Stripe payment plans

Installment payment plans, built on your Stripe account.

Stripe can bill a customer in pieces. Cadence makes those pieces one plan: a deposit, a schedule the customer accepted, an invoice for each installment and a balance that only moves when Stripe confirms the money.

Try the plan calculator See the features

Stripe collection is in a sandbox pilot. No live payments yet.

Fictional example · 6-month coaching program

$4,800Agreed total

$1,200Deposit

6 × $600Monthly

Example payment plan schedule
Due	Amount	Status
Deposit	$1,200	Paid
Nov 1	$600	Paid
Dec 1	$600	Invoice open
Jan 1	$600	Scheduled
3 more installments	$1,800	Scheduled
Paid	$1,800
Remaining balance	$3,000

The customer accepted this schedule. Each installment is paid on Stripe.

Four ways to take installments on Stripe

All of them work. Here is what each leaves for you to manage.

Subscription that ends after N payments

Create a subscription and set it to cancel after the last installment, or use a subscription schedule. Good for equal monthly amounts.

What’s missing: No deposit concept, no agreed total or remaining balance, and changing one payment means editing the subscription by hand.

One invoice per installment

Create and send a Stripe invoice for each payment as it comes due. Flexible and customer-friendly.

What’s missing: You track the schedule, due dates and what’s left somewhere else, usually a spreadsheet.

Payment Links or Checkout in installments

Send a new link each month for the next amount.

What’s missing: Nothing ties the payments together into one plan.

Buy now, pay later at checkout

Stripe can offer providers such as Affirm or Klarna. The provider pays you up front.

What’s missing: The provider approves the buyer and charges merchant fees. It fits online checkout better than sales closed on a call.

What Cadence adds to Stripe

Cadence keeps the plan; Stripe moves the money. The plan lives in Cadence with its total, deposit, dates and history. Each installment becomes an ordinary Stripe invoice on your account, attached to the same Stripe customer.

One plan, one balance. Paid and remaining amounts for every customer, without a spreadsheet.
Terms the customer accepted. Your customer reviews and accepts the exact schedule before the first invoice.
Verified payments only. The balance moves when Stripe confirms a payment that matches the plan. A paid-looking invoice with the wrong amount or customer goes to review.
No duplicate invoices. Each issue request is idempotent, so a double click or retry can’t bill twice.
Your Stripe pricing. Customers pay on Stripe’s hosted invoice page. Cadence never holds your funds.

Payment plans vs. Stripe subscriptions

A subscription is built to renew. A payment plan is built to finish. If you have been using a subscription that cancels itself after the sixth payment, read where subscriptions fall short as payment plans.

Questions

Does Stripe have built-in payment plans?

Stripe gives you the building blocks: invoices, subscriptions, subscription schedules and buy now, pay later payment methods. It does not keep a deposit-plus-installments plan with a customer-accepted schedule and a running balance for you. That is the layer Cadence adds.

Can I split a payment into installments on Stripe?

Yes. The common approaches are a subscription that cancels after a set number of payments, one invoice per installment, or a BNPL payment method. Cadence uses one Stripe invoice per installment, tied to a single plan and balance.

Do I need a new Stripe account?

No. Cadence issues invoices from your existing Stripe account, so payouts, fees and your customer list stay where they are.

Does Cadence charge cards automatically?

Not yet. Today each due installment is issued as a Stripe-hosted invoice that the customer pays. Automatic charging with saved-card consent is planned.

Is this live?

Not yet. Stripe collection is in a sandbox pilot. No live payments yet.

Offer the plan. Know the balance.