Pay What You Want (PWYW) is a new pricing model for subscription plans.
This feature lets your members decide how much they pay for a subscription plan. You set a minimum price and three suggested amounts, and members choose their amount at checkout. It's a flexible way to make your content more accessible while giving your most supportive members a way to pay more.
ℹ️ INFO: Pay What You Want is currently in a limited pilot and is not yet available on all stores. It works with web subscription plans only and requires the new Products page and the Unified Checkout. If you do not see a price mode option on your subscription plan, your store is not part of the pilot yet.
Before You Start
A few things to know before you set up a Pay What You Want plan:
The minimum must be at least $0.50. Free subscriptions are not supported.
Pay What You Want is not available on plans linked to your mobile or TV apps. App stores require a subscription to be priced the same in the app and on the web, so app-linked plans can only use a fixed price.
Pay What You Want is also not available on plans offered as a subscription upsell at checkout.
The mode is set per plan. A plan is either Fixed Price or Pay What You Want, not both.
Once your plan has members, the minimum can only be changed through the change price option. See Change the Minimum on a Plan With Members below.
Set Up a Pay What You Want Plan
Navigate to Products
Create a new subscription plan, or open an existing plan with no members
Fill in your plan details, billing period, content, and visibility as usual
In the Pricing section, set the price mode to Pay what you want
Enter your minimum, the lowest amount a member is allowed to pay
Review the three suggested amounts, adjusting any of them if you want
Click Save
📝 NOTE: If your store sells in more than one currency, the minimum and the three suggested amounts are set separately for each currency. They are not converted automatically from your store currency.
How Suggested Amounts Work
Your plan always carries three suggested amounts. These become the choices a member sees at checkout.
By default, they are calculated from your minimum at roughly one, three, and five times that amount, rounded to a clean figure. Your minimum itself is never rounded.
You can override any of the three. An amount you type in stays where you put it, while the ones you have not touched keep tracking your minimum if it changes.
💡 TIP: Set your middle suggestion to the amount you would most like members to pick. It is the one preselected at checkout, so it tends to anchor the decision.
What Members See at Checkout
On the payment step, members see an amount field with your three suggested amounts shown as selectable chips. The middle one is preselected.
Members can select one of the suggestions or type their own amount. The order summary updates as they change it. They cannot pay less than your minimum, and there is an upper bound to guard against typos.
Because the chosen amount is locked in for the life of that subscription, a member who wants to pay a different amount later has to cancel and subscribe again.
When Members Switch to a Pay What You Want Plan
Members can also move onto a Pay What You Want plan from their account (.../account/memberships). They enter their own amount, at or above your minimum, instead of being moved onto the plan at the minimum.
The amount they choose is locked for the life of the subscription, the same as at checkout.
Proration still applies, calculated using the amount the member chose.
🔗 Learn more about Subscription Plan Changes & Proration
Change the Minimum on a Plan With Members
Once a plan has members, the minimum on the Pricing page is locked. Clicking it opens a change price panel instead, where you update one currency at a time.
Navigate to Products
Open the plan you want to edit
In the Pricing section, click the minimum to open the change price panel
Enter the new minimum and review the three suggested amounts
Select Update suggestions if you want the suggestions recalculated from the new minimum
Choose who the change applies to: Future members or Everyone
Confirm the change
📝 NOTE: A suggested amount below the new minimum shows an error until you raise it. Suggested amounts entered in the change price panel apply on the start date, while changes made directly in the Pricing page fields still save right away.
Future Members vs. Everyone
Future members: New members see the new minimum. Existing members keep paying the amount they chose.
Everyone: Only members paying below the new minimum move up to it. Members already paying at or above the new minimum keep their amount.
Lowering the minimum never lowers what current members pay, and no email is sent in that case.
Notify Members About an Increase
When a price increase moves members up, you'll be asked whether to Notify the members who move up:
No, I've already told them: No email is sent
Yes, send email: Opens an editor where you write the subject and body, with Preview email to check it before sending
You can use these placeholders in the email:
%original_price%: The amount the member currently pays%new_price%: Their new price%effective_date%: When the new price starts%product_title%: The plan name
ℹ️ INFO: Members who move up get a 30-day notice from the start date. They pay their own amount one last time, and after that they pay at least the new minimum.
🔗 Learn more about Adjust Existing Subscription Price
How Renewals and Reporting Work
The amount a member chooses at checkout is stored on their subscription, not just used for the first payment. Every renewal bills that same amount, on any payment provider your store uses.
Your Sales and invoice records keep track of which payments came from a pay-what-you-want plan, so this revenue stays identifiable in reporting even if a member later moves to a fixed price plan.
Current Limitations
These apply while the feature is in pilot and are expected to change:
Web subscriptions only. Pay What You Want is not available on app-linked plans or on plans offered as a subscription upsell.
Members you enroll manually from the Admin Area land on the minimum, with no way to set a higher amount for them.
Free ($0) minimums are not supported.
FAQs
Can I use Pay What You Want on my app plans?
Can I use Pay What You Want on my app plans?
No. Plans connected to your mobile or TV apps must use a fixed price, because app stores require a subscription to be priced the same in the app and on the web.
Can a member change their amount later?
Can a member change their amount later?
Not directly. The amount is fixed for the life of the subscription. A member who wants to pay differently can cancel and subscribe again at the new amount, or switch to another plan from their account.
What happens if I raise the minimum later?
What happens if I raise the minimum later?
You can change the minimum through the change price panel. If you apply it to Everyone, only members paying below the new minimum move up to it, after a 30-day notice. Members already paying at or above the new minimum keep the amount they chose.
What happens if I lower the minimum?
What happens if I lower the minimum?
New members can pay the lower amount. Current members keep paying what they chose, and no email is sent.
Does this work with coupons and free trials?
Does this work with coupons and free trials?
Yes. Free trials and coupons behave the same way they do on fixed price plans. The member's chosen amount is what the discount or trial applies against.
Can I offer a $0 subscription this way?
Can I offer a $0 subscription this way?
No. The minimum must be at least $0.50. For free content, use Free Access Offers instead.