Pause immediately

Pausing stops all billing activity. No invoices are generated and no payments are collected while the subscription is paused.

The subscription transitions to Paused state. The lifecycle engine stops scheduling billing cycles.

Pause at period end

Schedule the subscription to pause at the end of the current billing period. The customer continues to be billed through the current period.

$
curl -X POST https://app.paymentkit.com/api/{account_id}/subscriptions/{subscription_id}/pause \
>
-H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
>
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
>
-d '{
>
  "pause_behavior": "pause_at_end"
>
}'

The subscription remains Active until the current period ends, then automatically transitions to Paused.

Cancel a scheduled pause

If a subscription has a scheduled pause (pause_at_end), you can cancel it before the pause activates. The subscription continues billing normally.

$
curl -X DELETE https://app.paymentkit.com/api/{account_id}/subscriptions/{subscription_id}/scheduled-pause \
>
-H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..."

Auto-resume

Configure the subscription to automatically resume after a set time.

Resume after a number of cycles

Set pause_for_cycles to calculate the resume date based on the subscription’s billing interval:

$
curl -X POST https://app.paymentkit.com/api/{account_id}/subscriptions/{subscription_id}/pause \
>
-H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
>
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
>
-d '{
>
  "pause_behavior": "pause_immediately",
>
  "pause_for_cycles": 2
>
}'

A monthly subscription paused for 2 cycles resumes 2 months after the current period end.

Resume on a specific date

Set resumption_date to specify exactly when the subscription should resume:

$
curl -X POST https://app.paymentkit.com/api/{account_id}/subscriptions/{subscription_id}/pause \
>
-H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
>
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
>
-d '{
>
  "pause_behavior": "pause_at_end",
>
  "resumption_date": "2026-05-01T00:00:00Z"
>
}'

The lifecycle engine schedules the resume automatically. No manual action is needed.

Billing dates while paused

While a subscription is paused, the billing dates (current_period_end, next_invoice_date) remain frozen at their pre-pause values. This is expected behavior — no invoices are generated and no timeline adjustments happen during the pause.

The timeline is re-anchored only when the subscription resumes, based on your account’s resume billing behavior.

Resume a paused subscription

Manually resume a paused subscription at any time. Resuming reactivates billing and recalculates the billing timeline.

Resume billing behavior

Your account’s resume_billing_behavior setting controls how billing is calculated when a paused subscription resumes. This setting applies to all subscriptions in the account.

Reset anchor (default)

With reset_anchor, the billing anchor is re-set to the resume date:

1. A new billing period starts from the resume date
2. The customer is charged a full period amount (no catch-up for time paused)
3. The original current_period_end is discarded
4. The lifecycle engine schedules the next renewal based on the new anchor

This is the default and recommended behavior for most use cases. Customers are not charged for time the subscription was paused.

Catch up

With catch_up, the original billing anchor is preserved:

1. Catch-up invoices are generated for each billing cycle elapsed during the pause
2. The original billing schedule continues from where it left off
3. Multiple invoices may be created if the subscription was paused for multiple cycles

Configure resume billing behavior

Set the resume billing behavior at the account level:

$
curl -X PATCH https://app.paymentkit.com/api/{account_id}/subscription-lifecycle-settings \
>
-H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_..." \
>
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
>
-d '{
>
  "resume_billing_behavior": "reset_anchor"
>
}'

Pause options reference

When to pause vs. cancel

Webhook events