Subscription management shouldn’t stop at checkout.
We believe that a customer’s transactional relationship with your business doesn’t end when they complete a one-time purchase or sign up to a subscription. They may upgrade to a higher tier, downgrade to a more affordable plan, add a new product, update their payment method, or need help understanding what they’ve paid and what they still owe.
Until now, supporting those changes has often meant sending customers to new checkout pages, searching payment emails, or manually handling routine requests.
That’s about to change! 🥳
As part of our upcoming Q1 2027 release, ThriveCart (and ThriveCart Academy) will introduce a more connected subscription and billing experience, with expanded subscription management functionality. Customers will continue to manage their purchases directly inside your branded billing page, with more options to manage all aspects of their billing need, including in-app upgrades, downgrade, and plan swaps & more. You get clearer tools to support upgrades, downgrades, retention, payments, and for your customers to self-serve.
Check out the preview below 👇
Upgrade or downgrade without starting over
Customers will be able to move between plans directly within your existing product or subscription structure.
They’ll be able to see the available options, understand the price difference, review when the change will take effect, and see any applicable credit before confirming. Billing and access will then update according to the choices you’ve configured.
This creates a smoother experience for everyone. Customers can make informed decisions without needing to contact your support, and you can offer and manage plan changes well after the funnel ends, without creating a separate checkout journey for every possible upgrade or downgrade.
The experience will also support more flexible subscription structures, allowing customers to move between tiers as their needs change. Someone might begin with an entry-level plan, add a course or bundle, or move to a higher-value membership later. ThriveCart will make those changes easier to support as your business grows.
A new home for software and SaaS subscriptions
These improvements are not only for courses, memberships, and coaching programs. They also open ThriveCart to a growing category of software and SaaS offerings.
If you’re building an AI tool, an agentic-coded app, a business utility, or another subscription software product, ThriveCart will give you more ways to manage recurring access. Customers can choose a plan, upgrade, or downgrade as their needs change, update their payment details, and manage their subscription from a clear, branded experience.
That means you can use ThriveCart to sell and manage access to software products alongside your existing digital offers. Whether you’re launching your first tool or building a larger SaaS business, the upcoming subscription and billing improvements give you a flexible foundation for turning new ideas into recurring revenue.
Give customers a reason to stay
Not every cancellation means a customer wants to leave permanently. Sometimes they need a lower price, a temporary pause, or a plan that better matches how they’re using your offer.
Retention Offers (already available as part of our Fall 2026 release) will help you respond to those situations with alternatives such as:
- A discount
- A temporary pause
- A different plan
- Another offer that better fits the customer’s needs
Today, you can already configure retention options and countdowns at the product level, with controls over which offers appear during cancellation. As part of this update, you’ll be able to set control at the account level and you’ll have expanded control over actions after the countdown timer elapses, and create custom messaging to help customers understand that the offer is part of the cancellation experience without creating unnecessary friction.
You’ll also be able to collect feedback through a customizable cancellation questionnaire. This can help you understand why customers leave and identify opportunities to improve your products, pricing, and customer experience.
A clear home for every purchase
The planned Student Billing view will bring customer payment information together in a new, cleaner design, organized as it is today into:
- Subscriptions
- Payment plans
- Programs
- Single transactions
With more insight over:
- Active and completed purchases
- Payment schedules and balances
- Self-management of invoices and receipts
Instead of sending customers to different pages or asking them to search through old emails, you can give them a consistent place to understand their relationship with your business.
They’ll be able to filter their purchases, hide inactive items, and review the details of individual products and plans. Customers who’ve purchased from multiple creators will also be able to switch between branded accounts with ease.
The billing view is planned to support multiple languages and currencies, with support links connected to the email address configured in your product settings.
Make payment plans easier to understand
Payment plans and split payments can be confusing when customers can’t easily see what has already been paid and what amounts remain.
The new experience will show payment progress in a clearer format, such as “Payment 2 of 6,” along with:
- The total amount paid
- The remaining balance
- The next payment date and amount
- Completed and scheduled payments
- Failed payments and retry dates
- Refunded or canceled payments
Future payments will be clearly marked as scheduled rather than already charged. Customers will have a more accurate picture of their payment obligations, which can help you reduce misunderstandings and avoid unnecessary support requests.
Let customers solve more themselves
Customers will continue to have controls over updating payment methods for things like subscriptions or split payments. This is especially useful when different purchases use different cards or when a customer needs to replace an expired payment method.
Depending on your settings and the type of purchase, customers will also be able to:
- View, download, or print invoices
- Cancel eligible subscriptions
- Review what access they’ll lose before canceling
- Withdraw eligible purchases during the EU 14-day withdrawal period
- Buy additional credits where available (coming soon!)
Programs, split payments, and installments may have different cancellation rules, but the billing experience will explain those distinctions more clearly.
Giving customers the ability to take action themselves can help reduce routine support work while allowing them to resolve payment issues quickly.
Billing that feels like part of your brand
From Q1 2027, the billing experience won’t be a disconnected administrative page. You’ll be able to shape its appearance and rules around your business.
Planned customization options include:
- Promoting content, news, and upcoming product launches
- Ribbons and visual effects
- Account-level and product-level controls
- Full branding controls
- Cancellation and retention settings
A “View as” option will let you preview the experience as a specific customer or as a generic customer. This can make account management and support easier because you can see the same context your customer sees.
You’ll also be able to use “New in your account” cards to highlight relevant courses, memberships, or offers while customers are already viewing their purchases.
Built to support growth
The goal of these changes isn’t simply to give customers more billing options. It’s to help you build a healthier and more flexible business.
Clearer subscription management can make it easier to move customers into higher-value plans. Retention offers can reduce preventable cancellations. Better payment information can reduce failed payments and support requests. A branded billing experience can help customers feel more confident about their relationship with your business.
These capabilities are planned for the Q1 2027 release and will become available in both ThriveCart and ThriveCart Academy as testing and readiness allow. They’ll help create a more connected experience from the first purchase through long-term customer growth.
Check out our roadmap and watch this space for more announcements!
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