If you sell a handful of services or a monthly plan, you do not need a full ecommerce store. We have taken recurring payments on our own site for years with one plugin and a Stripe account. Here is the setup and when it makes sense.
The simple setup
- WP Simple Pay (a Pro plan that includes recurring payments)
- A Stripe account
- An SSL certificate on your site (most hosts include one free)
No cart, no product catalog, no extensions to buy. Stripe handles the card data, billing schedule, receipts and failed-payment retries.
When this is the right fit
- Monthly or annual service plans (maintenance, retainers, coaching)
- Memberships where access is managed somewhere else
- Donations, deposits and payment plans
- A small number of products that do not need shipping or inventory
If you need a catalog, shipping, coupons across many products, or members-only content on the site itself, look at WooCommerce Subscriptions or a membership plugin instead. Our Stripe integration guide compares the options.
Setting it up
- In Stripe, finish account activation and add your business details and bank account.
- Install WP Simple Pay Pro, enter your license and connect Stripe from the plugin settings (it uses Stripe Connect, so there are no API keys to paste).
- Create a payment form. Choose a subscription price, set the interval (monthly, yearly) and optionally a trial or setup fee.
- Add the fields you need: name, email, and anything specific to the service.
- Embed the form on your pricing or checkout page with the WP Simple Pay block.
- Run a test payment in Stripe test mode, then switch to live mode.
Managing subscribers
Customers, invoices, upgrades and cancellations all live in the Stripe dashboard. You can let customers manage their own subscription through Stripe’s customer portal, so a cancellation or card update does not need an email to you. Use webhooks so WP Simple Pay knows when a payment succeeds or fails.
Learn it step by step
We put the full setup into a free WP Simple Pay and Stripe course. If you would rather hand it off, our Systems work connects payments to your forms, CRM and onboarding so new customers are set up without manual steps.