#nemz-customers
past kettle
yes the portal can only be used to mange existing subscriptions. You'd use Checkout to create the Subscription first, and then the portal to manage it.
so in your case you likely want to use Checkout to start the trialing subscription
regal tapir
in the past I've implemented a trial through the API
my problem is that I want the trial to be free (no cc required) but the sub automatically transitions to the paid plan and the status becomes past_due
so from a user perspective if their plan expired and they wanted to transition to a paid plan, they would be paying the invoice for their first month probably a few days after it was issued, meaning they lose (but are paying for) the time between the trial expiring and them logging into the app and paying the invoice.
past kettle
in the past I've implemented a trial through the API
well you could still do that
you just need a Customer with an active Subscription, you can create that through the API without accepting a card or using Checkout, works fine, and then you can create a portal session
regal tapir
sorry I should've worded that better
past kettle
so from a user perspective if their plan expired and they wanted to transition t...
meaning they lose (but are paying for) the time between the trial expiring and them logging into the app and paying the invoice.
true I enough I suppose, but that's how our API models trials and invoices
regal tapir
ah okay so is this a common way to handle free trials with the portal? my concern was that it would add too much friction to the plan upgrade process
past kettle
it seems to me like it should work. you can test it out(create subscriptions with trials that end in say 10 minutes, then create a PortalSession and see if it looks like what you need/gives the options you need)
regal tapir
good idea