How to Sell Course Subscriptions with Tutor LMS Pro
Sell subscriptions with Tutor LMS Pro: enable the add-on, create course and membership plans, billing intervals, cycles, trials and enrollment fees, and manage renewals.
Checked against the plugin source: Tutor LMS 4.1.3, Tutor LMS Pro 4.1.3
Subscriptions turn one-off sales into recurring revenue: monthly access to a course, a yearly membership to your whole catalogue, or a payment plan. Tutor LMS Pro's Subscription add-on brings this to native eCommerce. This guide covers setup and the options.
Step 1: Enable the add-on
Go to Tutor LMS > Addons and enable Subscription. Native eCommerce must be your engine, and you need a gateway that supports recurring payments (PayPal in the free plugin supports subscriptions; check the others you use).
Step 2: Choose the purchase options for a course
In the course builder, with the pricing model set to Paid, choose Purchase Options:
- One-time purchase only
- Subscription only
- Subscription & one-time purchase
- Membership only: the course is available only through a membership plan.
Step 3: Create a subscription plan
Use Add Subscription (or Manage Subscription Plans) and fill in:
- Plan Name and Plan price.
- Billing Interval: every N days, weeks, months or years ("Renew every %1$s %2$s").
- Billing Cycles: a number of payments, or Until cancelled. A fixed number of cycles works as an instalment plan.
- Charge enrollment fee: an optional one-time fee.
- Trial: a trial period, with an optional trial fee.
- Offer sale price on the plan, if needed.
- Tax: whether to charge tax on subscriptions.
Plans and subscriptions are stored in their own tables (tutor_subscription_plans, tutor_subscription_plan_items, tutor_subscriptions, tutor_subscriptionmeta). Renewal orders are linked to the subscription in the order tables.
Membership plans
Membership plans give access to more than one course, for example the whole catalogue or a category. Use the [tutor_membership_pricing] shortcode to show a pricing page with your plans. Courses set to "Membership only" can only be accessed through a plan.
Step 4: Test the full lifecycle
- Subscribe as a test student in sandbox mode.
- Confirm access and the subscription in the student's dashboard (Tutor LMS 4 shows subscriptions, history and renewals in billing).
- Trigger or simulate a renewal in the gateway's sandbox if possible.
- Cancel and check what happens to access.
- Test a failed renewal.
Choosing a model
| Model | Setup |
|---|---|
| Monthly access to one course | Course, Subscription only, monthly plan, until cancelled |
| Pay in 3 instalments | Course, Subscription & one-time, monthly plan, 3 billing cycles |
| All-access membership | Membership plan, courses set to Membership only or both |
| Free trial then monthly | Plan with a trial period |
Alternatives
If you use WooCommerce, Tutor LMS Pro's WooCommerce Subscriptions add-on ties access to WooCommerce subscriptions. If courses are part of a wider membership with other content, Paid Memberships Pro or Restrict Content Pro may fit better. See every monetization option.
Frequently asked questions
What happens to progress when a subscription ends?
Progress is stored separately and kept. If the student subscribes again, they continue where they stopped.
Can students switch between plans?
Plan changes depend on your setup and gateway; test the scenario you need, and consider custom work for complex upgrade rules.
Need help designing a subscription model? See membership integration.
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I’m Vishavjeet Choubey, an Enterprise LMS Architect with 10+ years of experience helping businesses, coaches, universities, and online academies build and scale powerful digital learning platforms. I specialize in enterprise LMS architecture, WordPress, WooCommerce, LifterLMS, LearnDash, Moodle, custom plugin development, and AI-driven automation. I build scalable LMS platforms, high-converting eCommerce solutions, and custom WordPress applications designed to improve user experiences, streamline operations, and drive measurable business growth. My approach combines deep WordPress and LMS engineering expertise with modern AI automation to reduce manual work, improve efficiency, and help organizations launch, scale, and grow faster.
