Test Subscriptions

Check the Prerequisites and steps to test the Subscriptions and the various flows.

Prerequisites

Use your test [KEY_ID] and [KEY_SECRET] while testing. This can be generated from the Dashboard by
generating API keys
in the test mode.
Ensure you are using your Dashboard in the test mode. Some options mentioned in this article are available only in the test mode.

Steps to Test Subscriptions

To test Subscriptions:

1. Configure a Webhook

Before you create Subscriptions,

configure a test webhook

to receive notifications regarding Subscriptions.

2. Create a Plan

Create a Plan from your

Dashboard

and use them in your code while creating Subscriptions. You can also create Plans using

Razorpay Subscriptions APIs

Eaxmple

Create a Plan with a billing amount of $50 and a cycle of 2 months.

curl -u [YOUR_KEY_ID]:[YOUR_KEY_SECRET] \
-X POST https://api.razorpay.com/v1/plans \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
  "period": "monthly",
  "interval": 1,
  "item": {
    "name": "Test plan",
    "amount": 50000,
    "currency": "",
    "description": "500, charged every 2 months"
  },
  "notes": {
    "notes_key_1": "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot",
    "notes_key_2": "Tea, Earl Grey… decaf."
  }
}'

3. Create a Subscription

You must create a Subscription for every customer using a Plan. You can create Subscriptions from the Dashboard or using APIs.

Example

Create Subscription A: A Subscription for the Plan created above, to be charged a total of 6 times and due to be started immediately.
Create Subscription B: A second Subscription for the same Plan, to be charged a total of 6 times, due to start on 1st January 2026.

If you create a Subscription using the Dashboard, it can only be created as a

Subscription Link

Plan details on create Subscription page

You can also create Subscriptions using

APIs

. A sample request and response for the creation of Subscription A and Subscription B is given below.

curl -u [YOUR_KEY_ID]:[YOUR_KEY_SECRET] \
  -X POST https://api.razorpay.com/v1/subscriptions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "plan_id":"plan_00000000000001",
    "total_count":6,
    "notes":{
        "name":"Subscription A"
    }
  }'

Both Subscriptions are now in the created state and await an authentication transaction where the payer authenticates the use of their card.

4. Make Authorisation Payment

To authenticate a Subscription using your checkout, that is, a Subscription created using APIs, make a regular payment using Razorpay, but pass an extra parameter subscription_id in the options sent to the Razorpay Standard Checkout request.

To see this in action, use the following code on a test webpage, and hit the Authenticate button. This triggers a Razorpay payment that in turn authenticates the Subscription.

<html>
  <body>
      <button id="rzp-button">Authenticate</button>
      <script src="https://checkout.razorpay.com/v1/checkout.js"></script>
      <script>
        var options = {
          "key": "<YOUR_KEY_ID>",
          "subscription_id": "sub_00000000000001",
          "name": "My Billing Label",
          "description": "Auth txn for sub_00000000000001",
          "handler": function (response){
            alert(response.razorpay_payment_id);
          }
        };
        var rzp1 = new Razorpay(options);
        document.getElementById('rzp-button').onclick = function(e){
          rzp1.open();
        }
      </script>
  </body>
</html>

The above code only contains the minimum required options that need to be sent to initiate a payment, that is, only key and subscription_id are mandatory. Check the

checkout fields

for a complete list of options that can be passed.

Authenticate a Subscription Using a Link

Log in to your Dashboard, click Subscriptions under PAYMENT PRODUCTS and then click Subscription Id to be authenticated → Start Subscription.
Click PAY BY CARD, enter a CVV and click PAY.
Click Success to authenticate the payment.

Test Card Details

Use the following test card details to make the authentication payment:

Payment Amount

Unlike a regular payment, you do not need to pass the amount as an option. This is because the amount to be charged is determined by the Subscription that is being authenticated.

For Subscription A, that is, to start immediately upon completion of this payment, the charge amount will be $50, that is the amount we used while creating the Plan.
For Subscription B, this payment acts only as an authentication step, as the Subscription is not due to start until January 2026. So for Subscription B, the charge amount is $0.50, a token amount that is immediately refunded.

To make a successful payment, the payment response contains a few fields carrying information about the Subscription that has been authenticated. Check the

payment verification section

to know more about how this payment response can be authenticated.

After Authentication Payment

After the payment is completed successfully, Subscription A is marked as active.

Subscription A
At this stage you receive the webhook payloads for the 2 events that Subscription A has gone through.

First, you receive the subscription.activated webhook when Subscription A moves from the authenticated to the active state.
Next, you receive the subscription.charged webhook when a payment is successfully charged on Subscription A.

Subscription B
Performing the same payment request on Subscription B results in being marked as authenticated. It is not charged, as it is not due to start for a few months. For this reason, no webhook events are triggered by performing an authentication payment for Subscription B.

5. Subsequent Charges

After the initial payment (the authentication charge), all subsequent charges for a subscription are automatically triggered by Razorpay. Each time a charge is triggered, its outcome is communicated by the webhooks to the Subscriptions entity.

In test mode, you can simulate these charges from the Dashboard using the Charge this now button. This allows you to trigger all the events associated with a due subscription, enabling testing without having to wait until the actual due date (for example, January 2026 for Subscription B).

Watch Out!

You cannot test the update subscription feature if any test charges (beyond the initial authentication payment) have been made. This feature can only be tested if no subsequent payments have been processed for the subscription.

6. Expected Webhooks

You can now integrate with Razorpay webhooks to verify that different webhook events are being consumed correctly.

Example

Triggering a test charge on Subscription A results in a single webhook event: subscription.charged.
In contrast, triggering a test charge on Subscription B from the Dashboard causes it to move from the authenticated state to the active state. This indicates that the start_at time for Subscription B has passed, thereby triggering the subscription.activated webhook event. Immediately after, the charge is processed, resulting in the subscription.charged webhook being triggered.

Manage Subscriptions

Following are the steps to handle charge failures, halted Subscriptions, manually charge invoices and completed and cancelled Subscriptions:

Handle Subscription Charge Failures

After the first payment, that is, the authentication of the Subscription, all subsequent charges are triggered automatically by Razorpay. When Razorpay initiates the automatic charges, it is possible that a charge attempt on the card saved for a Subscription could fail. In this case, the failure event webhooks are triggered.

To simulate this in test mode, the test charge option prompts you to choose the result of a manual charge attempt.

Charge as Success and Charge as Failure options in test payments

To charge a Subscription as a success, a new payment is simply created (and captured), and the subscription.charged webhook is triggered.
To charge a Subscription as a failure, the Subscription moves from the active to the pending state, and the subscription.pending webhook event is triggered. With each failure, the number of charge attempts made on a Subscription increases, and the next charge time is updated by a single day, rather than the actual plan period, which in this case is two months.
If you fail a charge 4 times in a row, all the available retries get exhausted. This results in a Subscription being marked as halted and the subscription.halted webhook event is triggered.

Charge Failure Scenarios

Following are some payment failure scenarios and how they can be handled:

Card failure, but payment success on auto-retry

When a payment fails, an auto-retry is attempted. If the payment succeeds on subsequent auto-retries made by the customer, we:

Trigger the subscription.charged webhook.
If the customer notifications are handled by Razorpay, the customer receives an email confirmation.
Move the Subscription from the pending to the activated state.
Trigger the subscription.activated webhook.

Card failure and payment failure on auto-retry

When the last auto-charge attempt made by your customers was unsuccessful and the subsequent retries were also exhausted, we:

Send an email requesting manual attempt of a charge or request change of the card if the customer notifications are handled on Dashboard.
Move the Subscription to the halted state.
Trigger the subscription.halted webhook.
Continue generating invoices in the halted state, but we do not attempt a charge on them.

If customer's notifications are not handled by Razorpay, you need to either request the customer to change their card or manually attempt a charge on the same card.

Customer changes card on payment failure

When a customer changes the card due to failure of a recurring payment, we:

Automatically perform a charge on the new card.
On a successful charge, the following webhooks are triggered:
- subscription.charged
- subscription.activated
The Subscription is moved from the halted state to the activated state.

If there are any incomplete charges, you have to manually attempt to charge the card again from the

Dashboard

Halted Subscriptions

Once a Subscription has reached halted state, Razorpay no automatic charge attempts are triggered on the saved card. However, invoices continue to be issued in accordance with the original plan.

In test mode, the Charge This Now button available on Dashboard is replaced with an Issue Invoice button for halted subscriptions. Using this option, a new invoice is issued, but no charge is attempted on the saved card.

Manually Charge an Invoice

The invoices created by a Subscription may remain in the issued state if the charge attempts on the saved card results in a failure. Once the maximum number of retries attempts are exhausted:

The Subscription is moved to the halted state.
The Subscription moves on to the next recurring payment, that is, the next invoice.

However, the invoice that was skipped is still chargeable, after the customer has fixed the issue either by correcting the issue with their card or changing the card associated with a Subscription. This can be done via the Attempt Charge option available for each invoice on

Dashboard

Using this option, a new charge attempt is triggered on the issued invoice, and does not increase the number of retries remaining for a Subscription.

Manual Charging an Invoice Vs. Test Charging a Subscription

Manually charging an issued invoice is different from performing a test charge on a Subscription.

A manual charge on an invoice is possible even in live mode. This can be done anytime an invoice is observed to be in the issued state. A manual charge attempt does not count toward the remaining retries for a Subscription.
A test charge on a Subscription can be triggered only in test mode. The result of this charge attempt is up to you. If you choose to fail the attempt it counts toward the remaining retries that a Subscription has before it moves to the halted state.

Complete and Cancelled Subscriptions

A Subscription can be moved to any of the terminal states in the following ways:

Charging a Subscription repeatedly in test mode, until all the invoices for a Subscription have been issued.
Cancelling a Subscription using
Dashboard
or
API
.

Test Subscriptions

Prerequisites

Steps to Test Subscriptions

1. Configure a Webhook

2. Create a Plan

3. Create a Subscription

4. Make Authorisation Payment

Authenticate a Subscription Using a Link

Test Card Details

Payment Amount

After Authentication Payment

5. Subsequent Charges

6. Expected Webhooks

Manage Subscriptions

Handle Subscription Charge Failures

Charge Failure Scenarios

Card failure, but payment success on auto-retry

Card failure and payment failure on auto-retry

Customer changes card on payment failure

Halted Subscriptions

Manually Charge an Invoice

Complete and Cancelled Subscriptions

Related Information