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ProRecurring and Subscription invoices are Easy Invoice Pro features. Upgrade to Easy Invoice Pro →

Recurring & Subscription invoices ​

Use recurring invoices when you bill the same client on a schedule — monthly retainer, yearly hosting, quarterly maintenance, etc. Easy Invoice Pro generates each new invoice automatically via WordPress cron and (optionally) emails it to the client.

Recurring vs Subscription — what's the difference? ​

FeatureRecurringSubscription
TriggersNew invoice on a scheduleNew invoice + payment auto-charge
Best for"Send me the bill, I'll pay it""Bill me and just charge my card"
Requires gateway supportNo — works with all gatewaysYes — works with Stripe / Authorize.Net
Trial periodNoYes
Maximum cyclesYes (optional cap)Yes (optional cap)
Client-side reviewNo — auto-generatedOptional — client can edit amount each cycle

Enable each module independently:

  • Recurring → Easy Invoice → Settings → Invoice → Enable Recurring Invoices
  • Subscription → set in the per-invoice subscription section (requires Pro license tier that includes it)

1. Enable the engine ​

Open Easy Invoice → Settings → Invoice and tick Enable Recurring Invoices. Save.

This unlocks the Recurring section inside each invoice's builder.

2. Make any invoice recurring ​

  1. Build a normal invoice (see Invoices walkthrough).
  2. Inside the builder, find the Recurring section.
  3. Tick Enable Recurring.
  4. Configure:
FieldWhat it does
Frequencyday / month / year
IntervalNumber of frequency units — e.g. Frequency=month, Interval=3 ⇒ every 3 months (quarterly).
Start DateFirst generation date. Defaults to today.
End Date / Max Cycles(Optional) Stop after N invoices or a specific date.
Auto-send to clientEmail each new generated invoice automatically.
Statusactive / paused / cancelled (set later from the Recurring list).
  1. Publish the invoice. From now on, the cron generates new child invoices on the schedule.

3. The Recurring dashboard ​

Open Easy Invoice → All Invoices and filter by Recurring (a star icon in the title indicates parent invoices). You can:

  • Pause — stop generation until you resume
  • Resume — restart
  • Cancel — stop permanently
  • Manual trigger — generate the next child invoice now (useful for testing)

Each parent invoice keeps a history of every child invoice it has created.

4. Subscription invoices ​

Same idea as Recurring but with auto-charging the client's card. Setup:

  1. Open Easy Invoice → Settings → Invoice → Subscription Invoices (visible only with a compatible Pro license tier and after enabling subscriptions globally).

  2. On the invoice builder, find the Subscription section. Configure:

    • Frequency + Interval
    • Trial enabled + Trial days + Trial amount (e.g. $0 for 14 days)
    • Variable amount — let the client review and edit each cycle's amount before charge
    • Maximum cycles — stop after N successful charges

  3. The client's first payment saves their card via the gateway (Stripe / Authorize.Net). Subsequent cycles auto-charge.

Why two engines instead of one? Subscriptions require gateway support for stored-card charging, which not every Pro user has. Recurring works with any gateway (PayPal, Bank Transfer, even Manual) because the client manually pays each invoice as it's generated.

5. Cron — make sure it runs ​

Recurring + Subscription rely on WordPress cron firing at least once per day. WordPress runs cron on each page hit by default, which is unreliable on low-traffic sites.

For reliability:

  1. In wp-config.php add: define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);
  2. Add a real server cron job hitting https://yoursite.com/wp-cron.php every 15 minutes:
    */15 * * * * curl -s https://yoursite.com/wp-cron.php > /dev/null

Otherwise, recurring invoices may generate hours or days late.

6. Tips for new users ​

  • Test with a +1 day Interval first. Make a fake recurring invoice with Frequency=day, Interval=1, then check tomorrow that a new child invoice was created.
  • Auto-send is powerful — and risky. Don't enable auto-send until you've manually triggered at least one child invoice and confirmed it looks right.
  • Pause before cancelling. Cancelling is permanent. Pausing keeps history and lets you resume next month.

Combining with other Pro features ​

Combined withEffect
Partial paymentsEach generated invoice supports installments.
Deposit invoicesEach cycle creates a deposit + balance pair.
Payment remindersReminders apply to every generated child.
Client portalClients see all generated invoices in one place.

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