- Purchase and install WooCommerce Subscriptions or
- Use the subscription functionality built into WooCommerce Payments
Overview
↑ Back to topWith Buy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions, you allow your customers to purchase a simple or variable product as a one-time buy or on a subscription basis on the same product page. The plugin will allow you to:
- Configure subscription frequencies for simple and variable products.
- Set discounts for each subscription frequency created
Compatibility
↑ Back to topBuy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions has been tested to work with the following extensions:
Requirements
↑ Back to topBuy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions requires:
- WooCommerce Subscriptions 4.0.0+ or WooCommerce Payments (must have subscription functionality).
- WooCommerce 6.8+.
- Buy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin only supports HTTPS websites and will not work on HTTP websites.
Installation
↑ Back to topAs with any WordPress plugin, Buy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions can be installed on the website in 2 ways:
- Installing Buy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions directly from your website:
- Go to: WordPress Admin > Plugins > Add New and Upload Plugin with the file you downloaded with Choose File.
- Click Install Now and Activate the extension.
- Installing Buy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions using FTP
- Extract the WordPress plugin ZIP file to a folder on your computer.
- Upload the plugin folder to your FTP server. The folder should be copied to the following WordPress folder wp-content –> plugins. If you are upgrading an existing plugin, please make sure to overwrite the existing plugin folder.
- Activate the plugin by logging into your WordPress backend. Go to Plugins –> Installed Plugins, find the plugin from the list and click ‘Activate’.
More information at Install and Activate Plugins/Extensions.
Setup and Configuration
↑ Back to topTo define subscription frequencies for a product you have to:
- Add a new Simple or Variable WooCommerce Product or you can also edit an existing one.
- Go to Product Data > Subscriptions tab.
- Enter a Title for your Call To Action, e.g. “Choose subscription frequency”. This is optional and if you leave this blank, the default text “Choose Frequency” title will be used.
- Click on Add Frequency to add a subscription plan:
- Choose the frequency. You can combine every, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th with day, week, month or year.
- Optionally, add a percentage discount, e.g. 10 (without the % symbol). If you leave this field blank or set it to 0 then no discount will be applied for that subscription plan.
- You can add as many subscription plans as you like. The plans can be ordered and deleted, and this will be reflected in the way the plans will be displayed on the product page.
- When you are done adding all the frequencies, Publish or Update the product to save the changes.
Have a question before you buy? Please fill out this pre-sales form.

On the product page, the customers will be able to choose between a one-time purchase and a subscription. If a product has more subscription plans defined then the customer will be able to choose the desired plan from a dropdown list.
When the subscription option is selected, the Add to cart button text will change to “Sign up now” (if you are using the subscription functionality from WooCommerce Payments) or to the text set in the Add to Cart Button Text field from WooComerce – Settings – Subscriptions (if you are using WooCommerce Subscriptions)

Once a product has been purchased on a subscription plan, a WooCommerce subscription will be created for that product.
If an order contains products with different subscription frequencies, then the products will be grouped according to their subscription frequency and a subscription will be created for each frequency. On the cart and checkout page, the Subtotals and recurring totals will be calculated for each subscription frequency.
Changing Add to Cart button text on the product page
↑ Back to topChanging the text for the Add to cart button or Sign up now button can be done using the WooCommerce subscriptions settings and filters.
- The Add to cart button text can be changed by using the WooCommerce filter described in the documentation.
- The Sign up now button text can be changed using the Following WooCommerce Subscriptions setting WooCommerce – Settings – Subscriptions – Add to Cart Button Text
Custom add-to-cart links
↑ Back to topIn order to add a product to the cart as a subscription using a custom add-to-cart link you will need to know the product ID (and variation ID in case of variable products) for the product you want to add to the cart. The link will have the following structure:
https://domain.com/?add-to-cart={Product ID}&variation_id={Variation ID}&bos4w-purchase-type=1&convert_to_sub_plan_{Product ID}={Subscription interval}_{Subscription period}_{Discount}
An example of a custom add-to-cart link is:
https://domain.com/?add-to-cart=3067&variation_id=3068&bos4w-purchase-type=1&convert_to_sub_plan_3067=1_month_10
In order to add a product to the cart as a one-time purchase, the link structure is the same as for any WooCommerce product:
https://domain.com/?add-to-cart={Product ID}&variation_id={Variation ID}
By default, the above examples will add 1 piece of the product to the cart. If you want to add more than one piece you can use the quantity parameter like in the example below:
https://domain.com/?add-to-cart=3067&quantity=2&variation_id=3068&bos4w-purchase-type=1&convert_to_sub_plan_3067=1_month_10
The subscription period and subscription interval are the ones used by WooCommerce Subscriptions. In case the combination between the subscription period, subscription interval, and discount is not matched with any of the frequencies and discounts set on the product, the product will be added to the cart at full price and without a subscription frequency (as a simple or variable product).
Limitations
↑ Back to topSign-Up Fees
↑ Back to topNew subscription plans generated with Buy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions do not support sign-up fees. Please let us know if this is something you need and we’ll look into it.
Adding prorated products/carts to subscriptions
↑ Back to topIt will not be possible to add a prorated and synchronized product/cart to an existing subscription. Please let us know if this is something you need and we’ll look into it.
Developer Hooks & Filters
↑ Back to topPlease check this document for all Buy once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscription hooks and filters.
Feedback and Suggestions
↑ Back to topIf you’d like to add a feature to Buy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions that you think would be useful, we’d love to hear about it!
Please send your suggestion to our support team and we’ll consider adding it in the future.
Questions & Support
Purchased Buy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions and need assistance? If you’ve found an issue:
- Ensure you have the latest versions of WordPress, WooCommerce and WooCommerce Subscriptions.
- Go to WooCommerce > System Status to check for plugin updates and other important information that may require your attention.
- Rule out a plugin conflict: Turn off all plugins except WooCommerce, WooCommerce Subscriptions or WooCommerce Payments and Buy Once or Subscribe for WooCommerce Subscriptions. If the issue is resolved, find the plugin that triggers the issue by re-activating plugins one by one.
- Rule out a theme conflict. Activate Storefront, or a default WordPress theme such as Twenty Fourteen and check if the issue still occurs. If it doesn’t, please contact your theme author(s).
- Read the most Frequently Asked Questions.
- Read these important notes on Compatibility.
- Use the WooCommerce Self Service Guide.
If you followed these steps but the issue persists, get in touch with us via the Help Desk!