How does the platform handle failed payments?

When a payment fails, Stripe automatically retries based on your configured schedule (typically at 3, 5, and 7 days). Each retry triggers a webhook that our system processes. We send a dunning email sequence in parallel: a friendly reminder after the first failure, an urgency email after the second, and a final warning before access revocation. The member sees a banner in their portal with a direct link to update their payment method. If all retries fail, the subscription enters a grace period (configurable, typically 3 days) before downgrading to the free tier.

Can subscribers switch between monthly and annual plans?

Yes. When a subscriber upgrades from monthly to annual, Stripe prorates the remaining monthly balance as a credit toward the annual price. When downgrading from annual to monthly, the change takes effect at the next billing cycle to avoid refund complexity. The member portal shows a clear comparison of plans with the annual discount highlighted. All plan changes are logged in the subscription history for your analytics.

Build a Subscription Platform MVP

Build a Subscription Platform MVP
Recurring Revenue. 2 Weeks.

Subscription businesses live and die on two numbers: conversion rate and churn rate. We build the signup flow that converts free browsers into paying subscribers, the member experience that keeps them engaged, and the billing infrastructure that handles upgrades, downgrades, failed payments, and cancellations without losing revenue. Stripe manages the payment lifecycle while you focus on the content or service that keeps subscribers coming back.

14 day delivery

Stripe billing included

Full source code

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What Ships in Your Subscription Platform MVP

The complete subscription lifecycle from signup to renewal. Your first subscriber can pay and access gated content on day 15.

Stripe recurring billing with monthly and annual plans, coupons, and promotional pricing

Content and feature gating based on subscription tier with graceful upgrade prompts

Member portal with profile, subscription management, billing history, and payment method updates

Free trial management with configurable durations, trial to paid conversion tracking, and trial extension

Subscription analytics with MRR, churn rate, LTV, trial conversion, and cohort retention

Dunning emails for failed payments with retry logic and account suspension workflows

Lifecycle emails for welcome, trial ending, payment confirmation, and win back campaigns

Plan management with upgrade, downgrade, and proration handling

Webhook processing for all Stripe subscription events with idempotent handlers

Invoice generation and receipt emails with PDF download for business subscribers

Subscription state machine that tracks every status transition for audit and analytics

Admin panel for managing plans, viewing subscriber lists, and adjusting billing configurations

Subscription Platform Architecture

Next.js renders the public marketing pages and the authenticated member area from a single deployment. Middleware checks the user's subscription status on every request and routes them to the appropriate experience: free content, trial experience, or full member access. Stripe is the source of truth for billing state. Webhooks update the local database on every subscription lifecycle event: created, updated, payment succeeded, payment failed, canceled, and reactivated. The dunning system listens for payment failure webhooks and triggers a configurable email sequence via Resend. If recovery fails after the final attempt, the subscription moves to a grace period before access revocation. The analytics layer aggregates subscription events into MRR, churn, and cohort views.

Tech Stack

Proven technologies for recurring revenue businesses. The same billing infrastructure used by thousands of subscription companies.

Next.js

Frontend and API

TypeScript

End to end type safety

PostgreSQL

Primary database

Drizzle ORM

Type safe queries

Stripe

Subscription billing

Better Auth

Authentication

Resend

Lifecycle emails

Tailwind CSS

UI styling

Vercel

Frontend hosting

Railway

Database hosting

14 Day Build Timeline

Day 1 to 2

Foundation

Discovery call, database schema, Stripe product and plan configuration, auth setup, CI/CD pipeline.

Day 3 to 5

Billing Core

Checkout flow, subscription creation, plan selection page, trial logic, Stripe webhook handlers.

Day 6 to 8

Member Experience

Member portal, content gating, subscription management, payment method updates, billing history.

Day 9 to 11

Retention

Dunning emails, failed payment recovery, cancellation flow with save offers, win back campaigns.

Day 12 to 13

Analytics and Admin

MRR dashboard, churn tracking, admin panel, subscriber management, plan configuration.

Day 14

Launch

Production deployment, Stripe live mode, monitoring, founder walkthrough.

Subscription Platform MVP, Fixed Price

$7,499

14 day delivery • Stripe billing included • 30 day support

50% upfront, 50% on delivery • Multi tier platforms from $12,999

Start Your Subscription Platform

See a Subscription Platform We Built

CreatorVault: a subscription content platform that launched with three pricing tiers and hit 340 paying subscribers in the first month. Stripe billing, content gating, and member portal all shipped in 14 days.

Read the CreatorVault Case Study