The plan creator lets administrators configure subscription plans, plan categories and fees through a front-end financial setup. From here you define renewal behaviour, group plans for reporting, control which add-ons apply, and manage future-dated fee changes without disturbing live subscriptions. This whole area is managed from Settings → Finance & usage.
Access & permissions
To configure subscription plans, the user must have Manage financial plans enabled in their User Group.
Enable the permission
- Go to Settings.
- Open User Groups.
- Enable Manage financial plans.
Once enabled, two new sections appear under Finance & usage: Plans and Plan add-ons. (Plan add-ons — discounts and surcharges — are covered in Plan add-ons: discounts & surcharges.)
Plan categories
Plan categories group subscription plans for reporting, filtering and behavioural rules. Common examples include memberships, donations, and insurance or add-on-style products.
Manage categories
- Go to Settings → Finance & usage → Plans.
- Select Manage Categories.
- Click Add Category.
- Enter a category name.
- Configure Multiple Active Subscriptions (see below).
- Save.
Multiple Active Subscriptions
- When disabled, a contact can only have one active subscription in that category. This is the default and is typically used for memberships.
- When enabled, a contact may hold multiple concurrent subscriptions in the same category.
Creating a plan
- Go to Settings → Finance & usage → Plans.
- Select Add Plan.
- Complete the plan setup in the drawer:
- Plan name
- Plan type (Anniversary or Common — see below)
- Common period date (Common plans only — day and month)
- Renewal type (see below)
- Plan Category — choose Use existing or Create new
- Plan add-ons (which discounts and surcharges are available)
- Payment settings
- Invoice settings
- Select Save.
Plan types
Anniversary plans
Anniversary plans renew based on the individual contact's plan start date. There are two options:
- Default anniversary — renews exactly on the contact's start date.
- Rounded anniversary — renews aligned to the start of the fee interval period.
For rounded anniversary plans, the exact renewal day is controlled by the Payment offset (days) setting (under Additional settings on the fee), not by the plan itself. The period-boundary behaviour members experience — Anniversary Default, Fixed Rounded and Rolling Rounded — is explained in Subscription period settings.
Common plans
Common plans renew on a shared schedule for all contacts.
- Select the Common plan type.
- Enter the common renewal period using day and month only — for example 1 July to 30 June.
Pro rata for common plans. Pro rata is configured on the fee using the Pro-rate interval field in the Add Fee form — set the interval used to calculate prorated fees for members joining mid-cycle. The field only appears on Common plans.
Renewal type
Every plan also has a required Renewal type, which controls whether members can renew ahead of their period ending:
- Default – Renews at a common period — the standard behaviour, and what most plans use. The plan renews on its schedule with a single Plan Fee.
- Renewal – Allows early renewal — lets a member renew before the current period ends. Choosing this changes the plan's fee structure: the fee gains a required Renewal Fee alongside the Plan Fee, which is the amount charged when an existing member renews. Very few organisations need this, so leave Renewal type on Default unless you specifically want early renewal.
Renewal type is set when the plan is created and locks once the plan has subscribers.
Plan add-ons (plan level)
The plan add-ons section defines which discounts and surcharges are available to a plan.
- The discounts and surcharges must already exist before they can be linked here.
- Only live add-ons appear.
- Configuration here mirrors the configuration in the Plans Add Ons section (see Plan add-ons: discounts & surcharges).
Payment settings
Payment settings on a plan include:
- Line type — typically Subscription.
- Tracking codes — for reporting (see Tracking categories & the Financial Summary formula field).
- Continuous — when enabled, auto-renew cannot be turned off for subscriptions on this plan.
- Allow custom payment amounts — lets the charged amount be set per subscription. Commonly used for recurring donations and flexible, admin-controlled plans. This setting locks once the plan has subscribers.
Invoice settings (plan level)
- Default early invoice generation — the number of intervals and the interval type to generate invoices ahead of each period. Can be overridden on the fee.
- Start new subscriptions in the upcoming common period when within the early invoice generation window — on Common plans, when you are already inside the early invoice generation window, new subscriptions start in the upcoming common period rather than the current one.
- Email invoices — Yes, No or Inherit (see Email invoice settings, footer builder & early generation).
Plan fee structure
A plan must have fees defined before it can charge contacts. Open a plan's fees by selecting the dollar ($) icon next to the plan, which opens the Plan fee structure drawer.
Fee tabs
- Active — currently charging.
- Future — scheduled to begin later.
- Expired — no longer in use.
Adding a fee
- Select Add fee.
- Configure the fee details:
- Plan interval — Daily, Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly, Quarterly or Annual.
- Number of intervals between charges (optional) — for example Monthly with 2 charges every two months. Defaults to 1 if left blank.
- Pro-rate interval — the interval used to calculate prorated fees for new subscriptions joining mid-cycle. This appears on Common plans only; Anniversary plans start a fresh period on the member's join date, so there is nothing to pro-rate.
- Effective date — controls when the fee starts; used to future-date fee changes.
- Currency.
- Plan Fee — the fee amount.
- Renewal Fee — appears, and is required, only on plans whose Renewal type is Renewal – Allows early renewal. It is the amount charged when an existing member renews, as distinct from the Plan Fee.
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Under Additional settings (Anniversary configuration) you can also set:
- Payment offset (days) — sets the exact charge day (for example, if the interval starts on the 1st, an offset of 15 takes payment on the 16th). This controls the exact renewal day, including for rounded anniversary plans.
- Paid to offset — moves the paid-to date earlier or later than the end of each period.
- Always debit on schedule — always process scheduled payments on their due date even if the member has paid ahead (this also forces auto-renew on subscriptions under this fee).
- Override plan type — set a payment schedule different from the plan's default cycle.
An Invoice Settings section on the fee controls the Email Invoice behaviour at fee level.
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Save.
Fee editing rules
Fees cannot be edited once active, and existing fees cannot be modified. To change pricing, add a new future-dated fee. When the effective date arrives, the future fee becomes active and the previous fee automatically expires.
Validation
SwiftFox validates fees to prevent duplicates, overlapping effective dates, and identical fee amounts on the same date and interval.
Editing plans
- If no contacts are subscribed, the plan can be edited normally.
- If any contacts are subscribed, the structural Plan details are locked and appear greyed out: Plan type, Common period date, Renewal type, Common renewal date and Plan Category — along with Allow custom payment amounts.
- Everything else stays editable: Plan name, Plan add-ons (surcharges and discounts), Payment settings (Line type, Tracking codes) and Invoice settings.
- Fees can still be managed via future-dated additions.
How it fits together
- Categories affect subscription behaviour and reporting.
- Plans define renewal logic and the available pricing options.
- Fees define what is charged and when; future-dated fees are the only way to change pricing.
- Add-ons modify pricing without altering the base plan.
- Tracking codes and line types support finance reporting and automations.
FAQs
Can I edit a live fee? No. Fees must be replaced with future-dated fees.
Can I change renewal dates on active plans? No. Structural plan settings lock once a plan has subscribers.
How do I set exact renewal days for rounded anniversary plans? Use the Payment offset (days) setting under Additional settings on the fee.
How do common plans handle pro rata? Set the Pro-rate interval on the fee in the Add Fee form. The field only appears on Common plans.
What is the Renewal Fee and do I need it? It appears only when the plan's Renewal type is Renewal – Allows early renewal, where it is required alongside the Plan Fee. Most organisations leave Renewal type on Default and never see it.
Can multiple subscriptions exist in one category? Only if Multiple Active Subscriptions is enabled on the category.