Introduction

Advanced Subscriptions for WooCommerce turns any WooCommerce store into a recurring-billing business — without coupling you to a SaaS or to a single payment gateway. This page is a two-minute orientation: what the plugin is for, when it's the right tool, and how these docs are organised.

What it is

A self-hosted WordPress plugin that adds a complete subscription engine to WooCommerce: subscription products with daily/weekly/monthly/yearly cadences, sign-up fees and trials, automatic renewals with retries, customer self-service (pause / resume / cancel / change payment method), plan switching with prorate, tier-based retention discounts, and a Spanish payment stack (Redsys, Bizum, Inespay, Google Pay via Redsys, PSD2 Light) bundled inside the core. Stripe, PayPal and WooPayments plug in through their official free gateway plugins.

When this is the right tool

Reach for Advanced Subscriptions when you want:

• To own your subscriptions stack. The plugin runs entirely on your WordPress install. No SaaS in the loop, no per-customer fee, no vendor lock-in.
• Native recurring on more than one gateway. Most subscription plugins assume Stripe. This one ships first-class recurring on four gateways.
• The Spanish payment stack. Redsys recurring, Bizum at checkout, Inespay direct debit, PSD2 Light — bundled and ready, not a third-party add-on.
• An anchor day for billing. One renewal date for every customer, so logistics, accounting and support all line up on the same calendar.
• A documented developer API. 236 actions and filters, 2 REST endpoints, 3 My Account endpoints, a stable meta-key registry. Built to be extended.

When something else is a better fit

Be honest about the gaps:

• You need physical-only "membership cards" with no online checkout. A WooCommerce membership plugin is closer to what you want.
• You need accounting / invoicing as the primary feature. Use a dedicated billing platform; Advanced Subscriptions handles the cycle, not full accounting.
• You want a managed SaaS. By definition this plugin is self-hosted. If "I don't want to maintain a WordPress site" is the constraint, use Chargebee, Recurly or similar instead.

How these docs are organised

Six tracks, each in the left sidebar. Pick the one that matches what you're trying to do today.

Getting started

Install, activate, configure your first gateway and ship your first subscription product. The 10-minute quick start is the fastest path.

Subscription products

The three product types (Simple, Variable, Multi-Product), the pricing fields and the editor screens.

Lifecycle

Statuses, transitions, renewals, retries, anchor day, start dates. Read this when "what happens when…?" comes up.

Discounts

Tier-based retention discounts, first-payment discounts, role pricing, coupons.

Payment gateways

How to configure each of the four natively-supported gateways. Read the overview first to pick yours.

Customer area, emails, migration, troubleshooting

The customer-facing pieces and the operational bits.

Developer & reference

The Hooks Reference (236 hooks, fully documented), HPOS, Cart/Checkout Blocks, and the FAQ.

Conventions in these docs

• Code blocks marked PHP belong in your theme's functions.php or in a small custom plugin.
• Code blocks marked SHELL are commands you run on the server hosting your store.
• Admin paths look like this: WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced Subscriptions → ….
• Hooks are linked by name: aswc_after_renewal_paid jumps to its entry in the Hooks Reference.
• Callouts in blue are tips, in amber are heads-up, in red are mistakes that will bite you in production.