Manage your recurring payments

When you subscribe to a product, service, membership, premium content, or donation on a WordPress.com site, the charge repeats automatically until you cancel it. This guide explains how recurring payments work and how to view, manage, or cancel a subscription you’ve bought.

When you start a recurring payment, you’re automatically charged at regularly recurring intervals. You will be charged once a year or once a month until you cancel the subscription.

The interval, whether it’s a month or a year, is called a renewal period. Your subscription automatically renews for the same amount at the end of each renewal period. For example, if you buy a $5/month subscription on January 17, you’ll be charged $5 on the 17th of every month until you cancel the subscription.

The site owner determines the renewal period, so different sites will offer subscriptions of various lengths and frequencies. The amount you pay and the renewal period are displayed prominently during the subscription process, so you know what you’re spending and how frequently you’ll be charged.

Once you make a purchase, the renewal period and amount will not change. To continue the example above, your subscription will always be charged $5 monthly until you cancel it.

Recurring payments require a WordPress.com account so you can manage all your subscriptions in one place and reuse the same payment information across any WordPress.com site. You create or connect this account during checkout.

During the checkout process, you’ll enter your email address. If you already have a WordPress.com account associated with that address, we’ll associate the purchase with that account. If you don’t, we’ll create an account for you during checkout. When you complete the purchase, you’ll receive an email with additional information and login instructions for your new account.

When you make a recurring payment, you’re paying the site owner directly, not WordPress.com. WordPress.com only facilitates the processing and management of the subscription.

WordPress.com also doesn’t save your credit card information. Stripe (the payment processor) stores it so the charge can renew and you can buy other subscriptions with your WordPress.com account.

When you make a purchase, the site owner receives some information about the payment. The site owner can see your WordPress.com username and email address, along with the product or donation you purchased and the amount.

You can see your payment history and recurring subscriptions in your WordPress.com account. To view them, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your WordPress.com account.
2. Visit your WordPress.com account.
3. On the side, select the Billing menu option:

4. Select the “Memberships & donations” option.

Memberships & donations lists the memberships, paid subscriptions, and recurring donations you pay to other WordPress.com sites. Your own WordPress.com plans and purchases are under Active upgrades.

The Memberships & donations section displays all the recurring payments on your account, organized by the site each payment goes to. Each site you have paid appears with its own payments and subscriptions listed below it.

Click any purchase to see its details. A recurring subscription opens on the Subscription details page, which shows the renewal price, the next renewal date, and the renewal interval. A one-time purchase, such as a donation, opens on the Product details page. It shows the price and a renewal status of One-time purchase, and it has no renewal date or renewal interval.

Canceling a recurring payment stops future charges, and you keep access until the end of the period you’ve already paid for. To cancel a recurring payment subscription, follow these steps:

1. Open the Memberships & donations section as described above.
2. Select the subscription you want to cancel.
3. Next to Cancel subscription, click the Cancel button.

Auto-renew turns off, and you won’t be charged again. You keep access until the date shown under Cancel subscription.

Removing a subscription or one-time purchase ends it immediately, and you lose access to it right away. To remove a subscription or one-time purchase, follow these steps:

1. Open the Memberships & donations section as described above.
2. Select the subscription or one-time purchase you want to remove.
3. If the subscription still renews automatically, click the Cancel button first. The option changes to Remove subscription. One-time purchases skip this step.
4. Click the Remove button.

The purchase is removed from your Memberships & donations list. Refunds are handled separately by the site owner. To request one, see Get a refund for a recurring payment.

Refunds are handled by the site owner, not WordPress.com. Because the transaction is between you and the site owner, refer to their refund policy or contact them directly through their website.