Trials without a card in Stripe

When a free trial without a payment method ends in Stripe, what happens is decided by one setting on the subscription, trial_settings.end_behavior.missing_payment_method. By default (create_invoice), Stripe creates the first invoice, can't charge it, and the subscription goes to past_due. You can change it to cancel, which ends the subscription, or pause, which stops billing until the customer adds a card. Stripe also gives you an event 3 days before the end and an optional reminder email 7 days before, so you can reach those customers while they're still trying the product.

Skipping the card at signup means that on the last day Stripe has nothing to charge, and if you never chose a setting, you're on the default. Stripe documents all of it on its free trials page.

Can you start a trial without a card in Stripe Checkout?

Yes, but it isn't the default. Stripe Checkout asks for a payment method by default (payment_method_collection is always), even when the trial is free. To let people start without one, set payment_method_collection to if_required on the Checkout Session: Checkout then only asks for a card when something is due today, which on a free trial is nothing.

If you create subscriptions with the API, a subscription with a trial can be created without a payment method in the same way, and the end-of-trial setting below decides what happens later.

What happens when the trial ends?

The subscription's trial_settings.end_behavior.missing_payment_method decides it:

With cancel, Stripe sends customer.subscription.deleted. With pause, it sends customer.subscription.paused, and customer.subscription.resumed when you resume it. A paused subscription can stay paused for good if nobody resumes it.

Why the default needs a second look

A past_due subscription looks like a customer whose card failed, and Stripe counts past_due with a positive MRR as an active subscriber. TrustChurn's formula does too. A trial that ended without a card can sit in your numbers as a paying customer who just hasn't paid yet, and it also gets the failed-payment emails and retries, for a card that was never there (what happens after a failed payment).

cancel gives the cleanest numbers. pause is the better choice if your app can show an "add a card to continue" screen and resume the subscription when they do: they keep their account and data, and coming back is one step. create_invoice makes sense when you mostly expect a card to be added in the last days and want the invoice ready, but then decide how long a trial in past_due keeps access.

How do you reach them before the trial ends?

Stripe gives you two hooks:

• The customer.subscription.trial_will_end event, sent 3 days before the end by default. The number of days is the "Trial ending events" setting in the Dashboard. If the trial is ended early or has fewer than 3 days left, the event arrives right away.
• A reminder email to the customer, from Stripe, 7 days before the trial ends. It's under the email settings in Billing. Trials shorter than 7 days get it when they start. It isn't sent in a sandbox, so don't expect to see it while testing.

Stripe's reminder is a generic notice. A few days before the end, write to the people who used the product yourself: "your trial ends on Friday, here's what you set up, add a card to keep it". Someone who never logged in is unlikely to come back because of an email, so I wouldn't count on them.

Should you ask for a card upfront?

That's a product decision more than a Stripe one. Without a card, starting a trial is easier, but each person has to come back and add one before paying, so a smaller share may convert. Asking for a card upfront adds a step at signup, and whoever gets past it is charged unless they cancel. You'd have to try both on your own product to know.

For churn, the choice doesn't change how you count. A customer who paid once and then canceled is lost, and a trial that never converted was never in the number.

Counting trials in your churn

A trial that doesn't convert is a problem for your signup funnel, and it belongs in your conversion numbers. Stripe leaves trials out of its churn rate, and TrustChurn does too: a subscription only counts once its trial is over (who counts as a paying customer).

Stripe's Revenue recovery analytics also leaves out the first invoice after a trial, so trials ending without a card don't inflate your failure rate there.

Where trials show up on TrustChurn

If your public profile shows customers saved this month, a trial without a card that ends up paying is one of them. And there's a private list with every trial ending in the next 14 days, with the ones without a card marked, and you get an email when a trial without a card is 3 days from the end.

FAQ

What happens when a free trial ends without a payment method in Stripe?

That's up to trial_settings.end_behavior.missing_payment_method. With the default, create_invoice, Stripe creates an invoice it can't collect and the subscription goes to past_due. With cancel, the subscription is canceled. With pause, it's paused until you resume it.

Does Stripe send an email before a trial ends?

It can. Turn on the reminder email in the Billing email settings and Stripe emails the customer 7 days before the trial ends, or when the trial starts if it's shorter than 7 days.

When is the trial_will_end event sent?

Three days before the trial ends by default, set by "Trial ending events" in the Dashboard. If the trial ends early or has less than 3 days left, it's sent right away.

Does Stripe Checkout require a card for free trials?

By default, yes: payment_method_collection is always. Set it to if_required and Checkout only asks for a card when something is due at signup, so a free trial can start without one.

Should trials count in churn?

No. Trials aren't paying customers yet, so a trial that doesn't convert belongs in your conversion rate. Churn starts counting a customer once their trial is over and they're paying.