How to pause subscriptions in Chargebee
Pausing subscriptions in Chargebee: site defaults, pause options in the app and API, resume dates, the Self-Serve Portal, billing effects, and pause events.
By Florian
Some customers do not want to leave. They want to stop paying for a few months: a seasonal business, a parental leave, a project on hold. If cancelling is the only option, you lose them. Chargebee has a mature pause feature, with more options than most billing systems, and it is worth setting up properly before you need it.
This guide covers how pausing works in Chargebee Billing: the site defaults, the options in the app, the API and the Self-Serve Portal, what happens to billing, and how to offer a pause at the right moment. It sticks to Chargebee’s documentation: Pause Subscription, the Pause a subscription API, the Self-Serve Portal and the event types reference (all accessed November 2026).
Turn it on and set the defaults
Pausing has to be enabled first. Chargebee’s Pause Subscription page puts the settings under Settings › Configure Chargebee › Billing LogIQ › Customers & Subscriptions › Pause Subscription. The defaults cover three questions:
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| When the pause starts | Immediately, or at the next renewal |
| How long it lasts | Indefinitely, or until a set date and time |
| When the subscription resumes | Immediately, or at the next renewal |
These are defaults, not limits. Your team can still choose differently when pausing a specific subscription.
Pausing from the Chargebee app
When someone on your team pauses a subscription, Chargebee lets them pause:
- immediately,
- at the end of the current term, or
- on a scheduled date.
If no resume date is set, the pause is indefinite. A resume date can be set when pausing and edited later. Chargebee also has a knowledge base article on extending a pause date.
One behavior to know: a scheduled pause overrides other scheduled changes on that subscription, such as a pending upgrade (Pause Subscription). If you schedule plan changes and pauses for the same customers, check the result.
Pausing through the API
The Pause a subscription endpoint takes a pause_option. Its values mirror the app, plus one:
pause_option |
Behavior |
|---|---|
immediately |
Pauses now |
end_of_term |
Pauses when the current term ends |
specific_date |
Pauses on the date you pass |
billing_cycles |
Pauses at term end and resumes after a set number of skipped billing cycles |
You set when billing comes back with resume_date. The billing_cycles option is the most natural fit for a customer-facing offer: “Skip the next 2 months” maps directly onto it.
Resuming is a separate call. In the app or through the resume API, it can be immediate or scheduled for a specific date and time.
Letting customers pause themselves
The Self-Serve Portal can offer pausing to customers. You decide how long a pause can last:
- indefinitely,
- for a fixed number of days, or
- for a duration the customer picks from intervals you configure, capped at a maximum number of days.
Per the Pause Subscription page, the portal only supports immediate resumption: a customer who resumes from the portal is back on billing right away.
If you enable portal pausing, cap the duration. An indefinite pause is easy to forget, for you and for the customer.
What happens to billing
The Pause Subscription page is clear on the effects:
- Renewals stop while the subscription is paused.
- Monthly plans keep their billing cycles. The customer does not lose paid time.
- Yearly plans lose service time. Pausing a yearly subscription mid-term costs the customer that part of the year, because the term keeps running.
- Unbilled charges can be invoiced when the pause starts or kept until the subscription resumes.
The yearly-plan point changes how you should offer a pause. For an annual customer who wants a break, end_of_term is usually the fair choice: they use what they paid for, then pause instead of renewing.
Events to listen to
The event types reference includes:
subscription_pause_scheduledwhen a pause is scheduled for a future date,subscription_pausedwhen the subscription is paused,subscription_resumedwhen it resumes.
Use them to update access in your app, to stop usage-based charges if you track usage yourself, and to schedule a reminder before the resume date.
Offering a pause well
Chargebee handles the mechanics. Whether customers take the pause depends on how and when you offer it.
1. Offer it when they try to cancel
Put the offer on the cancel path, for customers whose reason fits: “taking a break”, “seasonal”, “not using it right now”. Do not show it to someone who says they switched to another tool. And keep the cancel button visible next to the offer; a pause is an alternative, not an obstacle.
2. Make it concrete
“Pause for 1, 2 or 3 months” beats “Pause your subscription”. Each choice maps to billing_cycles or a resume_date.
3. Pick the right start for the plan
Monthly plans: pausing immediately is fine. Yearly plans: default to end_of_term so the customer does not lose service time they paid for.
4. Remind before it resumes
A charge after a forgotten pause feels like a surprise, and surprises turn into disputes. Send a reminder a few days before the resume date with options to extend, resume now or cancel. Chargebee’s docs we used do not describe a built-in pause-ending reminder, so trigger it from subscription_paused and the resume date.
5. Handle missing payment methods
If a customer has no valid payment method on file, a resumed subscription will simply fail at its first renewal. Ask for a card update in the reminder when you can see that the card on file has expired.
6. Measure what happens after
For every pause, record the outcome: resumed and paid, extended, cancelled during the pause, or cancelled within a month of resuming. If most pauses end in cancellation, the offer is delaying churn rather than preventing it, and the reasons you offer it for may need adjusting.
Common mistakes
- Pausing annual plans immediately by default. The customer loses service time they paid for, and may only notice when they come back.
- Indefinite portal pauses. Without a cap, a pause becomes a quiet cancellation that never shows up in your churn numbers.
- Treating paused as churned, or as active. It is neither. Report paused subscriptions on their own line.
- No reminder before resuming. The first charge after a long pause is the one most likely to be disputed.
Doing this with NoChurn
Pausing stays a Chargebee feature: NoChurn calls Chargebee’s pause API when a customer accepts the offer, and your Chargebee settings still apply. NoChurn adds the cancel flow around it: the customer gives a reason, sees a pause (or a discount or plan change) only when it fits, and can always cancel in one click. It is hosted, or headless through the API. Pause outcomes and reasons feed each customer’s churn score from 0 to 100. See NoChurn + Chargebee.