % of subscribers lost per month | Under 5% for digital products |
| LTV (Lifetime Value) | Average revenue per subscriber over their lifetime | 3x+ the customer acquisition cost |
| MRR Growth | Month-over-month change in recurring revenue | Positive and increasing |
| Failed Payment Rate | % of renewal attempts that fail | Under 10% |
| Recovery Rate | % of failed payments recovered via retries | Above 50% with smart retries |
Subscription Emails
EDD Recurring Payments adds several email notifications. Configure them under Downloads → Settings → Emails:
- Subscription Renewal Notice — Sent when a renewal payment is successfully processed
- Subscription Renewal Reminder — Sent before the renewal date (configure days in advance)
- Subscription Cancellation — Confirmation when a subscription is cancelled
- Subscription Expired — Sent when a subscription reaches its maximum billing cycles
- Payment Failed — Notifies the customer that their renewal payment did not go through
Customize each email with merge tags like {subscription_name}, {expiration_date}, {renewal_amount}, and {update_payment_url}.
Common Subscription Models with EDD
Here are proven models that work well with EDD:
SaaS / Plugin Licensing
Charge annually for software access. Combine with Software Licensing to tie license validity to subscription status. When a subscription lapses, the license expires and updates stop.
Membership / Content Access
Grant access to exclusive content or downloads while the subscription is active. Use EDD’s content restriction features to gate specific downloads or pages behind active subscription status.
Course Access
Combine with an LMS plugin to offer course subscriptions — students pay monthly and lose access when they cancel. This works well for ongoing learning programs.
Support / Maintenance Plans
Sell priority support or website maintenance as a recurring product. Customers get access to a support portal or ticket system while their subscription is active.
EDD Recurring Payments vs WooCommerce Subscriptions
If you are deciding between platforms, here is how they compare for subscription products:
| Feature | EDD Recurring Payments | WooCommerce Subscriptions |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Digital products, software, memberships | Physical + digital products |
| Pricing | Included in EDD Pro ($299/yr) | $239/yr standalone |
| Stripe support | Native with smart retries | Native with smart retries |
| Free trials | Yes | Yes |
| Signup fees | Yes | Yes |
| Upgrades/downgrades | Yes with proration | Yes with proration |
| Software licensing integration | Native (same ecosystem) | Requires third-party plugin |
| Performance overhead | Lightweight (digital-only) | Heavier (full e-commerce stack) |
For a deeper comparison, see our EDD vs WooCommerce comparison.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which payment gateway works best for EDD recurring payments?
Stripe is the recommended gateway. It handles subscription billing natively, supports automatic smart retries for failed payments, sends customer notifications, and provides detailed subscription analytics. PayPal Commerce is the second-best option.
Can I offer both monthly and annual billing for the same product?
Yes. Use variable pricing to create separate price options for monthly and annual billing. Each price option can have its own recurring period, amount, and trial settings. Most stores offer a 15-20% discount on annual plans to incentivize longer commitments.
What happens when a subscription payment fails?
When a payment fails, Stripe automatically retries using smart retry logic. EDD sends a failed payment email to the customer with a link to update their payment method. If all retries fail, the subscription is cancelled. You can configure the number of retries and timing in Stripe’s billing settings.
Can customers upgrade or downgrade their subscription?
Yes. Enable upgrades and downgrades in the Recurring Payments settings. You can choose how proration works — charge the difference immediately, apply it at the next renewal, or charge the full new price. Customers manage this from their account page.
Do customers keep access after cancelling?
Yes. When a customer cancels, their access continues until the end of the current billing period. No further charges are made, but they retain access to their downloads and content until the period expires.
Can I offer a free trial before charging?
Yes. When creating a subscription product, set the free trial period (in days). The customer signs up with their payment method on file but is not charged until the trial ends. If they cancel during the trial, they are never charged.
Is EDD Recurring Payments included in EDD Pro?
Yes. EDD Pro (the all-access pass at $299/year) includes Recurring Payments along with all other EDD extensions including Software Licensing, Stripe Pro, and more. You can also purchase the Recurring Payments extension separately if you do not need the full bundle.