The Pause and Resume feature allows customers to temporarily suspend their subscription for a fixed duration without cancelling. At the end of the pause period, the subscription automatically resumes and the next billing cycle fires on the adjusted schedule.

📌 What This Extension Adds: Core DDLS has no pause capability. Subscriptions Pro adds customer-initiated pausing through the portal, admin-side pause management, configurable limits on duration and frequency, and automatic scheduled resume via WordPress cron.

Why Pause Matters #

Pause reduces voluntary churn. Customers who would otherwise cancel because they need a break — due to travel, budget constraints, or seasonal use — can pause instead. Studies consistently show that pause-to-return rates are significantly higher than cancel-to-reactivate rates.

The Pause Lifecycle #

1. Customer initiates pause — From the customer portal (My Account → Subscriptions), the customer clicks Pause and selects a duration.
2. Pause begins — The subscription status changes to paused. Billing is suspended. License access behaviour depends on admin configuration.
3. Pause period runs — The subscription remains in paused state for the chosen duration.
4. Auto-resume fires — On the scheduled resume date, a WordPress cron job changes the status back to active and schedules the next billing renewal.
5. Customer notified — A resumption confirmation email is sent on auto-resume.

Pause Limits #

To prevent abuse, configurable limits control how often and how long customers can pause:

• Maximum single pause duration — Default: 90 days (see Configuring Pause Settings)
• Maximum pauses per 12-month period — Default: 3 (see Configuring Pause Settings)

If a customer has used all available pauses for the year, the pause option is hidden in the portal and replaced with a notice.

Admin Pause Controls #

Admins can view and manage pause state from the Subscription Pro Status Metabox on the order edit screen, including the ability to end a pause early.