You can now transition active subscriptions between different billing plans right from the dashboard or backend API. Switch a customer's subscription from one price to another while keeping their billing smooth — whether you're upgrading them from free to paid or moving between paid tiers.

What's new

This subscription item management feature lets you easily change a customer's active subscription item to a new pricing plan. It makes essential Billing workflows simple:

• Promotional offers - Apply special pricing to existing subscribers
• Tiered upgrades and downgrades - Move customers between different paid plans based on their needs or usage
• Plan migrations - Transition customers to new pricing structures as your product evolves

When you create a price transition, we handle all the timing and billing logic for you:

Free-to-paid transitions depend on the customer's current subscription state:

• New to paid: When transitioning a customer from free to a paid plan with no other active subscription, the paid plan activates immediately and the customer is charged right away

  • Example: Moving a customer on the free plan to Pro ($50/month). Pro activates immediately, customer charged $50.

• Free to paid with active subscription: When transitioning from free to paid but the customer has another active subscription, the paid plan is scheduled as upcoming to avoid billing conflicts

  • Example: Customer on free plan with an active Pro subscription through March 20. Switching the free plan to Enterprise sets Enterprise as upcoming until March 20.

Paid-to-paid transitions schedule the new plan to avoid billing overlap:

• Switching between paid plans: When a customer already has an active paid subscription, the new plan is scheduled to start when their current billing period ends
  • Example: Upgrading a customer from Basic ($20/month, paid through Feb 15) to Enterprise ($35/month) on Jan 15
  • Basic remains active through Feb 15 (already paid for)
  • Enterprise becomes upcoming and activates Feb 15 (customer charged then)
  • Prevents double-billing the customer for overlapping periods

Paid-to-free transitions schedule the free plan as upcoming, allowing the customer's current paid subscription to run through its paid period before automatically activating the free plan.

Getting started

To change the price or plan of your subscriptions:

1. Navigate to Subscriptions in the Clerk dashboard
2. Choose the subscription item you want to update
3. Click the three dots menu
4. Update the price or plan as needed

Create custom prices

If you can't find a price that satisfies your needs from the existing options, you can create a new price by clicking "Create new price" and use it right away for your subscription transitions.

Paid plans without charging

We're currently working on a feature that will allow you to assign paid plans to customers without billing them. This capability will be valuable for several scenarios:

• Gifting subscriptions - Give users complimentary access to premium features
• Internal team access - Let your team use paid features in production without extra billing
• Migration help - Support customers who've already paid on other platforms