Subscriptions and Recurring Billing on Paysasa: Plans, Customers and Automatic Invoices

Recurring revenue is one of the most valuable things a business can build. Whether you run a gym, a software product, a tutoring service, a cleaning company or a membership association, predictable monthly or annual payments make planning far easier. Collecting them manually, however, means reminders, spreadsheets and late payments.

Subscriptions & Recurring Billing on Paysasa is designed to automate that cycle. This deep dive explains how it works.

The building blocks

Paysasa subscriptions are built from a few simple pieces:

• Billing customers — the people or organisations you bill.
• Products — what you sell, such as "Pro plan" or "Monthly membership".
• Prices — the amount and the interval: day, week, month or year.
• Subscriptions — a customer subscribed to one or more prices.

How a subscription runs

1. You create a customer, a product and a recurring price.
2. You start a subscription for the customer, optionally with a trial period.
3. Each billing period issues an invoice that the customer can pay with M-Pesa or their Paysasa wallet.
4. The first invoice comes with a payment link, and you can also create a subscription that returns a checkout URL for the customer to sign up and pay.
5. The cycle repeats until the subscription is paused or cancelled.

Managing the lifecycle

Real customers change their minds, travel or need a break. Paysasa lets you:

• Pause a subscription temporarily.
• Resume it when the customer is ready.
• Cancel it when it should end.

A customer portal lets subscribers look up their subscription using their subscription ID plus email or phone.

Recurring invoices without full plans

If you do not need products and prices, you can enable recurring on a template invoice instead. A new invoice is generated each cycle — monthly, for example — until an end date you set. This suits simple retainers and fixed monthly services.

Analytics

Subscriptions includes MRR-style analytics, helping you understand recurring revenue and how it changes over time.

Webhooks for your systems

If you run your own app or website, Paysasa can notify your systems through webhooks such as:

• `subscription.created`, `subscription.updated` and `subscription.canceled`
• `customer.created`
• `invoice.created` and `invoice.paid`

That means you can unlock features, extend memberships or send welcome emails automatically when a payment is made.

Why recurring billing helps

• Predictable income for planning and growth.
• Less admin — no manual invoices each month.
• Fewer late payments, thanks to automatic invoices with easy mobile payment.
• Better customer experience, with clear invoices and simple pause or cancel options.

Tips for designing plans

• Keep tiers simple. Two or three plans are easier to choose from.
• Name plans by value, not jargon.
• Offer a trial where it helps customers experience the value.
• Communicate changes to prices well in advance.
• Make cancelling easy. It builds trust and often brings customers back later.

Collection methods

Subscriptions can be collected by sending an invoice each period, which the customer pays from the hosted page, or through auto-charge flows where they are offered. Sending invoices suits customers who prefer to approve each payment; it also gives both sides a clear record for every billing cycle.

An illustrative example

Imagine a coding bootcamp in Nairobi that offers a monthly mentorship plan. It creates a "Mentorship" product with a monthly price and starts subscriptions for each learner. Every month, learners receive an invoice they pay by M-Pesa, and a webhook unlocks the next month's sessions in the bootcamp's portal. When a learner travels for a month, the team pauses the subscription and resumes it on their return.

Availability

Subscriptions & Recurring Billing is a module-gated feature. Its current status is shown on the Paysasa features page; module availability can vary, and some modules are available to selected businesses. Collecting payments requires a verified business.

For developers

The Subscriptions API includes endpoints to create billing customers, products and prices; start subscriptions or subscription checkout; cancel, pause and resume; and access the customer portal. Authenticate with a business API key. See the Paysasa API docs.

Fees

Fees are listed on the Paysasa pricing page.

Conclusion

Subscriptions and recurring billing turn repeat customers into predictable revenue, with automatic invoices, easy mobile payment and full control over pauses and cancellations.

Ready to build recurring revenue? Explore Subscriptions or contact the Paysasa team to discuss your billing setup.