Can Zoho Commerce sell subscriptions?

Not natively. Zoho Commerce is built for one-off orders, and Zoho states that subscription selling is not supported out of the box. The usual workaround is to connect Zoho Billing, which handles recurring plans, renewals and payment retries, using Zoho Flow or custom functions. For a subscription-first business, Zoho Billing's hosted checkout pages may be simpler than routing through a store.

Zoho Commerce gives you a store, catalogue, cart, checkout and order management. It does not create recurring billing schedules or manage renewals. If you sell a box every month or a membership, you need a billing system that knows about plans, cycles, prorations and failed payments, and that is what Zoho Billing does.

There are two common designs. In the first, customers buy in Zoho Commerce and a Flow or function creates a matching subscription in Zoho Billing. This keeps the shopping experience in one place but needs careful testing for payments and cancellations. In the second, the store links to Zoho Billing hosted pages for subscription products, and Zoho Commerce handles one-off items only.

The second design is usually more reliable because payments and renewals stay in one system. Whichever you choose, decide where the customer manages their subscription, how failed payments are handled and how orders flow to fulfilment. Check the current Zoho Commerce help, since features change over time.

Written by Flowpeak, a Zoho implementation partner. Zoho pricing and features change, so confirm current details on the official Zoho site. Free checklists | Ask us a question