---
title: "Subscriptions and recurring payments"
description: "Charge a customer every week, fortnight or month without creating each payment yourself — set the schedule once and Qualy creates the payments for you."
lastModified: "2026-08-27"
lang: "en"
wordCount: 2132
url: https://qualyhq.com/training/payments/subscriptions-and-recurring-payments
---
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# Subscriptions and recurring payments

> Set the schedule once — weekly, fortnightly or monthly — and Qualy creates each payment for you.

## At a glance

- **Intended for:** Everyone
- **Available in:** All plans
- **Reading time:** 5 minutes
- **Last updated:** 12th August 2026

## Quick summary

A subscription charges one customer a fixed amount on a repeating schedule — every week, every 2 weeks, or every month. You set the amount, currency, frequency and start date once; from then on Qualy creates each payment automatically, up to 30 days before it's due, and the customer pays it like any other payment (or it's charged automatically under an active direct debit agreement). While a subscription is active you can't change its amount or schedule — cancel it and create a new one instead. Cancelling stops future payments but leaves already-created ones in place. Separate from all this, a customer can split one large payment into instalments themselves — that shows up as a 'Partial payment' subscription that Qualy manages for you.

## Overview

A subscription charges one customer a fixed amount on a repeating schedule. You set it up once — the customer, the amount, the frequency, the start date — and Qualy creates each payment for you from then on. Weekly rent, ongoing tuition, a monthly membership: anything that repeats without a fixed end total is a subscription.

Each payment a subscription creates is a real payment like any other. The customer sees it in their portal, gets the normal notifications, and pays it with whatever methods you've enabled — or, if they have an active direct debit agreement, it's charged automatically as it falls due. On the payment itself you'll see the note **This payment is part of a subscription**, and it links back to the subscription it came from.

This page is about charging your customers. Your own Qualy plan and invoices are a different thing with a confusingly similar name — they live under **Preferences → Subscriptions**, covered in the [Qualy subscription and billing guide](/training/settings/qualy-subscription-and-billing.md).

## Where subscriptions live

Open **Payments** in the main menu and pick **Subscriptions** under **Other options**.

![The Payments menu open, with Subscriptions listed under Other options alongside Transactions, Refunds and Orders](/images/training/payments/subscriptions-and-recurring-payments/01-subscriptions-in-payments-menu.png)

The page lists every subscription with its schedule, amount, how many payments it has created so far (the ×11 next to the amount), and the next payment's due date. The tabs across the top filter by **Status** (Active, Canceled, Expired), by **Type**, and by **Payment schedule** (the frequency).

![The Subscriptions page on the Active view, listing fortnightly subscriptions with their contact, schedule, amount and next payment due date](/images/training/payments/subscriptions-and-recurring-payments/02-subscriptions-list-active.png)

The three types you'll see under the Type tab:

- **Scheduled** — the normal kind, the one you create: fixed amount, repeating schedule, runs until cancelled or until its end date.
- **Partial payment** — created automatically when a customer chooses to pay one large payment in instalments (more on this below).
- **Amount cap** — like Scheduled, but it stops once a total amount has been billed. Available through the API rather than the dashboard form.

## Creating a subscription

From the Subscriptions page, hit **Create subscription**. The same form is also one of the options behind **Create new payment** on the Payments page — pick **Create a subscription** in the chooser.

1. **Choose a customer.** Search by name and select them. One subscription charges one customer.

![The Create a subscription modal on the Choose a customer step, with recent customers listed under the search field](/images/training/payments/subscriptions-and-recurring-payments/03-create-subscription-choose-customer.png)

2. **Name it.** Type a name, or pick one of the **Suggestions** — those are your services, and picking one links the subscription to it. A new name becomes a new service automatically, which keeps your reporting per service intact.

![The Subscription name step with Leonardo DaVinci selected as the customer and service suggestions shown below the name field](/images/training/payments/subscriptions-and-recurring-payments/04-subscription-name-suggestions.png)

3. **Fill in the details.** The **Amount** is what the customer pays each cycle, in the **Currency** you pick — add a **Settlement currency** only if you collect in one currency and settle in another. **Frequency** is every week, every 2 weeks, or every month. Weekly and fortnightly schedules let you pick the day of the week; monthly lets you pick the **Day of month**. Set the **Start date** — the first payment is due that day — and optionally an **End date** if the subscription should stop by itself.

![The Subscription details form filled in with an amount of 350 AUD, monthly frequency, and the start date set](/images/training/payments/subscriptions-and-recurring-payments/05-subscription-details-form.png)

4. Hit **Save**. If the start date is within the next 30 days, the first payment is created immediately.

Setting **Day of month** to 31 is safe — in shorter months the payment falls on the last day of the month instead.

Check the details before saving. An active subscription's amount, schedule and dates can't be edited — changing the terms means cancelling it and creating a new one. The customer's payment history stays intact either way.

## How the payments arrive

Qualy creates each payment up to 30 days before it's due, so the customer has a full window to pay and your team sees what's coming. The payment behaves exactly like one you'd create by hand: same reminders, same portal experience, same payment methods.

Whether the customer has to do anything each cycle depends on how they pay:

- **With an active direct debit agreement** — each payment is charged automatically under the agreement as it falls due. Nothing to do on either side.
- **Without one** — the customer pays each payment themselves in the portal, nudged by the usual reminder emails.

## Keeping an eye on a subscription

Click any subscription to open it. The header shows the schedule, the start date and the end date; below it, **Amount** (per cycle), **Total billed**, **Payments created**, and **Next pymt. due date**.

![An open subscription showing the schedule and dates in the header, with Amount, Total billed, Payments created and next payment due date](/images/training/payments/subscriptions-and-recurring-payments/06-manage-subscription-stats.png)

Under the stats sits the full list of payments this subscription has created, each with its own status — Paid, Due, Overdue — and a menu to act on the individual payment. Anything you'd do to a normal payment, you do here: open it, cancel it, record an external payment against it.

## Cancelling a subscription

Scroll to **Actions** at the bottom of the subscription and hit **Cancel subscription**. The description says exactly what it does: **No further payments will be created.**

![A subscription's payment list with the Actions section below, showing Cancel subscription with the note that no further payments will be created](/images/training/payments/subscriptions-and-recurring-payments/07-subscription-payments-and-cancel.png)

Two things to know before you do it:

- **It's permanent.** A cancelled subscription can't be reactivated or edited — to resume charging, create a new subscription.
- **Existing payments stay.** Any payment already created — including the one sitting up to 30 days ahead — remains due and keeps sending reminders. If the customer shouldn't pay it, cancel that payment individually from the list.

A subscription can also end on its own: **Expired** means it passed its end date (or, for a partial payment plan, the full amount was collected). Same rules apply — expired subscriptions stop creating payments and can't be edited.

## Partial payment plans

The **Partial payment** type on your Subscriptions page is one your customers create, not you. When a customer faces one large payment in the portal, they can choose to pay it in instalments: they pick weekly, fortnightly or monthly, see the estimated amount per instalment, and authorise a payment method. Qualy sizes the instalments so the full amount is collected by the payment's due date, charges each one automatically under the customer's authorisation, and expires the plan once the amount is covered.

You'll see these plans appear on the Subscriptions page automatically, named after the payment they're paying off. Cancelling one stops the automatic charges — and cancelling the customer's payment authorisation does the same, the two are linked. If the underlying payment is paid off some other way, refunded or canceled, the plan cancels itself.

Whether customers get this option at all is controlled by **Allow partial payments** under **Preferences → Payments**.

The **Allow partial payments** switch is account-wide: on or off for all payment methods at once. If you want partial payments blocked for one specific method only, that's not currently possible — turning it off removes the option everywhere.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I put a student on a payment plan — weekly, fortnightly, or monthly?

Yes, two ways. If the student pays a fixed amount on a repeating schedule with no fixed total — rent, or ongoing tuition — create a subscription with the frequency set to every week, every 2 weeks, or every month. If instead there's one large invoice the student wants to spread out, they can set up a partial payment plan themselves while paying it in the portal — they pick the frequency, and Qualy splits the amount due into instalments that finish by the due date and charges them automatically. Both appear on the Subscriptions page.

### Do subscription payments charge the customer automatically?

Only if there's an active direct debit agreement in place for that customer. When there is, Qualy charges each payment under the agreement as it falls due — no action needed from the customer. Without one, every payment the subscription creates behaves like a normal payment: the customer gets the usual notifications and pays through the portal with whatever methods you've enabled. Partial payment plans are the exception — they always charge automatically, because the customer authorises the payment method when they set the plan up.

### Can I change the amount or schedule after the subscription is created?

No. While a subscription is active, its amount, schedule and dates are locked — this protects the payment history from drifting out of sync with what was agreed. To change the terms, cancel the subscription and create a new one with the new amount or frequency. Payments already created keep their original amounts and due dates, so the switch is clean: the old subscription stops creating payments, the new one starts.

### I cancelled a subscription but my customer is still getting payment reminders — why?

Cancelling a subscription stops new payments from being created — it does not touch payments that already exist. Because Qualy creates each payment up to 30 days before its due date, there's usually at least one payment already sitting there when you cancel, and that payment keeps sending the normal reminders until it's paid or canceled. Open the subscription, check its payment list for anything still marked Due or Overdue, and cancel those payments individually if the customer shouldn't pay them.

### What's the difference between a subscription and a payment plan?

A payment plan is a fixed list of payments you create up front — every payment, amount and due date exists from day one, and you can shape each one. A subscription is open-ended: you set an amount and a frequency, and Qualy keeps creating payments on that rhythm until the subscription is cancelled or reaches its end date. Use a plan when the total and the dates are agreed in advance (a course with 5 instalments); use a subscription when the charge repeats with no agreed total (weekly rent, a monthly membership). Both live under 'Create new payment' on the Payments page.

### Can a student choose to pay one large payment in instalments themselves?

Yes — while paying in the portal they can choose to set up a partial payment plan: they pick weekly, fortnightly or monthly, see the estimated instalment amount, and authorise a payment method. Qualy sizes the instalments so the full amount is paid by the payment's due date, charges each one automatically, and shows the whole thing on your Subscriptions page as a 'Partial payment' type. This depends on your 'Allow partial payments' setting, under Preferences → Payments — note it's a single account-wide switch, so turning it off disables partial payments for every payment method, not just one.

### Why did my subscription change to Expired on its own?

Expired means the subscription finished by its own rules rather than being cancelled by someone. A scheduled subscription expires when its end date passes. A partial payment plan expires when the instalments have covered the full amount — which is the normal, healthy way for one to end. Expired subscriptions stop creating payments and can't be reactivated; if the customer should keep being charged, create a new subscription.

### When exactly is each payment created?

Up to 30 days before it's due. The first payment is due on the subscription's start date, and each following one lands on the schedule you set — weekly means every 7 days, fortnightly every 14, monthly the same day each month (a day like the 31st falls back to the last day of shorter months). So a monthly subscription starting on the 1st creates its September payment in early August. This is why a freshly-created subscription usually shows a payment immediately: if the start date is within 30 days, the first payment is created on the spot.

### Where do I manage my own Qualy subscription — the one you bill me for?

Not here. The Subscriptions page is for charging your customers. Your own Qualy plan, invoices and payment sources live under Preferences → Subscriptions in the dashboard — see the Qualy subscription and billing guide for a walkthrough.

## Prefer doing this via the Qualy API?

Head over to our developer docs for everything you need—endpoints, examples, and simple how-tos.

[View API Docs](https://docs.qualyhq.com/docs)

## More on Qualy

**Industries**

- [For schools](/international-education/for-schools.md) — For international education schools
- [For agents](/international-education/for-education-agents.md) — For international education agents

**Support**

- [Training](/training.md)
- [System status](https://qualyhq.statuspage.io/) — Qualy system status
- [Product updates](https://changelog.qualyhq.com) — As we work on Qualy, here we spotlight what we’ve learned and updated across our products
- [Contact](/contact-us.md)

**Product**

- [Demo](/demo.md)
- [Enterprise](/enterprise.md)
- [Testimonials](/testimonials.md) — Learn what some customers have to say about Qualy
- [About](/about.md) — Learn about Qualy's mission and values
- [Blog](/blog) — International education payments blog by Qualy
- [Trust center](/trust.md)
- [API](/api.md) — Qualy API for international education payments
- [Zapier](/zapier.md) — Connect Qualy to 7,000+ apps with Zapier
- [NexPay](/nexpay.md) — Qualy + NexPay — automate everything around the payment

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