Renewal Sync

Align first renewals to predictable billing-cycle boundaries, then choose how the customer's first payment should behave.

Availability: Free for global Renewal Sync, Pro for product-level Flexible Renewal Sync

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• Current guide: Renewal Sync
• Where to open it: WordPress Admin -> ArraySubs -> Settings -> General, and Products -> Edit Product -> Product data -> Subscription
• Section overview: Open overview
• Previous guide: renewal-operations
• Next guide: trial-management
• Troubleshooting: Audits, Logs, and Troubleshooting

Last updated: 2026-07-08

Overview

Renewal Sync lets new subscriptions start on the checkout date but renew on a shared calendar boundary. That is useful when your business wants billing to happen on predictable dates, such as the first day of every month, the start of the store week, the next day for daily plans, or January 1 for yearly plans.

Use Renewal Sync when you sell subscription boxes, cohort memberships, magazine or content drops, first-of-month clubs, weekly delivery plans, or any subscription where operations and accounting are easier when renewals line up.

Global Renewal Sync

The global setting is the simplest way to align new eligible subscriptions. Open ArraySubs -> Settings -> General -> Renewal Sync.

Settings

Boundary dates

ArraySubs calculates the next billing boundary from the subscription's billing period and the store timezone:

The subscription stores the synced next payment date. Renewal invoice generation, renewal reminders, gateway charging, and grace-period checks all use that stored date.

How to configure global sync

1. Go to ArraySubs -> Settings -> General.
2. Find Renewal Sync.
3. Enable Sync Renewals to Next Billing Cycle.
4. Choose First Charge:
   • Prorate until the synced renewal date when the first payment should reflect only the remaining days in the current cycle.
   • Charge the full recurring amount when signup should always collect the standard recurring amount.
5. Click Save Settings.

Flexible Renewal Sync

Flexible Renewal Sync is the Pro product-level configuration for stores that need more control than one global first-charge mode. It lets each product split the billing cycle into active segments. The segment a customer signs up in decides how the first charge works.

Open Products -> Edit Product -> Product data -> Subscription.

Segment behavior

Example: a monthly product uses boundaries 10 and 20. A customer who signs up on day 8 falls into Full amount, a customer who signs up on day 15 falls into Prorate amount, and a customer who signs up on day 25 falls into Charge full for next billing cycle.

Boundary rules

Flexible Renewal Sync uses a nominal cycle length to size the segment picker:

Calendar cycles with extra days, such as 31-day months or leap years, add those extra days to the last active segment. Months still renew on the 1st, weeks still align to the store's start-of-week day, and years still align to January 1.

You can disable segments. At least one segment must remain active. When a segment is disabled, the remaining active segments expand to cover the full cycle.

How to configure a product

1. Go to Products -> All Products and edit the subscription product.
2. In Product data, make sure Subscription is enabled.
3. Open the Subscription tab.
4. Confirm the product is not using a trial, not using a lifetime billing period, and does not have Different Renewal Price enabled.
5. Enable Flexible Renewal Sync to Next Billing Cycle.
6. Move the boundary handles to split the cycle.
7. Leave all three segments enabled, or disable a segment when the remaining behaviors should cover the full cycle.
8. Click Update.

For variable products, configure the same feature inside the relevant variation's subscription fields. Each variation can have its own segment plan.

What customers see

The cart and checkout summary explain the first charge and the next synced charge. This lets customers understand whether they are paying a prorated first amount, a full first amount, or a full amount that covers the next billing cycle.

In the screenshot above, the customer signs up for a monthly product on July 8, 2026. The product's first segment covers days 1-10, so checkout charges the full first amount. The next charge is synced to August 1, 2026.

How Renewal Sync affects the subscription

When a synced subscription is created:

1. Checkout calculates the first payment according to the global mode or the product's flexible segment.
2. The subscription stores the full recurring amount as the normal renewal price.
3. The subscription's first next payment date is set to the synced boundary.
4. Renewal invoices and reminders use the stored next payment date.
5. After a successful renewal payment, the next date advances by the billing interval while staying anchored to the billing-cycle boundary.

Testing checklist

• Add the product to the cart from a logged-out or test customer session.
• Confirm checkout shows Today's charge and Next charge correctly.
• Confirm unsupported automatic gateways do not appear for the synced cart.
• Place a test order with a supported gateway.
• Open the created subscription and verify the Next Payment Date is the synced boundary.
• Check the first renewal invoice later uses the full recurring price unless the product's segment intentionally pushed the first full renewal one cycle forward.

Troubleshooting