Stripe Payments & SaaS Billing Systems · Lesson

Handling Trial Periods and Plan Upgrades

Implement trial periods for new subscribers and manage seamless upgrades or downgrades between different subscription plans.

Handling Trial Periods and Plan Upgrades is a free Stripe Payments & SaaS Billing Systems lesson on CoddyKit — lesson 1 of 4. You can read the complete lesson below for free — then practise it hands-on in the browser with a built-in code editor and a 24/7 AI tutor. It is part of the Stripe Payments & SaaS Billing Systems learning path, one of 4 lessons in the course, and your progress syncs across the web and the CoddyKit app.

Flexible Subscriptions Intro

Welcome! In this lesson, we'll dive into making your subscription service more flexible and user-friendly. We'll cover two key features:

Trial Periods: Attract new users with a taste of your service.
Plan Upgrades/Downgrades: Allow users to adjust their plan as their needs evolve.

These features are crucial for improving customer satisfaction and retention.

Understanding Trial Periods

A trial period gives users free access to your service for a limited time before they are charged. It's a great way to:

Let users experience your full features.
Build trust and demonstrate value.
Reduce friction for new sign-ups.

Stripe handles the billing logic automatically once the trial ends.

Setting Up a Trial Period

You can define a trial period when creating or updating a Price in Stripe. This sets the default trial duration for any subscription created with that price.

In the Stripe Dashboard, when you create a new Price, look for the 'Trial period' option and specify the number of days (e.g., 7 or 30 days).

Via the API, you use the trial_period_days parameter.

Creating a Subscription with Trial

To create a new subscription that includes a trial, you simply pass the trial_period_days parameter when creating the subscription. Stripe will automatically manage the trial start and end dates.

Try running this Java example:

import com.stripe.Stripe;
import com.stripe.exception.StripeException;
import com.stripe.model.Subscription;
import com.stripe.param.SubscriptionCreateParams;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class Main {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Stripe.apiKey = "sk_test_YOUR_SECRET_KEY"; // Replace with your actual test secret key

    try {
      List<SubscriptionCreateParams.Item> items = new ArrayList<>();
      items.add(
        SubscriptionCreateParams.Item.builder()
          .setPrice("price_1OQ2eFLkd2M9gC7q0L1xP5cW") // Replace with YOUR Price ID
          .build()
      );

      SubscriptionCreateParams params = SubscriptionCreateParams.builder()
        .setCustomer("cus_Pq34567890abcdef") // Replace with YOUR Customer ID
        .addAllItem(items)
        .setTrialPeriodDays(7) // Sets a 7-day trial
        .build();

      Subscription subscription = Subscription.create(params);

      System.out.println("Subscription created with trial:");
      System.out.println("ID: " + subscription.getId());
      System.out.println("Status: " + subscription.getStatus());
      System.out.println("Trial End (Unix timestamp): " + subscription.getTrialEnd());

    } catch (StripeException e) {
      System.err.println("Error creating subscription: " + e.getMessage());
    }
  }
}

Monitoring Trial Status

You can check a subscription's status to see if it's currently in a trial. A subscription in trial will have a status of trialing and the trial_end field will contain a Unix timestamp indicating when the trial concludes.

This allows your application to display appropriate messaging to the user.

import com.stripe.Stripe;
import com.stripe.exception.StripeException;
import com.stripe.model.Subscription;

public class Main {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Stripe.apiKey = "sk_test_YOUR_SECRET_KEY";

    try {
      String subscriptionId = "sub_12345ABCDEF"; // Replace with an existing Subscription ID
      Subscription subscription = Subscription.retrieve(subscriptionId);

      System.out.println("Subscription ID: " + subscription.getId());
      System.out.println("Current Status: " + subscription.getStatus());

      if ("trialing".equals(subscription.getStatus())) {
        System.out.println("This subscription is currently in a trial period.");
        System.out.println("Trial ends on: " + subscription.getTrialEnd());
      } else if ("active".equals(subscription.getStatus())) {
        System.out.println("This subscription is active and being billed.");
      } else {
        System.out.println("Subscription status: " + subscription.getStatus());
      }

    } catch (StripeException e) {
      System.err.println("Error retrieving subscription: " + e.getMessage());
    }
  }
}

Preparing for Trial End

It's good practice to notify users before their trial ends. This gives them time to decide whether to continue or cancel, reducing unexpected charges and potential disputes.

Stripe sends a webhook event called customer.subscription.trial_will_end a few days before the trial concludes. You can configure this notification period in your Stripe settings.

Your application should listen for this webhook to send custom email reminders.

Understanding Plan Changes

As your users' needs change, they might want to switch to a different subscription plan. Stripe makes it easy to handle upgrades (moving to a higher-tier plan) and downgrades (moving to a lower-tier plan).

When you update a subscription, Stripe automatically handles the complex billing calculations, including prorations, to ensure fair charges.

Upgrading a Subscription

To upgrade a subscription, you update the existing subscription's items array, replacing the old Price ID with the new, higher-tier Price ID. Stripe will then adjust the billing accordingly.

The proration_behavior parameter lets you control how charges are calculated for the change. always_invoice is a common choice.

import com.stripe.Stripe;
import com.stripe.exception.StripeException;
import com.stripe.model.Subscription;
import com.stripe.param.SubscriptionUpdateParams;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class Main {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Stripe.apiKey = "sk_test_YOUR_SECRET_KEY";

    try {
      String subscriptionId = "sub_12345ABCDEF"; // Replace with the Subscription ID to update
      String currentSubscriptionItemId = "si_GHIJKLMN"; // Get from the existing subscription's items
      String newPriceId = "price_67890UVWXY"; // Replace with the ID of the new, higher-tier Price

      Subscription resource = Subscription.retrieve(subscriptionId);

      List<SubscriptionUpdateParams.Item> items = new ArrayList<>();
      items.add(
        SubscriptionUpdateParams.Item.builder()
          .setId(currentSubscriptionItemId)
          .setPrice(newPriceId)
          .build()
      );

      SubscriptionUpdateParams params = SubscriptionUpdateParams.builder()
        .addAllItem(items)
        .setProrationBehavior(SubscriptionUpdateParams.ProrationBehavior.ALWAYS_INVOICE) // Prorate and invoice immediately
        .build();

      Subscription updatedSubscription = resource.update(params);

      System.out.println("Subscription upgraded successfully:");
      System.out.println("ID: " + updatedSubscription.getId());
      System.out.println("Status: " + updatedSubscription.getStatus());
      System.out.println("New Price ID: " + updatedSubscription.getItems().getData().get(0).getPrice().getId());

    } catch (StripeException e) {
      System.err.println("Error updating subscription: " + e.getMessage());
    }
  }
}

Handling Plan Downgrades

Downgrading a subscription follows the same API pattern as upgrading. You update the subscription's items array with the ID of the new, lower-tier Price.

Stripe will automatically calculate any credits or refunds due to the customer based on the proration_behavior you specify. For more details on proration, refer to the 'Implementing Prorations' lesson.

import com.stripe.Stripe;
import com.stripe.exception.StripeException;
import com.stripe.model.Subscription;
import com.stripe.param.SubscriptionUpdateParams;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class Main {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Stripe.apiKey = "sk_test_YOUR_SECRET_KEY";

    try {
      String subscriptionId = "sub_12345ABCDEF"; // Replace with the Subscription ID to update
      String currentSubscriptionItemId = "si_GHIJKLMN"; // Get from the existing subscription's items
      String newPriceId = "price_ZZZZAASSDD"; // Replace with the ID of the new, lower-tier Price

      Subscription resource = Subscription.retrieve(subscriptionId);

      List<SubscriptionUpdateParams.Item> items = new ArrayList<>();
      items.add(
        SubscriptionUpdateParams.Item.builder()
          .setId(currentSubscriptionItemId)
          .setPrice(newPriceId)
          .build()
      );

      SubscriptionUpdateParams params = SubscriptionUpdateParams.builder()
        .addAllItem(items)
        .setProrationBehavior(SubscriptionUpdateParams.ProrationBehavior.CREATE_PRORATIONS) // Create prorations but don't invoice immediately
        .build();

      Subscription updatedSubscription = resource.update(params);

      System.out.println("Subscription downgraded successfully:");
      System.out.println("ID: " + updatedSubscription.getId());
      System.out.println("Status: " + updatedSubscription.getStatus());
      System.out.println("New Price ID: " + updatedSubscription.getItems().getData().get(0).getPrice().getId());

    } catch (StripeException e) {
      System.err.println("Error updating subscription: " + e.getMessage());
    }
  }
}

Quick Check: Trial End

To notify a user that their subscription trial is about to end, which Stripe webhook event would you typically configure your application to listen for?

Recap & Next Steps

Great job! You've learned how to implement crucial features for flexible subscriptions:

How to define and create subscriptions with trial periods.
How to monitor a subscription's trial status.
The importance of the customer.subscription.trial_will_end webhook.
How to programmatically upgrade and downgrade subscription plans using the Stripe API.

These tools empower you to offer a dynamic and user-friendly subscription experience. Next, we'll explore prorations and metered billing in more detail!

Frequently asked questions

Is the “Handling Trial Periods and Plan Upgrades” lesson free?

Yes — the full text of “Handling Trial Periods and Plan Upgrades” is free to read here on the web, and the Stripe Payments & SaaS Billing Systems course includes 4 lessons in total. To practise it interactively (a built-in code editor and a 24/7 AI tutor) and unlock the rest of the Stripe Payments & SaaS Billing Systems course, upgrade to CoddyKit PRO.

What will I learn in “Handling Trial Periods and Plan Upgrades”?

Implement trial periods for new subscribers and manage seamless upgrades or downgrades between different subscription plans. You practise Stripe Payments & SaaS Billing Systems with hands-on code you run directly in the browser, and a 24/7 AI tutor answers your questions as you work through the lesson.

Do I need any experience to start Stripe Payments & SaaS Billing Systems?

No prior experience is required. Stripe Payments & SaaS Billing Systems on CoddyKit is structured for beginners through advanced learners; this is — lesson 1 of 4, so you can start here or from the beginning and move at your own pace.

How long does the “Handling Trial Periods and Plan Upgrades” lesson take?

Most CoddyKit lessons take about 5–10 minutes. Each one is bite-sized and interactive, so you make steady progress and pick up exactly where you left off across the web and the app.

Can I write and run code in this Stripe Payments & SaaS Billing Systems lesson?

Yes. Every Stripe Payments & SaaS Billing Systems lesson includes a built-in code editor, so you write and run real code right in your browser and get instant AI feedback — no local setup required.

All lessons in this course

Handling Trial Periods and Plan Upgrades
Implementing Prorations and Metered Billing
Subscription Lifecycle Management & Events
Coupons, Discounts, and Promotion Codes

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