When managing recurring purchases or memberships, you may encounter customers who wish to stop using your service. In those cases, they might opt to cancel or pause their subscription. But how does that affect your business and the customer in question? Let’s go over the differences between the two.

Cancelling a Subscription #

Cancelling a subscription is a permanent termination, requiring the customer to resubscribe and opt in if they wish to use the service again. Once a customer cancels their subscription through the client portal, the system will automatically stop billing and mark their status as canceled.

Once a subscription is cancelled, even if done manually, you cannot revert this status. Clicking the three dots next to it will exclusively give you the option to view the subscription.

Pausing a Subscription #

Pausing is a temporary suspension of the service and billing, allowing you to resume at a later date without needing to re-subscribe. It gives you more leeway when it comes to management, as you can reactivate it manually or automatically without needing the customer to undergo the subscription process again.

To manually pause a subscription, click the three dots next to it and select Pause. Select the pause duration:

• Indefinite: Pauses the subscription until further action is taken manually.
• Custom date: Lets you set an automated restart date for the subscription.

Select how you want to handle the invoices, then click confirm.

Besides these mechanical differences, you can set your own rules if needed. For example, you might delete a customer’s information upon a subscription being cancelled or remove access to content immediately. However, those additional details are up to you.

Frequently Asked Questions #

What is the main difference between cancelling and pausing? #

Cancelling permanently terminates the subscription and requires the customer to resubscribe, while pausing temporarily suspends billing and can be resumed later.

Can I undo a cancellation? #

No. Once a subscription is cancelled, even manually, the status cannot be reverted. The only remaining option is to view the subscription.

How do I pause a subscription? #

Click the three dots next to the subscription, select Pause, choose a duration, set how to handle invoices, then click confirm.

What pause durations are available? #

You can choose Indefinite, which pauses until you act manually, or a Custom date, which sets an automated restart date.

Does a customer need to resubscribe after a pause? #

No. A paused subscription can be reactivated manually or automatically without the customer going through the subscription process again.