Product & plan types
Every subscription model, one native engine.
From subscribe-and-save to gift, prepaid, build-a-box, and metered access — the models merchants actually sell, plus the knobs to tune any plan. Each is tagged for how far it’s come: live means a shopper can walk it today; configurable means the engine is built and a merchant sets it up in the BigCommerce admin.
Ways to subscribe
The subscription models, what each is for.
Read each card two ways — what the shopper gets, and what the merchant configures. “Live in the demo” is verified against the running demo store (last checked 2026-06-29), not asserted from a spec.
Live — a shopper can do this today
live storefront ↗Subscribe & save
- Shopper
- Buy on a recurring schedule and save a set percentage on every order.
- Merchant
- Choose the discount, the cadence options, and which products qualify.
Free trial
- Shopper
- Start a subscription with a free trial period before the first charge.
- Merchant
- Set the trial length; the first charge is suppressed until it ends, and a cancel during the trial bills nothing.
Intro offer
- Shopper
- Get a discount on your first order — “X% off your first box, then regular price.”
- Merchant
- Apply a first-cycle (or first-N-cycle) discount that doesn’t carry into renewals.
Annual billing
- Shopper
- Subscribe on a yearly cadence and hold the rate for the term.
- Merchant
- Offer yearly billing alongside monthly or weekly, with optional commitment terms.
Prepaid
- Shopper
- Pay up front for several cycles — often at a discount — and get each delivery without re-charging.
- Merchant
- Sell N cycles in one payment; each cycle still generates its own order with no per-cycle processor call.
Gift a subscription
- Shopper
- Buy a subscription for someone else; they claim it from an email link against their own account.
- Merchant
- Reach gift-givers — the gifter pays, the recipient receives and manages it.
Gift purchase runs through the subscriber portal today; a storefront “gift this” button is the next step.
Build-a-box
- Shopper
- Pick the items in your box each cycle from the merchant’s curated set.
- Merchant
- Let subscribers compose a box from an eligible-product list, with a customization window before each shipment.
Box customization happens in the portal after subscribing; building a box on the product page first is next.
Configurable — built in the engine, set up in the admin
advanced-subs preview ↗These run end-to-end in the engine and a merchant configures them in BigCommerce — the self-serve storefront path for the shopper is on the roadmap.
Bundle plans
- Shopper
- Receive a fixed set of products together on one recurring schedule.
- Merchant
- Define a multi-SKU bundle that ships as a single recurring order, and align several subscriptions onto one charge date.
Membership / access
- Shopper
- Subscribe for access — a customer group, a discount, or digital content — with nothing to ship.
- Merchant
- Grant and revoke entitlements on a recurring basis; pure access, no fulfillment.
Usage-based / metered
- Shopper
- Pay for what you use — the charge reflects reported usage each cycle.
- Merchant
- Bill “base + usage × unit price” from per-cycle usage events.
Curation / surprise-me
- Shopper
- Get a curated pick each cycle — a surprise selection instead of the same item.
- Merchant
- Rotate the item per cycle by rule or hand-pick it; built for discovery.
Allotment / wallet
- Shopper
- Draw from a recurring quota or wallet that refreshes on a cadence — e.g., four pickups a quarter.
- Merchant
- Grant a refreshing allowance independent of a paid charge; useful for B2B and loyalty.
Multi-actor
- Shopper
- Let a subscription have different people as owner, payer, and beneficiary.
- Merchant
- Model gifts, family plans, and B2B-managed subscriptions where the payer isn’t the recipient.
Calendar-anchored billing
- Shopper
- Renew on a shared calendar date — everyone bills on, say, January 1.
- Merchant
- Anchor all subscribers to a fixed renewal date, with first-cycle proration for mid-period signups.
Set on the admin / API subscription path, not the self-serve storefront.
On top of any plan
Every plan is configurable with…
These aren’t separate models — they’re settings a merchant layers onto any of the above.
- Lock price at signup
- Snapshot the subscriber’s price so later catalog changes don’t touch them.
- Minimum term & early-cancel policy
- Commit to N cycles; block, charge a fee, or route to support on early cancel.
- Proration
- Charge a fair partial amount for a mid-period start, or skip the stub.
- Out-of-stock renewal policy
- On a stockout at renewal: proceed, pause, skip the cycle, or notify and wait.
- Free shipping
- Apply free shipping to every renewal on the plan.
- BigCommerce price lists
- Price renewals from a B2B or customer-group price list.
- Sales mode
- Offer subscribe-only, subscribe-and-one-time, or one-time-only on the product.
- Discount base
- Apply the subscribe-and-save discount to the sale price or the list price.
Product types
Physical or digital — the engine adapts.
Physical goods
Shipped each cycle, with shipping recalculated per renewal.
Digital goods
Memberships, access, and downloads — fulfilled instantly, nothing to ship.
See a model in action.
Open the live storefront, or step through a guided journey — one preview password throughout.