A recurring payment is a charge that repeats automatically at a set frequency — every week, month, or year — without the customer having to pay manually each time. A subscription is the relationship that links a customer to a recurring billing plan.
Why it matters
If your business sells memberships, monthly services, or any product paid periodically, subscriptions give you predictable revenue and remove the friction of paying every cycle for the customer.
How it works
- Plan: defines the amount, currency, and frequency of the charge. The same plan can have many subscribers.
- Subscription: links a customer to a plan and stores their payment method for future charges.
- Renewal: at the end of each cycle, Conekta automatically attempts the charge with the registered payment method.
- Failed charge: if an attempt doesn't go through — expired card, insufficient funds — retries are scheduled before the subscription is suspended.
Example
A gym creates the plan Monthly Membership for 500 MXN every month. Each customer who signs up is subscribed with their card; on the renewal date, the charge is processed on its own and the customer receives their receipt without doing anything.
What you should do
Define your plans with clear amounts and frequency, and tell the customer what they'll be charged and when — that reduces cancellations and chargebacks. Then learn how to operate the full cycle in How to create and manage a subscription.