Introductory pricing that graduates to full price
Set a stepped introductory price on a plan or addon price point so every new subscriber automatically graduates to full catalog price over time.
Customers are more likely to start a subscription when the first billing cycles are priced for acquisition, then move to full price over time. A Price Ramp defined on an item price in Chargebee Billing lets you set that schedule once in the Product Catalog. Every new subscription on that price point follows the schedule automatically.
Example schedule for a Basic USD Monthly plan with catalog price $9.99:
| Billing cycles | Price charged |
|---|---|
| Month 1 | $0.99 (introductory ramp price) |
| Months 2–4 | $4.99 (introductory ramp price) |
| Month 5 onwards | $9.99 (catalog price) |
Prerequisites for introductory Price Ramps
Before you configure introductory pricing, complete the following:
- Create the plan and price point in Billing. Have a plan or addon with a flat fee or per unit price point for the currency and frequency you want to ramp. See Plans.
- Review Price Ramp limitations. Supported pricing models are flat fee and per unit only. Each item price supports at most one active ramp at a time. See Price Ramps.
Open the price point in the Product Catalog
- Log in to the Chargebee application.
- Go to Product Catalog > Plans (or Addons) and open the plan or addon.
- Open the price point you want to ramp (for example, USD, Monthly), or stay on the plan's Pricing table.
Set the price ramp intervals
- Click Set Price Ramps.
- For Interval 1, keep billing cycle start at 1, set the end (for example, 1), and enter the introductory ramp price (for example, $0.99).
- Click + Add. Set the next interval (for example, Months 2–4 at $4.99).
- On the last interval, leave the end blank for onwards, and select Catalog price (or enter the full price) so subscribers move to $9.99 from Month 5 onwards.
- Review the pricing preview, then click Save.
For field-by-field steps, see Configure a Price Ramp.
Create subscriptions on the ramped price point
- Create a subscription using this price point in the Chargebee app or through your acquisition flow, including Hosted Checkout.
- Confirm that the price shown is the first interval price, and that the ramp schedule is presented for the item.
See also How Price Ramps work with Create Subscription and How Price Ramps work with Hosted Checkout.
After you save the ramp, new subscribers are billed $0.99 for Month 1, then $4.99 for Months 2–4, then catalog $9.99 going forward, without custom subscription-level scheduling.
Change a price ramp after subscriptions exist
If you edit or archive the ramp later, only new subscriptions pick up the change. Subscribers already on the ramp keep the schedule from when their subscription was created.