Statuses

The six statuses

A subscription is always in exactly one of these.

Pending. Created, but not yet paid for. This is where a subscription sits between the order being placed and the payment clearing. Nothing renews and no access is granted.

Active. Paid and running. Renewals are scheduled, and any content, downloads or roles tied to the subscription are available.

On hold. Temporarily stopped. Renewals do not run and access is withdrawn, but the subscription is intact and can be resumed. A failed renewal payment puts a subscription here, and so does a customer or an administrator pausing it.

Pending cancellation. The customer has cancelled, but the period they already paid for has not finished. They keep their access until the end date, and nothing is charged again. This is what makes cancelling feel fair rather than punitive.

Cancelled. Stopped for good. No further renewals, no access.

Expired. Reached the end of its natural life, either because it had a fixed length or because its end date arrived. Nothing failed here; it simply finished.

What moves a subscription between them

Most transitions happen on their own, driven by payment.

The parent order reaching processing or completed activates the subscription. A failed renewal payment puts it on hold. A cancelled or refunded order cancels it. The end date arriving expires it. A customer cancelling from their account moves it to pending cancellation, and it becomes cancelled once the paid period runs out.

You can also change a status by hand from the subscription screen, within the limits below.

Which changes are allowed

Not every status can lead to every other. The rules exist so a subscription cannot be brought back from a state that has already been settled with the customer.

From	Can move to
Pending	Active, On hold, Cancelled
Active	On hold, Pending cancellation, Cancelled, Expired
On hold	Active, Cancelled, Expired
Pending cancellation	Active, Cancelled
Cancelled	nothing
Expired	nothing

Two of these deserve a word.

Cancelled and expired are final. A subscription that has ended cannot be restarted, by you or by the customer. This is deliberate: reviving a subscription would resume billing against a payment method the customer may no longer expect to be charged, and the billing dates would no longer mean anything. When someone wants to come back, they take out a new subscription, which starts a clean schedule and a clean consent.

Pending cancellation can go back to active. A customer who changes their mind before their paid period ends keeps the subscription they already had, with its original dates. Nothing is charged, because nothing lapsed.

Where you see them

Subscriptions carry their status in the Subscriptions list, where you can also filter by it, and on each subscription’s own screen. Customers see a plainer version in their account area, along with the date that matters to them: the next payment for an active subscription, the end date for one that is pending cancellation.