Trial Period for Addons

Introduction

Along with the service/product that you're offering, additional features will bring more traction. These supplementary features can be provided at an additional cost and are known as Addons. With Chargebee, you can provide addons for trial to your customers, so your customers know the feature before signing up for it.

Say you provide Google Calendar as an addon with your service. Customers who are interested in signing up can use the Google Calendar feature for a limited number of days as a trial before using it along with the subscription.

Configure Trial Period for Addons

Trial period for addons is available only via API. You can save the details of the addon's trial period in the metadata of the addon.

Invoice for Addons on Trial

At the end of the trial period, the addons will move to Active state. When they do, a separate invoice is generated for the addon. From the date of activation to the date of subscription renewal, a prorated charge will be generated for the addon.

For example, for a subscription with a billing cycle from January 15, 2025, to February 15, 2025, an addon was added as a trial on January 20, 2025, for 10 days. The addon will activate on January 30, 2025, and an invoice with a prorated charge will be raised for January 31, 2025, to February 15, 2025.

If the customer's subscription renews on the same day as the addon is activated, they will receive two invoices: one for the subscription and the other for the addon, regardless of the number of addons.

For example, if the customer has a subscription and has 3 addons on trial, and the subscription renews on the same day as the addons become activated, the customer will receive 4 invoices: one for the subscription renewal and three for the addons.

Subscription Cancellation and Reactivation (Dunning)

When subscriptions are canceled due to the dunning rules that are set, addons on trial will follow suit. However, there are two scenarios to consider during the reactivation of the subscription:

1. In-term Reactivation

If the subscription is reactivated before the renewal date/time of the subscription, then the addon will continue to function upon reactivation. There will not be a change in the trial end date/time set originally.

For example, the billing cycle for subscription is from January 15, 2025, to February 15, 2025. The subscription was canceled on January 30, 2025, and reactivated on February 10, 2025. There are two addons, Addon 1 and Addon 2, linked to the subscription and are on trial for 15 days.

2. Out-of-term Reactivation

If the subscription is reactivated after the date/time of renewal, the term of the addon will be reset and the trial will no longer be applicable. The customer will have to pay for the subscription and the addons, regardless of the completion of the trial period.

For example, the billing cycle for subscription is from January 15, 2025, to February 15, 2025. The subscription was canceled on February 12, 2025, and reactivated on February 22, 2025.

For both addons, a full charge will be raised on the date of reactivation of subscription.

Subscription Cancellation/Reactivation (Manual)

When a subscription is canceled manually, the subscription term is not retained. The addons on trial linked to the same subscription will be canceled.

When the same subscription is reactivated, both the subscription and the addons will move to Active state and will be charged in full.

Limitations

• Recurring addons alone can have trial period added to them. Non-recurring addons are not supported.
• Addons with a trial period can be added only for Subscriptions in Active state.
• Once set, the trial_end of an addon cannot be modified. In order to modify, the addon need to be removed and added again with new trial_end.
• When the addon is going through the trial period, values of all fields, except for trial_end value, can be modified.
• Addons going through the trial period will move to Active state only when the trial period ends.
• The changes for the addon will be applied immediately and cannot be scheduled for the end of term of the subscription.
• For Advance Invoicing, addon on trial feature will not function.