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Billing mechanics

Anniversary billing

Billing each customer on the date they subscribed, so renewal dates are spread across the month.

Anniversary billing charges each customer on their own signup date. Someone who subscribed on the 14th is billed on the 14th of every month.

It spreads invoicing, payment retries and support load evenly through the month, and it means no customer waits to start paying. The cost is that revenue arrives in a continuous trickle, which makes month-end comparisons slightly noisier, and that a month-end signup on the 31st needs a rule for February.

The alternative is calendar billing, which aligns everyone to the same date at the price of a prorated first invoice.

Related terms

  • Calendar billing Billing every customer on the same date, usually the first of the month, with a prorated first invoice.
  • Billing cycle The recurring period a subscription is invoiced for, and the run that generates those invoices.
  • Proration Charging or crediting for part of a billing period when a subscription changes mid-cycle.