Frequently asked questions
Technical questions about the plugin. For licensing and commercial questions (refund, per-customer fees, multi-site licenses), see the Pricing FAQ instead.
Can I migrate from WooCommerce Subscriptions?
Yes, with a manual cutover. The plugin ships a compatibility bridge that lets ASWC and WC Subscriptions coexist on the same site while you migrate. The bridge does not auto-import existing WCS subscriptions; you re-create them, transfer the customer payment tokens (Stripe, PayPal, WooPayments and Redsys all reuse WC_Payment_Tokens across plugins) and switch off WCS when you're done. Full walkthrough in Migration from WC Subscriptions.
Can ASWC and WC Subscriptions run side by side permanently?
Technically yes, the bridge keeps both running. Practically: don't. The two engines manage renewals independently and you'll end up double-charging or missing renewals. Use the bridge as a temporary safety net during the cutover, not as a long-term setup.
Does the plugin require WooCommerce Subscriptions?
No, not since v2.0.0. Advanced Subscriptions is standalone. It has its own renewal engine, its own gateway bridges and its own customer area. WCS is detected only to activate the compatibility bridge during migrations.
Which payment gateways are supported for recurring?
Four, natively: Redsys (bundled, with Bizum, Inespay, Google Pay via Redsys and PSD2 Light), Stripe (via the official WooCommerce Stripe Gateway), PayPal (via the official WooCommerce PayPal Payments), and WooPayments (via the official WooPayments). Any other gateway that implements WooCommerce's WC_Payment_Gateway_CC with tokenisation will also work; we just don't certify it.
Is PayPal Standard supported?
No. PayPal Standard was deprecated in plugin v2.0.0 because it doesn't support tokenisation — there's no way to charge a stored authorisation off-session. Use the official WC PayPal Payments plugin (with Reference Transactions) for recurring. See PayPal setup.
Does Bizum support recurring payments?
Not natively. Bizum is a one-shot push-to-pay system; it has no stored-credential equivalent. The supported pattern is: take the first payment via Bizum, capture a card token in parallel, charge subsequent renewals against the card. Full details.
Do I need HPOS enabled?
Recommended, not required. The plugin is HPOS-native and works in both HPOS mode and the legacy wp_posts mode (WC's "compatibility mode"). HPOS mode is faster for stores above ~5k orders. See HPOS compatibility.
Do I need the new Cart/Checkout Blocks?
No. The plugin renders correctly in both the classic shortcode-based cart/checkout and the block-based ones. Use whichever fits your theme. See Blocks compatibility.
Does it work on WordPress Multisite?
Yes. Each subsite has its own subscriptions, settings and license. Network-activation is supported. Each subsite counts as one site against your license tier; agencies should pick a tier that fits the total production-site count.
What about translations and WPML?
The plugin ships with a POT file under /languages/ plus EN and ES translations bundled. Strings in the admin UI, the front-end checkout messages and the eight transactional emails are all translatable. WPML and Polylang are both supported; the WPML String Translation module picks up our strings automatically.
Can I offer free trials or one-time payments instead of recurring?
Yes to both. Set "Trial period" on the product to offer N days/weeks/months free before the first charge. Set "Subscription length" to 1 to bill once and stop — useful for prepaid yearly memberships that don't auto-renew. See Pricing fields.
Are there WP-CLI commands?
No. The plugin does not register any wp aswc or wp advsubs command. Everything is done via the admin UI or via direct hooks. Standard wp plugin install/update commands obviously work since they're WP-CLI core.
Can I override email or My Account templates?
Yes, following WooCommerce's own convention. Copy the file from /templates/emails/ or /templates/myaccount/ into your-theme/advanced-subscriptions-for-woocommerce/emails/ or .../myaccount/. The plugin loads your override first if present. Details in Emails overview and My Account.
How are renewals triggered?
Through Action Scheduler, WooCommerce's own job queue. Each subscription has a single scheduled action — when its time arrives, the plugin creates the renewal order and charges the gateway off-session. If renewals aren't firing on time, the culprit is almost always wp-cron. See Renewal not firing.
How do I refund a renewal charge?
Standard WooCommerce refund: open the renewal order under WooCommerce → Orders, click Refund, choose full or partial. The plugin pushes the refund through whichever gateway processed the renewal. Refunding a renewal does not cancel future renewals; cancel the subscription separately if that's the intent.
Is the plugin GPL?
Yes, GPL v3. The license fee buys you updates and support for one year; the binary itself is free as in freedom. You keep it after the license expires; you just stop receiving updates and support. See the License page.