Stripe guide
You want to take a deposit now and charge the rest later, or split a price across a few dated payments. Stripe has the building blocks but no single payment-plan button. Here are the four real options, honestly compared, and where a lightweight layer like PlanPacer fits.
Short answer
Stripe has no single payment-plan feature, so you build one from its primitives. There are four practical routes: a separate Stripe invoice per instalment, Stripe subscriptions bent to fit, custom code using a SetupIntent to save the card and scheduled PaymentIntents to charge it, or a schedule layer like PlanPacer that packages the whole workflow. All four settle to your own Stripe account. Choose invoices for one-offs, code if you have engineers, and PlanPacer if you want deposit, instalment and final-balance plans without building or chasing anything.
The four options
Stripe gives you primitives, not a finished payment-plan product. Each of these uses Stripe under the hood. The right one depends on how much you want to build and maintain.
Create and send a separate Stripe invoice for the deposit and for each later payment. It works with no code and gives customers a familiar invoice. The catch is that every instalment is a manual send, each one relies on the customer opening the email and paying on time, and you carry the chasing and reconciliation yourself. Fine for a handful of one-offs, painful at volume.
Subscriptions can auto-charge a saved card, so people reach for them. But they are designed for open-ended recurring billing at a fixed amount. A deposit-plus-balance plan has variable amounts, a fixed number of payments and an end date tied to a real booking. Forcing that into a subscription means fiddly phases and proration, an ongoing risk of accidental extra charges, and customers confused about why a one-off booking looks like a subscription.
The flexible route. Take the deposit and save the payment method with a SetupIntent, then charge the saved card off-session with a PaymentIntent on each scheduled date. You get full control over amounts and dates. You also own the build: the scheduling job, failed-payment retries, customer notifications, a plan view and ongoing maintenance. Weeks of engineering before you collect a penny, and it never stops needing attention.
PlanPacer packages option three so you do not build it. Connect your existing Stripe account, set a deposit, instalment dates and a final-balance date, and send one checkout link. The customer pays the deposit, their card is saved through Stripe, and each instalment is charged on its date with automatic retries and clear notifications. Honest version: Stripe still does the processing and holds the money. PlanPacer just packages the deposit, instalment and final-balance workflow so there is nothing to code or chase.
A quick comparison for a typical deposit-plus-balance plan.
| Invoices | Subscriptions | Custom code | PlanPacer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deposit then balance | Manual | Workarounds | Yes, if built | Yes |
| Variable amounts | Yes | Awkward | Yes, if built | Yes |
| Auto-charges the balance | No | Yes | Yes, if built | Yes |
| Dates tied to a booking | Manual | Billing cycles | Yes, if built | Yes |
| Engineering needed | None | Some | Significant | None |
| Failed-payment retries | No | Configurable | If built | Automatic |
Rule of thumb: use invoices for the occasional one-off, write custom code if you have engineers and want full control, and use PlanPacer when you regularly run deposit, instalment and final-balance plans and would rather not build or babysit the workflow.
Common searches
Save the card on the deposit with a SetupIntent, then charge it off-session on the balance date. PlanPacer runs this end to end.
Tie each payment to a real date, such as a set number of days before a retreat or event, rather than a billing cycle.
Send one checkout link that shows the deposit and every future date up front, instead of a link per instalment.
A finite plan with a start and an end, not an open-ended subscription that risks charging forever.
Stripe has no single payment-plan button. You have four practical options: a separate invoice per instalment, subscriptions bent to fit, custom code with a SetupIntent and scheduled PaymentIntents, or a tool like PlanPacer that packages that workflow. All settle to your Stripe account.
Yes, but not with one built-in feature. Save the payment method on the deposit with a SetupIntent, then charge the saved card off-session with a PaymentIntent on the balance date. PlanPacer does this for you without code.
Subscriptions are for open-ended recurring billing at a fixed amount. A deposit-plus-balance plan has variable amounts, a fixed number of payments and an end date tied to a real booking, so subscriptions need awkward workarounds and can confuse customers.
A single link handles a one-off payment well, but it cannot take a deposit now and automatically charge the balance from the same saved card later. You would need a link per instalment and manual follow-up.
No. PlanPacer runs on top of your own Stripe account through Stripe Connect. Stripe still processes the cards and holds the money. PlanPacer only packages the schedule and charges each payment on its date.
1% per successful payment-plan transaction on top of standard Stripe fees, with no monthly subscription. Payments go straight to your Stripe account.
Tell us the deposit, instalments and final-balance date you need. We will help set it up as a Stripe-backed payment plan in PlanPacer.
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