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Subscription Scenarios Configuration Guide

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Frisbii Billing

Overview

This guide helps you map your subscription business model — SaaS, membership, or recurring services — to the configuration options in Frisbii Billing. It covers the core settings that control pricing, billing timing, contract terms, and trials, and walks through common subscription scenarios with example configurations.


💡 Understanding core concepts

Before configuring your subscription scenarios, it's essential to understand the key settings that control how subscriptions work in Frisbii Billing. You configure these when you create a plan and its plan variant, under Configurations → Product catalogue → Plans.

1. Amount and Billing Frequency

Every plan variant has two connected settings:

  • Amount — The price you charge for the plan variant

  • Billing Frequency — How often that price is billed (e.g., monthly, quarterly, annually)

Together, these define both what a customer pays and how often they're invoiced for it.

2. Contract terms

Contract terms control the commitment period, renewal, and cancellation behavior:

  • Contract period — The length of the initial commitment (e.g., 12 Months)

  • Contract period (after renewal) — The length of each subsequent period once the contract renews (e.g., 1 Month)

  • Minimum contract period — The earliest point at which the customer can cancel (e.g., 12 Months)

  • Notice period — How much advance notice a customer must give before cancellation takes effect (e.g., 1 Month)

3. Trial

You can set up a trial during which customers aren't charged:

  • Trial Length — The number of days or months of the trial

  • Unit — Days or Months

  • Trial Reminder Schedule (optional) — Notify customers a set number of days before the trial ends, or turn reminders off

4. Setup fee

You can add a one-time setup fee that's charged separately from the recurring Amount:

  • Set the fee amount and a customer-facing name for the invoice line

  • Choose how it's invoiced: as a line on the first scheduled invoice, as its own invoice, or as its own invoice only when it isn't billed together with the subscription start


🔄 Common subscription scenarios

Here are common subscription models and how to configure them in Frisbii Billing:

Subscription scenario

Business need

Frisbii configuration

Monthly subscription, cancel anytime

Standard SaaS model with monthly recurring payments

Billing Frequency: Monthly
Contract period: 1 Month
Contract period (after renewal): 1 Month

Annual subscription, billed annually

Single upfront payment for the year, renews yearly

Billing Frequency: Annually
Contract period: 12 Months
Contract period (after renewal): 12 Months

Quarterly subscription

Payment every 3 months

Billing Frequency: Quarterly
Contract period: 3 Months
Contract period (after renewal): 3 Months

14-day free trial, then monthly

Standard freemium conversion model

Billing Frequency: Monthly
Trial Length: 14, Unit: Days

Fixed-term subscription (e.g., 6 months), no renewal

Subscription ends after a set term, no auto-renewal

Billing Frequency: Monthly
Contract period: 6 Months
Minimum contract period: 6 Months

One-time onboarding charge plus subscription

Charge a setup cost once, then bill the recurring plan

Set a Setup fee (amount + name)
Billing Frequency: Monthly
Contract period: 1 Month
Contract period (after renewal): 1 Month

12-month minimum term, then flexible monthly cancellation

Initial commitment, then easy month-to-month cancellation

Contract period: 12 Months
Contract period (after renewal): 1 Month
Minimum contract period: 12 Months
Notice period: 1 Month

Faire Verbraucherverträge (German fair consumer contracts law)

German law on fair consumer contracts (Gesetz für faire Verbraucherverträge) requires that after an initial fixed term, consumer subscriptions must convert to a short period that can be cancelled at any time with reasonable notice — not silently renew into another long fixed term

Contract period: 12 Months
Contract period (after renewal): 1 Month
Minimum contract period: 12 Months
Notice period: 1 Month
Notice period start: When the current canceled period ends

30-day notice period

Subscription continues for 30 days after cancellation

Notice period: 1 Month
Notice period start: When the current canceled period ends
Effect: Subscription keeps billing for one more period after the cancellation request, then ends

Note

This article describes the Frisbii Billing configuration options, not legal advice. Confirm the exact contract, notice, and renewal terms required for your market — including Germany's fair consumer contracts law — with your legal team before publishing terms to customers.


Advanced configuration options

Add-ons and usage-based billing

Frisbii Billing supports flexible add-ons and usage-based charges alongside your base subscription:

  • Add-ons — Optional services or features that customers can add to their subscription

  • Usage-based billing — Charges based on actual consumption (API calls, storage, etc.)

  • Independent billing — A component can be billed on its own schedule instead of syncing with the plan variant's Billing Frequency

Pro-rata billing

When customers upgrade, downgrade, or start mid-cycle, Frisbii can automatically calculate pro-rated charges based on the remaining time in the billing cycle.

Discounts and coupons

Apply flexible discounting strategies:

  • Percentage or fixed amount discounts

  • Time-limited promotions

  • First-period discounts (e.g., 50% off first month)

  • Coupon codes for customer acquisition campaigns

Entitlements

Entitlements give subscribers access to perks, privileges, and benefits tied to their plan.


🔎 Finding your configuration

Use this decision tree to quickly identify the right configuration for your business:

  1. How often do you want to bill? Monthly, quarterly, annually, or custom — this sets your Billing Frequency.

  2. How long is the initial commitment, and what happens after it? Set the Contract period for the initial term and the Contract period (after renewal) for what follows — these can differ, e.g. a 12-month initial term that renews monthly.

  3. When is the earliest the customer can cancel? Set the Minimum contract period.

  4. Do you require a notice period for cancellation? If yes, set a Notice period and choose when it starts.

  5. Do you offer a free trial? If yes, set a Trial Length and Unit, and optionally a reminder schedule.

  6. Do you charge a one-time onboarding cost? If yes, configure a Setup fee and choose how it's invoiced.


🚀 Getting started with your configuration

  1. Create a plan — Navigate to Configurations → Product catalogue → Plans and define your base subscription offering.

  2. Set the Amount and Billing Frequency — Configure the price and how often it's billed.

  3. Set Contract terms — Define the Contract period, Contract period (after renewal), Minimum contract period, and Notice period.

  4. Configure Trial — Add a Trial Length and Unit if applicable to your business model.

  5. Add optional components — Configure a Setup fee, add-ons, usage-based billing, or discounts as needed.

  6. Test your configuration — Create a test subscription to verify billing behaves as expected.


Need help?

If you need assistance configuring your specific subscription model, our support team is here to help: