How do I create a Subscription Button?

You can use the Subscription Button to bill customers on a regular basis, charge membership fees, or offer subscription services. We provide the HTML code and a link for you to copy and paste into your website’s code.

Here’s how to create a Subscription Button from your desktop:

1. Log into your Business account.
2. Go to https://www.paypal.com/billing/plans.
3. Click Create Plan.
4. Fill in the details of your product and click Next.
5. Select your Product and click Next.
6. Choose the kind of subscription plan you want to offer. (Select "Fixed pricing" if you'd like to charge the same price each billing cycle.)
7. Fill in the name and the description of your plan.
8. Click Next.
9. Fill in the details of the plan and click Next.
10. Define pricing for this subscription plan and click Next.
11. Click Turn Plan On.
12. Click Copy code or Copy Link to add the button to your website.

Instead of creating an automatic payment Button, you can set up automatic payments on your website with Online Checkout and Website Payments Pro. Both solutions require a developer with API programming ability.

If you offer Online Checkout and automatic payments, customers will be able to pay with their PayPal account. If you offer Websites Payments Pro and automatic payments, your customers could pay without a PayPal account, using their debit or credit card.

To find information on how to integrate Online Checkout and Website Payments Pro with your website, go to https://developer.paypal.com/docs/api/overview/.

The main differences between a subscription and automatic payments are:

• Automatic payments integrate with PayPal via APIs. Subscriptions integrate with PayPal via HTML.
• Automatic payments allow your customers to check out at the cart level with multiple items. Subscriptions allow your buyers to complete their purchase for 1 item or service at a time.
• Automatic payments support merchant management, including limited modification, suspension/reactivation, and billing on outstanding amounts.

To learn more about our payment buttons and how to create an unsubscribe button, go to PayPal Developer.