Update a subscription to a plan from another product family

Problem statement

This article explains how to update an existing subscription to a plan that belongs to a different product family in Chargebee.

Related scenarios

• Is it possible to update a subscription to a plan from another product family?
• How do you move an item (plan, add-on, or charge) between product families?

Solution

You cannot update a subscription from one plan to another if the target plan belongs to a different product family. Chargebee allows plan changes only within the same product family.

To address this requirement, use one of the following approaches:

• Cancel the current subscription and create a new subscription with the required plan item price point.
• Move the plan item to the required product family using the Update an item API.

Configuration steps

Cancel the current subscription and create a new one

1. Cancel the existing subscription.
2. Create a new subscription with the required plan item price point under the target product family.

Move the item to another product family using the API

Use the following sample API call to update the item:

curl https://{site}.chargebee.com/api/v2/items/basic \
  -u {site_api_key}: \
  -d item_family_id={item_family_id}

Once the plan is migrated to the desired product family, you can use the Update subscription for itemsAPI or the Edit Subscription option in the UI to update the subscription with the desired plan.

Additional information

• Test this change on your Chargebee test site before making the update on your live site.
• This applies only to Product Catalog 2.0.