Gift subscription
DEFINITION
A gift subscription is a subscription one customer (the gifter) purchases so someone else (the recipient) can use it instead, delivered either as a redeemable gift card or as a gift plan that starts immediately.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
RELATED TERMS
A gift subscription is a subscription that one customer purchases for someone else to use. The purchaser, the gifter, pays for the subscription, and the recipient receives access to the product or service instead of the gifter.
Gift subscriptions generally take one of two forms, a redeemable gift card or a gift plan that starts right away, and they differ mainly in how much of the experience the billing platform handles versus the merchant. Recurly supports both, so a subscription business can offer gifting through the same plans and checkout it already uses rather than building a separate system for it.
Gift cards and gift plans
With a gift card, the gifter buys a gift card on their own account, and the recipient redeems it whenever they are ready to start. Recurly can handle the full checkout, the redemption flow, and the automated emails sent to both the gifter and the recipient.
With a gift plan, the gifter buys a subscription upfront for a set period, and it starts right away rather than waiting for redemption. A gift plan is an ordinary subscription plan. There is no configuration toggle or option that marks a plan as a gift plan, so the merchant is responsible for marketing it as a gift, delivering it to the recipient, and sending any end-of-gift communications Recurly does not collect the recipient's information or custom gift messages, and it does not handle recipient emails for this model.
Choosing between the two comes down to timing: gift cards suit a "let them choose when to start" experience, while gift plans suit a "start it now, on someone else's behalf" experience.
Why gift subscriptions matter
Gift subscriptions turn a one-time purchase into a new subscriber, which gives a subscription business a second acquisition channel beyond its usual sign-up flow. The gifter pays, but the recipient becomes the account holder who experiences the product, which means the gifting flow doubles as an introduction to the service for someone who may not have signed up on their own. For merchants running seasonal or gift-oriented campaigns, offering subscriptions as gifts also extends the buying occasions available to existing customers.
How to set up a gift subscription
Setting up a gift subscription involves work in Recurly and, typically, work on the merchant's own storefront:
Create the subscription as an ordinary plan and set its billing cadence and term the way you would for any plan. There is no separate configuration that marks a plan as a gift plan.
Market and manage the plan as a gift, since it is up to the merchant to position, deliver, and administer it as one.
Work with Recurly's Professional Services team to modify the storefront so it can collect the information a gift purchase needs, such as the recipient's email address.
Because a gift plan is an ordinary plan, it does not work as a gift out of the box. Presenting the gifting experience and capturing recipient details takes custom storefront work. The gifter is billed according to the plan's normal cadence, and once the subscription is active, the recipient can log in to the Shopper Portal and manage it like any other subscriber. Recipients are not required to approve a gift before receiving it.
Benefits and examples
For the business:
New customer acquisition without directly spending on advertising
Reduced churn risk on entry, since the recipient tends to actually use the product during the gifted term
Predictable, upfront cash flow from full-term prepayment
Seasonal revenue lift around gifting occasions
Two-sided brand exposure from a single transaction, since both buyer and recipient interact with the business
For the buyer:
A low-effort, high-perceived-value gift that avoids guessing sizes or preferences
For the recipient:
Risk-free access with no upfront cost or commitment
A frictionless path to continue as a paying subscriber if they choose to
Illustrative example. Imagine a subscription box company selling a 6-month gift plan at $90 total ($15/month equivalent). A buyer purchases the plan on December 1 and schedules delivery for December 25. The recipient redeems the code that day, and their entitlement runs through June 25 at $0 billed. On June 10, the system sends a renewal reminder. If the recipient adds a payment method, billing begins automatically at the standard $18/month rate starting June 25, a $3/month increase reflecting that the gift rate was a discounted bundle rather than the standalone monthly price.
Gift subscription vs. free trial
A gift subscription is paid for in full by a third party before the recipient ever engages with the product, while a free trial is offered directly by the business with no payment required from anyone. Gift subscriptions also tend to run longer than trials and carry an built-in emotional occasion (a holiday, birthday, or celebration) that trials don't have, which can affect how engaged the recipient is during the entitlement period.
Common mistakes with gift subscriptions
Not building a distinct gift SKU, so gift purchases get mixed into standard billing logic and can't be tracked or reported on separately
Failing to send a renewal reminder before the gift term ends, resulting in an abrupt access cutoff instead of a conversion opportunity
Requiring a payment method at redemption, which reintroduces the friction gift subscriptions are meant to remove
Pricing the gift plan identically to a discounted annual plan without accounting for the different post-gift retail rate, creating recipient confusion at renewal
How Recurly supports gift subscriptions
Recurly Subscriptions and Recurly Commerce support gift subscriptions using standard plans rather than a bolted-on workaround, and the gift card path includes redemption and automated email handling out of the box. Because implementation depends on the merchant's storefront, Recurly's Professional Services team works directly with merchants to wire up the recipient-information capture and the checkout experience, rather than leaving that integration entirely to the merchant.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a gift card and a gift plan in Recurly? A gift card is purchased on the gifter's account and redeemed later by the recipient, with Recurly handling checkout, redemption, and automated emails. A gift plan is a subscription bought upfront that starts immediately, with the merchant handling messaging and delivery outside Recurly.
Does the gift recipient need to approve the subscription before it starts? No. Recurly does not currently require the gift recipient to approve receiving the gift before it becomes active.
Who gets billed for a gift subscription? The gifter is billed according to the cadence defined on the plan, such as monthly, even though the recipient is the one using the subscription.
How does the recipient access their gifted subscription? The recipient can log in to the Shopper Portal and interact with the subscription the same way a standard subscriber would.
