Rate Plans
A Rate Plan defines a tier or variant of a product that customers can subscribe to. Each product can have multiple rate plans (e.g., “Starter”, “Professional”, “Enterprise”), and each rate plan can have multiple rate plan prices for different billing strategies and currencies.
Rate Plan vs Rate Plan Price
| Concept | What It Defines | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Rate Plan | The plan itself — name, description, visibility settings. | “Professional Plan” |
| Rate Plan Price | A specific price point for a rate plan — amount, currency, billing strategy, pricing model. | “$29/month (Monthly)” or “$290/year (Annually)” |
A rate plan is the container; rate plan prices are the pricing configurations within it.
Creating a Rate Plan
- On the product details page, click Add Rate Plan.
- Fill in the form:
General Information
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| External Name | No | Customer-facing name shown on pricing tables, invoices, quotes, and the self-serve portal. |
| Internal Name | Yes | Internal identifier used within BillHive. Must be unique within the product. |
| Rate Plan Key | Yes | Unique API identifier. Auto-generated from the name but can be customized. Used by BillHive APIs. Read-only after creation. |
| Description | No | Detailed description of what the rate plan includes. |
| Product | Yes* | The parent product. Only shown when creating a rate plan without a product context. |
Visibility & Checkout
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Display in Self-Serve Portal | Off | When enabled, customers can view and subscribe to this plan via the hosted self-serve portal. |
| Display in Checkout | Off | When enabled, this plan appears during the hosted checkout flow. |
| Redirect URL | — | URL to redirect customers after successful checkout. Supports variables like subscription.id and invoice.id. Must be a whitelisted domain. |
Contract Terms
Optional. These are the plan’s default commitment and cancellation terms for B2B contracts. Leave them blank for a plan with no contract. A single subscription can override any of them (see Contract terms).
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Minimum Commitment (months) | How long the customer is committed, counted from the subscription start date. Cancelling before the commitment ends can incur the early termination fee. |
| Notice Period (days) | A cancellation must take effect at least this many days from the day it is requested. |
| Early Termination Fee | Fixed amount, Percentage of remaining committed value, or Remaining committed value. Leave as No fee for none. |
| Fee Amount / Fee (%) | The amount for a fixed fee, or the percent for a percentage fee. Not used for Remaining committed value. |
- Click Create Rate Plan.
Editing a Rate Plan
- On the product details page, click the pencil icon next to the rate plan name on any rate plan card.
- The edit form opens with the same fields as creation (except Rate Plan Key is read-only).
- Make changes and click Update Rate Plan.
After saving, you are redirected back to the product details page.
Deleting a Rate Plan
- Click the trash icon next to the rate plan name on the rate plan card.
- Confirm the deletion when prompted.
- Rate plans linked to active subscriptions cannot be deleted.
Linking Addons and Charges
Each rate plan card has a Link dropdown with options to:
- Add Pricing — Create a new rate plan price for this rate plan.
- Link Addon — Attach an existing addon to this rate plan.
- Link Charge — Attach an existing charge to this rate plan.
Linked addons and charges appear on the rate plan card with an “included” or “extra” badge.
When a charge is billed
A one-off charge is billed when its trigger happens:
| Trigger | Billed when |
|---|---|
| Subscription Trial Start | A customer signs up on a trial price. |
| Subscription Creation | The paid subscription begins: at signup for a plan without a trial, and when the trial activates for a plan with one. |
| Immediately | At signup, together with the Creation or Trial Start charges. |
| Plan Activation | The customer changes plan or billing frequency. |
| Subscription Activation | A paused subscription is resumed. |
| Contract Termination | The subscription is cancelled. |
Rate Plan Cards on Product Details
Each rate plan is displayed as a card on the product details page showing:
- Plan name and pricing status badge (Active/Inactive).
- Price for the currently selected currency and billing strategy.
- Savings badge (e.g., “Save 16%”) when comparing commitment strategies.
- Commitment subtitle (e.g., “billed monthly, 12-month commitment”).
- Trial badge if a trial period is configured.
- Setup fee if applicable.
- Linked charges and addons with included/extra indicators.
- Action buttons: Edit Rate Plan, Edit Pricing, Activate/Deactivate, Delete, Link, View Details.
If no price exists for the current strategy/currency combination, a Set Pricing button appears instead of the price.