Laravel Cashier (Stripe)

Introduction

Laravel Cashier provides an expressive, fluent interface to Stripe’s subscription billing services. It handles almost all of the boilerplate subscription billing code you are dreading writing. In addition to basic subscription management, Cashier can handle coupons, swapping subscription, subscription “quantities”, cancellation grace periods, and even generate invoice PDFs.

Upgrading Cashier

When upgrading to a new version of Cashier, it’s important that you carefully review the upgrade guide.

To prevent breaking changes, Cashier uses a fixed Stripe API version. Cashier 12 utilizes Stripe API version 2020-03-02. The Stripe API version will be updated on minor releases in order to make use of new Stripe features and improvements.

Installation

First, install the Cashier package for Stripe using the Composer package manager:

composer require laravel/cashier

To ensure Cashier properly handles all Stripe events, remember to set up Cashier’s webhook handling.

Database Migrations

Cashier’s service provider registers its own database migration directory, so remember to migrate your database after installing the package. The Cashier migrations will add several columns to your users table as well as create a new subscriptions table to hold all of your customer’s subscriptions:

php artisan migrate

If you need to overwrite the migrations that ship with Cashier, you can publish them using the vendor:publish Artisan command:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="cashier-migrations"

If you would like to prevent Cashier’s migrations from running entirely, you may use the ignoreMigrations method provided by Cashier. Typically, this method should be called in the register method of your AppServiceProvider:

use Laravel\Cashier\Cashier;

/**
 * Register any application services.
 *
 * @return void
 */
public function register()
{
    Cashier::ignoreMigrations();
}

Stripe recommends that any column used for storing Stripe identifiers should be case-sensitive. Therefore, you should ensure the column collation for the stripe_id column is set to utf8_bin when using MySQL. More information regarding this can be found in the Stripe documentation.

Configuration

Billable Model

Before using Cashier, add the Billable trait to your billable model definition. Typically, this will be the App\Models\User model. This trait provides various methods to allow you to perform common billing tasks, such as creating subscriptions, applying coupons, and updating payment method information:

use Laravel\Cashier\Billable;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use Billable;
}

Cashier assumes your billable model will be the App\Models\User class that ships with Laravel. If you wish to change this you can specify a different model in your .env file:

CASHIER_MODEL=App\Models\User

If you’re using a model other than Laravel’s supplied App\Models\User model, you’ll need to publish and alter the Cashier migrations provided to match your alternative model’s table name.

API Keys

Next, you should configure your Stripe API keys in your application’s .env file. You can retrieve your Stripe API keys from the Stripe control panel:

STRIPE_KEY=your-stripe-key
STRIPE_SECRET=your-stripe-secret

Currency Configuration

The default Cashier currency is United States Dollars (USD). You can change the default currency by setting the CASHIER_CURRENCY environment variable within your application’s .env file:

CASHIER_CURRENCY=eur

In addition to configuring Cashier’s currency, you may also specify a locale to be used when formatting money values for display on invoices. Internally, Cashier utilizes PHP’s NumberFormatter class to set the currency locale:

CASHIER_CURRENCY_LOCALE=nl_BE

In order to use locales other than en, ensure the ext-intl PHP extension is installed and configured on your server.

Logging

Cashier allows you to specify the log channel to be used when logging all Stripe related exceptions. You may specify the log channel by defining the CASHIER_LOGGER environment variable within your application’s .env file:

CASHIER_LOGGER=stack

Using Custom Models

You are free to extend the models used internally by Cashier by defining your own model and extending the corresponding Cashier model:

use Laravel\Cashier\Subscription as CashierSubscription;

class Subscription extends CashierSubscription
{
    // ...
}

After defining your model, you may instruct Cashier to use your custom model via the Laravel\Cashier\Cashier class. Typically, you should inform Cashier about your custom models in the boot method of your application’s App\Providers\AppServiceProvider class:

use App\Models\Cashier\Subscription;
use App\Models\Cashier\SubscriptionItem;

/**
 * Bootstrap any application services.
 *
 * @return void
 */
public function boot()
{
    Cashier::useSubscriptionModel(Subscription::class);
    Cashier::useSubscriptionItemModel(SubscriptionItem::class);
}

Customers

Retrieving Customers

You can retrieve a customer by their Stripe ID using the Cashier::findBillable method. This method will return an instance of the billable model:

use Laravel\Cashier\Cashier;

$user = Cashier::findBillable($stripeId);

Creating Customers

Occasionally, you may wish to create a Stripe customer without beginning a subscription. You may accomplish this using the createAsStripeCustomer method:

$stripeCustomer = $user->createAsStripeCustomer();

Once the customer has been created in Stripe, you may begin a subscription at a later date. You may provide an optional $options array to pass in any additional customer creation parameters that are supported by the Stripe API:

$stripeCustomer = $user->createAsStripeCustomer($options);

You may use the asStripeCustomer method if you want to return the Stripe customer object for a billable model:

$stripeCustomer = $user->asStripeCustomer();

The createOrGetStripeCustomer method may be used if you would like to retrieve the Stripe customer object for a given billable model but are not sure whether the billable model is already a customer within Stripe. This method will create a new customer in Stripe if one does not already exist:

$stripeCustomer = $user->createOrGetStripeCustomer();

Updating Customers

Occasionally, you may wish to update the Stripe customer directly with additional information. You may accomplish this using the updateStripeCustomer method. This method accepts an array of customer update options supported by the Stripe API:

$stripeCustomer = $user->updateStripeCustomer($options);

Billing Portal

Stripe offers an easy way to set up a billing portal so that your customer can manage their subscription, payment methods, and view their billing history. You can redirect your users to the billing portal by invoking the redirectToBillingPortal method on the billable model from a controller or route:

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

Route::get('/billing-portal', function (Request $request) {
    return $request->user()->redirectToBillingPortal();
});

By default, when the user is finished managing their subscription, they will be able to return to the home route of your application via a link within the Stripe billing portal. You may provide a custom URL that the user should return to by passing the URL as an argument to the redirectToBillingPortal method:

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

Route::get('/billing-portal', function (Request $request) {
    return $request->user()->redirectToBillingPortal(route('billing'));
});

If you would like to generate the URL to the billing portal without generating an HTTP redirect response, you may invoke the billingPortalUrl method:

$url = $request->user()->billingPortalUrl(route('billing'));

Payment Methods

Storing Payment Methods

In order to create subscriptions or perform “one off” charges with Stripe, you will need to store a payment method and retrieve its identifier from Stripe. The approach used to accomplish this differs based on whether you plan to use the payment method for subscriptions or single charges, so we will examine both below.

Payment Methods For Subscriptions

When storing a customer’s credit card information for future use by a subscription, the Stripe “Setup Intents” API must be used to securely gather the customer’s payment method details. A “Setup Intent” indicates to Stripe the intention to charge a customer’s payment method. Cashier’s Billable trait includes the createSetupIntent method to easily create a new Setup Intent. You should invoke this method from the route or controller that will render the form which gathers your customer’s payment method details:

return view('update-payment-method', [
    'intent' => $user->createSetupIntent()
]);

After you have created the Setup Intent and passed it to the view, you should attach its secret to the element that will gather the payment method. For example, consider this “update payment method” form:

<input id="card-holder-name" type="text">

<!-- Stripe Elements Placeholder -->
<div id="card-element"></div>

<button id="card-button" data-secret="{{ $intent->client_secret }}">
    Update Payment Method
</button>

Next, the Stripe.js library may be used to attach a Stripe Element to the form and securely gather the customer’s payment details:

<script src="https://js.stripe.com/v3/"></script>

<script>
    const stripe = Stripe('stripe-public-key');

    const elements = stripe.elements();
    const cardElement = elements.create('card');

    cardElement.mount('#card-element');
</script>

Next, the card can be verified and a secure “payment method identifier” can be retrieved from Stripe using Stripe’s confirmCardSetup method:

const cardHolderName = document.getElementById('card-holder-name');
const cardButton = document.getElementById('card-button');
const clientSecret = cardButton.dataset.secret;

cardButton.addEventListener('click', async (e) => {
    const { setupIntent, error } = await stripe.confirmCardSetup(
        clientSecret, {
            payment_method: {
                card: cardElement,
                billing_details: { name: cardHolderName.value }
            }
        }
    );

    if (error) {
        // Display "error.message" to the user...
    } else {
        // The card has been verified successfully...
    }
});

After the card has been verified by Stripe, you may pass the resulting setupIntent.payment_method identifier to your Laravel application, where it can be attached to the customer. The payment method can either be added as a new payment method or used to update the default payment method. You can also immediately use the payment method identifier to create a new subscription.

If you would like more information about Setup Intents and gathering customer payment details please review this overview provided by Stripe.

Payment Methods For Single Charges

Of course, when making a single charge against a customer’s payment method, we will only need to use a payment method identifier once. Due to Stripe limitations, you may not use the stored default payment method of a customer for single charges. You must allow the customer to enter their payment method details using the Stripe.js library. For example, consider the following form:

<input id="card-holder-name" type="text">

<!-- Stripe Elements Placeholder -->
<div id="card-element"></div>

<button id="card-button">
    Process Payment
</button>

After defining such a form, the Stripe.js library may be used to attach a Stripe Element to the form and securely gather the customer’s payment details:

<script src="https://js.stripe.com/v3/"></script>

<script>
    const stripe = Stripe('stripe-public-key');

    const elements = stripe.elements();
    const cardElement = elements.create('card');

    cardElement.mount('#card-element');
</script>

Next, the card can be verified and a secure “payment method identifier” can be retrieved from Stripe using Stripe’s createPaymentMethod method:

const cardHolderName = document.getElementById('card-holder-name');
const cardButton = document.getElementById('card-button');

cardButton.addEventListener('click', async (e) => {
    const { paymentMethod, error } = await stripe.createPaymentMethod(
        'card', cardElement, {
            billing_details: { name: cardHolderName.value }
        }
    );

    if (error) {
        // Display "error.message" to the user...
    } else {
        // The card has been verified successfully...
    }
});

If the card is verified successfully, you may pass the paymentMethod.id to your Laravel application and process a single charge.

Retrieving Payment Methods

The paymentMethods method on the billable model instance returns a collection of Laravel\Cashier\PaymentMethod instances:

$paymentMethods = $user->paymentMethods();

To retrieve the customer’s default payment method, the defaultPaymentMethod method may be used:

$paymentMethod = $user->defaultPaymentMethod();

You can retrieve a specific payment method that is attached to the billable model using the findPaymentMethod method:

$paymentMethod = $user->findPaymentMethod($paymentMethodId);

Determining If A User Has A Payment Method

To determine if a billable model has a default payment method attached to their account, invoke the hasDefaultPaymentMethod method:

if ($user->hasDefaultPaymentMethod()) {
    //
}

You may use the hasPaymentMethod method to determine if a billable model has at least one payment method attached to their account:

if ($user->hasPaymentMethod()) {
    //
}

Updating The Default Payment Method

The updateDefaultPaymentMethod method may be used to update a customer’s default payment method information. This method accepts a Stripe payment method identifier and will assign the new payment method as the default billing payment method:

$user->updateDefaultPaymentMethod($paymentMethod);

To sync your default payment method information with the customer’s default payment method information in Stripe, you may use the updateDefaultPaymentMethodFromStripe method:

$user->updateDefaultPaymentMethodFromStripe();

The default payment method on a customer can only be used for invoicing and creating new subscriptions. Due to limitations imposed by Stripe, it may not be used for single charges.

Adding Payment Methods

To add a new payment method, you may call the addPaymentMethod method on the billable model, passing the payment method identifier:

$user->addPaymentMethod($paymentMethod);

To learn how to retrieve payment method identifiers please review the payment method storage documentation.

Deleting Payment Methods

To delete a payment method, you may call the delete method on the Laravel\Cashier\PaymentMethod instance you wish to delete:

$paymentMethod->delete();

The deletePaymentMethods method will delete all of the payment method information for the billable model:

$user->deletePaymentMethods();

If a user has an active subscription, your application should not allow them to delete their default payment method.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions provide a way to set up recurring payments for your customers. Stripe subscriptions managed by Cashier provide support for multiple subscription plans, subscription quantities, trials, and more.

Creating Subscriptions

To create a subscription, first retrieve an instance of your billable model, which typically will be an instance of App\Models\User. Once you have retrieved the model instance, you may use the newSubscription method to create the model’s subscription:

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

Route::post('/user/subscribe', function (Request $request) {
    $request->user()->newSubscription(
        'default', 'price_premium'
    )->create($request->paymentMethodId);

    // ...
});

The first argument passed to the newSubscription method should be the name of the subscription. If your application only offers a single subscription, you might call this default or primary. The second argument is the specific plan the user is subscribing to. This value should correspond to the plan’s price identifier in Stripe.

The create method, which accepts a Stripe payment method identifier or Stripe PaymentMethod object, will begin the subscription as well as update your database with the billable model’s Stripe customer ID and other relevant billing information.

Passing a payment method identifier directly to the create subscription method will also automatically add it to the user’s stored payment methods.

Quantities

If you would like to set a specific quantity for the plan when creating the subscription, you should invoke the quantity method on the subscription builder before creating the subscription:

$user->newSubscription('default', 'price_monthly')
     ->quantity(5)
     ->create($paymentMethod);

Additional Details

If you would like to specify additional customer or subscription options supported by Stripe, you may do so by passing them as the second and third arguments to the create method:

$user->newSubscription('default', 'price_monthly')->create($paymentMethod, [
    'email' => $email,
], [
    'metadata' => ['note' => 'Some extra information.'],
]);

Coupons

If you would like to apply a coupon when creating the subscription, you may use the withCoupon method:

$user->newSubscription('default', 'price_monthly')
     ->withCoupon('code')
     ->create($paymentMethod);

Or, if you would like to apply a Stripe promotion code, you may use the withPromotionCode method:

$user->newSubscription('default', 'price_monthly')
     ->withPromotionCode('promo_code')
     ->create($paymentMethod);

Adding Subscriptions

If you would like to add a subscription to a customer who already has a default payment method you may invoke the add method on the subscription builder:

use App\Models\User;

$user = User::find(1);

$user->newSubscription('default', 'price_premium')->add();

Creating Subscriptions From The Stripe Dashboard

You may also create subscriptions from the Stripe dashboard itself. When doing so, Cashier will sync newly added subscriptions and assign them a name of default. To customize the subscription name that is assigned to dashboard created subscriptions, extend the WebhookController and overwrite the newSubscriptionName method.

In addition, you may only create one type of subscription via the Stripe dashboard. If your application offers multiple subscriptions that use different names, only one type of subscription may be added through the Stripe dashboard.

Finally, you should always make sure to only add one active subscription per type of subscription offered by your application. If customer has two default subscriptions, only the most recently added subscription will be used by Cashier even though both would be synced with your application’s database.

Checking Subscription Status

Once a customer is subscribed to your application, you may easily check their subscription status using a variety of convenient methods. First, the subscribed method returns true if the customer has an active subscription, even if the subscription is currently within its trial period. The subscribed method accepts the name of the subscription as its first argument:

if ($user->subscribed('default')) {
    //
}

The subscribed method also makes a great candidate for a route middleware, allowing you to filter access to routes and controllers based on the user’s subscription status:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Middleware;

use Closure;

class EnsureUserIsSubscribed
{
    /**
     * Handle an incoming request.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request  $request
     * @param  \Closure  $next
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function handle($request, Closure $next)
    {
        if ($request->user() && ! $request->user()->subscribed('default')) {
            // This user is not a paying customer...
            return redirect('billing');
        }

        return $next($request);
    }
}

If you would like to determine if a user is still within their trial period, you may use the onTrial method. This method can be useful for determining if you should display a warning to the user that they are still on their trial period:

if ($user->subscription('default')->onTrial()) {
    //
}

The subscribedToPlan method may be used to determine if the user is subscribed to a given plan based on a given Stripe plan’s price identifier. In this example, we will determine if the user’s default subscription is actively subscribed to the application’s “monthly” plan. The given Stripe plan price identifier should correspond to one of your plan’s price identifiers in the Stripe dashboard:

if ($user->subscribedToPlan('price_monthly', 'default')) {
    //
}

By passing an array to the subscribedToPlan method, you may determine if the user’s default subscription is actively subscribed to the application’s “monthly” or “yearly” plan:

if ($user->subscribedToPlan(['price_monthly', 'price_yearly'], 'default')) {
    //
}

The recurring method may be used to determine if the user is currently subscribed and is no longer within their trial period:

if ($user->subscription('default')->recurring()) {
    //
}

If a user has two subscriptions with the same name, the most recent subscription will always be returned by the subscription method. For example, a user might have two subscription records named default; however, one of the subscriptions may be an old, expired subscription, while the other is the current, active subscription. The most recent subscription will always be returned while older subscriptions are kept in the database for historical review.

Cancelled Subscription Status

To determine if the user was once an active subscriber but has cancelled their subscription, you may use the cancelled method:

if ($user->subscription('default')->cancelled()) {
    //
}

You may also determine if a user has cancelled their subscription but are still on their “grace period” until the subscription fully expires. For example, if a user cancels a subscription on March 5th that was originally scheduled to expire on March 10th, the user is on their “grace period” until March 10th. Note that the subscribed method still returns true during this time:

if ($user->subscription('default')->onGracePeriod()) {
    //
}

To determine if the user has cancelled their subscription and is no longer within their “grace period”, you may use the ended method:

if ($user->subscription('default')->ended()) {
    //
}

Incomplete and Past Due Status

If a subscription requires a secondary payment action after creation the subscription will be marked as incomplete. Subscription statuses are stored in the stripe_status column of Cashier’s subscriptions database table.

Similarly, if a secondary payment action is required when swapping plans the subscription will be marked as past_due. When your subscription is in either of these states it will not be active until the customer has confirmed their payment. Determining if a subscription has an incomplete payment may be accomplished using the hasIncompletePayment method on the billable model or a subscription instance:

if ($user->hasIncompletePayment('default')) {
    //
}

if ($user->subscription('default')->hasIncompletePayment()) {
    //
}

When a subscription has an incomplete payment, you should direct the user to Cashier’s payment confirmation page, passing the latestPayment identifier. You may use the latestPayment method available on subscription instance to retrieve this identifier:

<a href="{{ route('cashier.payment', $subscription->latestPayment()->id) }}">
    Please confirm your payment.
</a>

If you would like the subscription to still be considered active when it’s in a past_due state, you may use the keepPastDueSubscriptionsActive method provided by Cashier. Typically, this method should be called in the register method of your App\Providers\AppServiceProvider:

use Laravel\Cashier\Cashier;

/**
 * Register any application services.
 *
 * @return void
 */
public function register()
{
    Cashier::keepPastDueSubscriptionsActive();
}

When a subscription is in an incomplete state it cannot be changed until the payment is confirmed. Therefore, the swap and updateQuantity methods will throw an exception when the subscription is in an incomplete state.

Subscription Scopes

Most subscription states are also available as query scopes so that you may easily query your database for subscriptions that are in a given state:

// Get all active subscriptions...
$subscriptions = Subscription::query()->active()->get();

// Get all of the cancelled subscriptions for a user...
$subscriptions = $user->subscriptions()->cancelled()->get();

A complete list of available scopes is available below:

Subscription::query()->active();
Subscription::query()->cancelled();
Subscription::query()->ended();
Subscription::query()->incomplete();
Subscription::query()->notCancelled();
Subscription::query()->notOnGracePeriod();
Subscription::query()->notOnTrial();
Subscription::query()->onGracePeriod();
Subscription::query()->onTrial();
Subscription::query()->pastDue();
Subscription::query()->recurring();

Changing Plans

After a customer is subscribed to your application, they may occasionally want to change to a new subscription plan. To swap a customer to a new plan, pass the Stripe plan’s price identifier to the swap method. The given price identifier should correspond to a Stripe plan price identifier available in the Stripe dashboard:

use App\Models\User;

$user = App\Models\User::find(1);

$user->subscription('default')->swap('price_id');

If the customer is on trial, the trial period will be maintained. Additionally, if a “quantity” exists for the subscription, that quantity will also be maintained.

If you would like to swap plans and cancel any trial period the customer is currently on, you may invoke the skipTrial method:

$user->subscription('default')
        ->skipTrial()
        ->swap('price_id');

If you would like to swap plans and immediately invoice the customer instead of waiting for their next billing cycle, you may use the swapAndInvoice method:

$user = User::find(1);

$user->subscription('default')->swapAndInvoice('price_id');

Prorations

By default, Stripe prorates charges when swapping between plans. The noProrate method may be used to update the subscription’s plan without prorating the charges:

$user->subscription('default')->noProrate()->swap('price_id');

For more information on subscription proration, consult the Stripe documentation.

Executing the noProrate method before the swapAndInvoice method will have no effect on proration. An invoice will always be issued.

Subscription Quantity

Sometimes subscriptions are affected by “quantity”. For example, a project management application might charge $10 per month per project. You may use the incrementQuantity and decrementQuantity methods to easily increment or decrement your subscription quantity:

use App\Models\User;

$user = User::find(1);

$user->subscription('default')->incrementQuantity();

// Add five to the subscription's current quantity...
$user->subscription('default')->incrementQuantity(5);

$user->subscription('default')->decrementQuantity();

// Subtract five from the subscription's current quantity...
$user->subscription('default')->decrementQuantity(5);

Alternatively, you may set a specific quantity using the updateQuantity method:

$user->subscription('default')->updateQuantity(10);

The noProrate method may be used to update the subscription’s quantity without prorating the charges:

$user->subscription('default')->noProrate()->updateQuantity(10);

For more information on subscription quantities, consult the Stripe documentation.

Multiplan Subscription Quantities

If your subscription is a multiplan subscription, you should pass the name of the plan whose quantity you wish to increment or decrement as the second argument to the increment / decrement methods:

$user->subscription('default')->incrementQuantity(1, 'chat-plan');

Multiplan Subscriptions

Multiplan subscriptions allow you to assign multiple billing plans to a single subscription. For example, imagine you are building a customer service “helpdesk” application that has a base subscription plan of $10 per month but offers a live chat add-on plan for an additional $15 per month. Multiplan subscription information is stored in Cashier’s subscription_items database table.

You may specify multiple plans for a given subscription by passing an array of plans as the second argument to the newSubscription method:

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

Route::post('/user/subscribe', function (Request $request) {
    $request->user()->newSubscription('default', [
        'price_monthly',
        'chat-plan',
    ])->create($request->paymentMethodId);

    // ...
});

In the example above, the customer will have two plans attached to their default subscription. Both plans will be charged on their respective billing intervals. If necessary, you may use the quantity method to indicate a specific quantity for each plan:

$user = User::find(1);

$user->newSubscription('default', ['price_monthly', 'chat-plan'])
    ->quantity(5, 'chat-plan')
    ->create($paymentMethod);

If you would like to add another plan to an existing subscription, you may invoke the subscription’s addPlan method:

$user = User::find(1);

$user->subscription('default')->addPlan('chat-plan');

The example above will add the new plan and the customer will be billed for it on their next billing cycle. If you would like to bill the customer immediately you may use the addPlanAndInvoice method:

$user->subscription('default')->addPlanAndInvoice('chat-plan');

If you would like to add a plan with a specific quantity, you can pass the quantity as the second argument of the addPlan or addPlanAndInvoice methods:

$user = User::find(1);

$user->subscription('default')->addPlan('chat-plan', 5);

You may remove plans from subscriptions using the removePlan method:

$user->subscription('default')->removePlan('chat-plan');

You may not remove the last plan on a subscription. Instead, you should simply cancel the subscription.

Swapping Plans

You may also change the plans attached to a multiplan subscription. For example, imagine a customer has a basic-plan subscription with a chat-plan add-on plan and you want to upgrade the customer from the basic-plan to the pro-plan plan:

use App\Models\User;

$user = User::find(1);

$user->subscription('default')->swap(['pro-plan', 'chat-plan']);

When executing the example above, the underlying subscription item with the basic-plan is deleted and the one with the chat-plan is preserved. Additionally, a new subscription item for the pro-plan is created.

You can also specify subscription item options by passing an array of key / value pairs to the swap method. For example, you may need to specify the subscription plan quantities:

$user = User::find(1);

$user->subscription('default')->swap([
    'pro-plan' => ['quantity' => 5],
    'chat-plan'
]);

If you want to swap a single plan on a subscription, you may do so using the swap method on the subscription item itself. This approach is particularly useful if you would like to preserve all of the existing metadata on the subscription’s other plans:

$user = User::find(1);

$user->subscription('default')
        ->findItemOrFail('basic-plan')
        ->swap('pro-plan');

Proration

By default, Stripe will prorate charges when adding or removing plans from a multiplan subscription. If you would like to make a plan adjustment without proration, you should chain the noProrate method onto your plan operation:

$user->subscription('default')->noProrate()->removePlan('chat-plan');

Quantities

If you would like to update quantities on individual subscription plans, you may do so using the existing quantity methods by passing the name of the plan as an additional argument to the method:

$user = User::find(1);

$user->subscription('default')->incrementQuantity(5, 'chat-plan');

$user->subscription('default')->decrementQuantity(3, 'chat-plan');

$user->subscription('default')->updateQuantity(10, 'chat-plan');

When a subscription has multiple plans the stripe_plan and quantity attributes on the Subscription model will be null. To access the individual plan attributes, you should use the items relationship available on the Subscription model.

Subscription Items

When a subscription has multiple plans, it will have multiple subscription “items” stored in your database’s subscription_items table. You may access these via the items relationship on the subscription:

use App\Models\User;

$user = User::find(1);

$subscriptionItem = $user->subscription('default')->items->first();

// Retrieve the Stripe plan and quantity for a specific item...
$stripePlan = $subscriptionItem->stripe_plan;
$quantity = $subscriptionItem->quantity;

You can also retrieve a specific plan using the findItemOrFail method:

$user = User::find(1);

$subscriptionItem = $user->subscription('default')->findItemOrFail('chat-plan');

Metered Billing

Metered billing allows you to charge customers based on their product usage during a billing cycle. For example, you may charge customers based on the number of text messages or emails they send per month.

To start using metered billing, you will first need to create a new product in your Stripe dashboard with a metered price. Then, use the meteredPlan to add the metered price ID to a customer subscription:

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

Route::post('/user/subscribe', function (Request $request) {
    $request->user()->newSubscription('default', [])
        ->meteredPlan('price_metered')
        ->create($request->paymentMethodId);

    // ...
});

You may also start a metered subscription via Stripe Checkout:

$checkout = Auth::user()
        ->newSubscription('default', [])
        ->meteredPlan('price_metered')
        ->checkout();

return view('your-checkout-view', [
    'checkout' => $checkout,
]);

Reporting Usage

As your customer uses your application, you will report their usage to Stripe so that they can be billed accurately. To increment the usage of a metered subscription, you may use the reportUsage method:

$user = User::find(1);

$user->subscription('default')->reportUsage();

By default, a “usage quantity” of 1 is added to the billing period. Alternatively, you may pass a specific amount of “usage” to add to the customer’s usage for the billing period:

$user = User::find(1);

$user->subscription('default')->reportUsage(15);

If your application offers multiple plans on a single subscription, you will need to use the reportUsageFor method to specify the metered plan / price you want to report usage for:

$user = User::find(1);

$user->subscription('default')->reportUsageFor('price_metered', 15);

Sometimes, you may need to update usage which you have previously reported. To accomplish this, you may pass a timestamp or a DateTimeInterface instance as the second parameter to reportUsage. When doing so, Stripe will update the usage that was reported at that given time. You can continue to update previous usage records as the given date and time is still within the current billing period:

$user = User::find(1);

$user->subscription('default')->reportUsage(5, $timestamp);

Retrieving Usage Records

To retrieve a customer’s past usage, you may use a subscription instance’s usageRecords method:

$user = User::find(1);

$usageRecords = $user->subscription('default')->usageRecords();

If your application offers multiple plans on a single subscription, you may use the usageRecordsFor method to specify the metered plan / price that you wish to retrieve usage records for:

$user = User::find(1);

$usageRecords = $user->subscription('default')->usageRecordsFor('price_metered');

The usageRecords and usageRecordsFor methods return a Collection instance containing an associative array of usage records. You may iterate over this array to display a customer’s total usage:

@foreach ($usageRecords as $usageRecord) {
    - Period Starting: {{ $usageRecord['period']['start'] }}
    - Period Ending: {{ $usageRecord['period']['end'] }}
    - Total Usage: {{ $usageRecord['total_usage'] }}
@endforeach

For a full reference of all usage data returned and how to use Stripe’s cursor based pagination, please consult the official Stripe API documentation.

Subscription Taxes

To specify the tax rates a user pays on a subscription, you should implement the taxRates method on your billable model and return an array containing the Stripe tax rate IDs. You can define these tax rates in your Stripe dashboard:

/**
 * The tax rates that should apply to the customer's subscriptions.
 *
 * @return array
 */
public function taxRates()
{
    return ['tax-rate-id'];
}

The taxRates method enables you to apply a tax rate on a customer-by-customer basis, which may be helpful for a user base that spans multiple countries and tax rates.

If you’re offering multiplan subscriptions, you may define different tax rates for each plan by implementing a planTaxRates method on your billable model:

/**
 * The tax rates that should apply to the customer's subscriptions.
 *
 * @return array
 */
public function planTaxRates()
{
    return [
        'plan-id' => ['tax-rate-id'],
    ];
}

The taxRates method only applies to subscription charges. If you use Cashier to make “one off” charges, you will need to manually specify the tax rate at that time.

Syncing Tax Rates

When changing the hard-coded tax rate IDs returned by the taxRates method, the tax settings on any existing subscriptions for the user will remain the same. If you wish to update the tax value for existing subscriptions with the new taxRates values, you should call the syncTaxRates method on the user’s subscription instance:

$user->subscription('default')->syncTaxRates();

This will also sync any multiplan subscription item tax rates. If your application is offering multiplan subscriptions, you should ensure that your billable model implements the planTaxRates method discussed above.

Tax Exemption

Cashier also offers the isNotTaxExempt, isTaxExempt, and reverseChargeApplies methods to determine if the customer is tax exempt. These methods will call the Stripe API to determine a customer’s tax exemption status:

use App\Models\User;

$user = User::find(1);

$user->isTaxExempt();
$user->isNotTaxExempt();
$user->reverseChargeApplies();

These methods are also available on any Laravel\Cashier\Invoice object. However, when invoked on an Invoice object, the methods will determine the exemption status at the time the invoice was created.

Subscription Anchor Date

By default, the billing cycle anchor is the date the subscription was created or, if a trial period is used, the date that the trial ends. If you would like to modify the billing anchor date, you may use the anchorBillingCycleOn method:

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

Route::post('/user/subscribe', function (Request $request) {
    $anchor = Carbon::parse('first day of next month');

    $request->user()->newSubscription('default', 'price_premium')
                ->anchorBillingCycleOn($anchor->startOfDay())
                ->create($request->paymentMethodId);

    // ...
});

For more information on managing subscription billing cycles, consult the Stripe billing cycle documentation

Cancelling Subscriptions

To cancel a subscription, call the cancel method on the user’s subscription:

$user->subscription('default')->cancel();

When a subscription is cancelled, Cashier will automatically set the ends_at column in your subscriptions database table. This column is used to know when the subscribed method should begin returning false.

For example, if a customer cancels a subscription on March 1st, but the subscription was not scheduled to end until March 5th, the subscribed method will continue to return true until March 5th. This is done because a user is typically allowed to continue using an application until the end of their billing cycle.

You may determine if a user has cancelled their subscription but are still on their “grace period” using the onGracePeriod method:

if ($user->subscription('default')->onGracePeriod()) {
    //
}

If you wish to cancel a subscription immediately, call the cancelNow method on the user’s subscription:

$user->subscription('default')->cancelNow();

If you wish to cancel a subscription immediately and invoice any remaining un-invoiced metered usage or new / pending proration invoice items, call the cancelNowAndInvoice method on the user’s subscription:

$user->subscription('default')->cancelNowAndInvoice();

Resuming Subscriptions

If a customer has cancelled their subscription and you wish to resume it, you may invoke the resume method on the subscription. The customer must still be within their “grace period” in order to resume a subscription:

$user->subscription('default')->resume();

If the customer cancels a subscription and then resumes that subscription before the subscription has fully expired the customer will not be billed immediately. Instead, their subscription will be re-activated and they will be billed on the original billing cycle.

Subscription Trials

With Payment Method Up Front

If you would like to offer trial periods to your customers while still collecting payment method information up front, you should use the trialDays method when creating your subscriptions:

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

Route::post('/user/subscribe', function (Request $request) {
    $request->user()->newSubscription('default', 'price_monthly')
                ->trialDays(10)
                ->create($request->paymentMethodId);

    // ...
});

This method will set the trial period ending date on the subscription record within the database and instruct Stripe to not begin billing the customer until after this date. When using the trialDays method, Cashier will overwrite any default trial period configured for the plan in Stripe.

If the customer’s subscription is not cancelled before the trial ending date they will be charged as soon as the trial expires, so you should be sure to notify your users of their trial ending date.

The trialUntil method allows you to provide a DateTime instance that specifies when the trial period should end:

use Carbon\Carbon;

$user->newSubscription('default', 'price_monthly')
            ->trialUntil(Carbon::now()->addDays(10))
            ->create($paymentMethod);

You may determine if a user is within their trial period using either the onTrial method of the user instance or the onTrial method of the subscription instance. The two examples below are equivalent:

if ($user->onTrial('default')) {
    //
}

if ($user->subscription('default')->onTrial()) {
    //
}

You may use the endTrial method to immediately end a subscription trial:

$user->subscription('default')->endTrial();

Defining Trial Days In Stripe / Cashier

You may choose to define how many trial days your plan’s receive in the Stripe dashboard or always pass them explicitly using Cashier. If you choose to define your plan’s trial days in Stripe you should be aware that new subscriptions, including new subscriptions for a customer that had a subscription in the past, will always receive a trial period unless you explicitly call the trialDays(0) method.

Without Payment Method Up Front

If you would like to offer trial periods without collecting the user’s payment method information up front, you may set the trial_ends_at column on the user record to your desired trial ending date. This is typically done during user registration:

use App\Models\User;

$user = User::create([
    // ...
    'trial_ends_at' => now()->addDays(10),
]);

Be sure to add a date cast for the trial_ends_at attribute within your billable model’s class definition.

Cashier refers to this type of trial as a “generic trial”, since it is not attached to any existing subscription. The onTrial method on the billable model instance will return true if the current date is not past the value of trial_ends_at:

if ($user->onTrial()) {
    // User is within their trial period...
}

Once you are ready to create an actual subscription for the user, you may use the newSubscription method as usual:

$user = User::find(1);

$user->newSubscription('default', 'price_monthly')->create($paymentMethod);

To retrieve the user’s trial ending date, you may use the trialEndsAt method. This method will return a Carbon date instance if a user is on a trial or null if they aren’t. You may also pass an optional subscription name parameter if you would like to get the trial ending date for a specific subscription other than the default one:

if ($user->onTrial()) {
    $trialEndsAt = $user->trialEndsAt('main');
}

You may also use the onGenericTrial method if you wish to know specifically that the user is within their “generic” trial period and has not yet created an actual subscription:

if ($user->onGenericTrial()) {
    // User is within their "generic" trial period...
}

Extending Trials

The extendTrial method allows you to extend the trial period of a subscription after the subscription has been created. If the trial has already expired and the customer is already being billed for the subscription, you can still offer them an extended trial. The time spent within the trial period will be deducted from the customer’s next invoice:

use App\Models\User;

$subscription = User::find(1)->subscription('default');

// End the trial 7 days from now...
$subscription->extendTrial(
    now()->addDays(7)
);

// Add an additional 5 days to the trial...
$subscription->extendTrial(
    $subscription->trial_ends_at->addDays(5)
);

Handling Stripe Webhooks

You may use the Stripe CLI to help test webhooks during local development.

Stripe can notify your application of a variety of events via webhooks. By default, a route that points to Cashier’s webhook controller is automatically registered by the Cashier service provider. This controller will handle all incoming webhook requests.

By default, the Cashier webhook controller will automatically handle cancelling subscriptions that have too many failed charges (as defined by your Stripe settings), customer updates, customer deletions, subscription updates, and payment method changes; however, as we’ll soon discover, you can extend this controller to handle any Stripe webhook event you like.

To ensure your application can handle Stripe webhooks, be sure to configure the webhook URL in the Stripe control panel. By default, Cashier’s webhook controller responds to the /stripe/webhook URL path. The full list of all webhooks you should enable in the Stripe control panel are:

• customer.subscription.created
• customer.subscription.updated
• customer.subscription.deleted
• customer.updated
• customer.deleted
• invoice.payment_action_required

Make sure you protect incoming Stripe webhook requests with Cashier’s included webhook signature verification middleware.

Webhooks & CSRF Protection

Since Stripe webhooks need to bypass Laravel’s CSRF protection, be sure to list the URI as an exception in your application’s App\Http\Middleware\VerifyCsrfToken middleware or list the route outside of the web middleware group:

protected $except = [
    'stripe/*',
];

Defining Webhook Event Handlers

Cashier automatically handles subscription cancellations for failed charges and other common Stripe webhook events. However, if you have additional webhook events you would like to handle, you may do so by extending the Cashier webhook controller.

Your controller’s method names should correspond to Cashier’s controller conventions. Specifically, methods should be prefixed with handle and the “camel case” name of the webhook you wish to handle. For example, if you wish to handle the invoice.payment_succeeded webhook, you should add a handleInvoicePaymentSucceeded method to the controller:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Laravel\Cashier\Http\Controllers\WebhookController as CashierController;

class WebhookController extends CashierController
{
    /**
     * Handle invoice payment succeeded.
     *
     * @param  array  $payload
     * @return \Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response
     */
    public function handleInvoicePaymentSucceeded($payload)
    {
        // Handle the incoming event...
    }
}

Next, define a route to your Cashier webhook controller within your application’s routes/web.php file. This will overwrite the default route registered by Cashier’s service provider:

use App\Http\Controllers\WebhookController;

Route::post(
    '/stripe/webhook',
    [WebhookController::class, 'handleWebhook']
);

Cashier emits a Laravel\Cashier\Events\WebhookReceived event when a webhook is received and a Laravel\Cashier\Events\WebhookHandled event when a webhook was handled by Cashier. Both events contain the full payload of the Stripe webhook.

Verifying Webhook Signatures

To secure your webhooks, you may use Stripe’s webhook signatures. For convenience, Cashier automatically includes a middleware which validates that the incoming Stripe webhook request is valid.

To enable webhook verification, ensure that the STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET environment variable is set in your application’s .env file. The webhook secret may be retrieved from your Stripe account dashboard.

Single Charges

Simple Charge

The charge method accepts the amount you would like to charge in the lowest denominator of the currency used by your application. For example, when using United States Dollars, amounts should be specified in pennies.

If you would like to make a one-time charge against a customer, you may use the charge method on a billable model instance. You will need to provide a payment method identifier as the second argument to the charge method:

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

Route::post('/purchase', function (Request $request) {
    $stripeCharge = $request->user()->charge(
        100, $request->paymentMethodId
    );

    // ...
});

The charge method accepts an array as its third argument, allowing you to pass any options you wish to the underlying Stripe charge creation. More information regarding the options available to you when creating charges may be found in the Stripe documentation:

$user->charge(100, $paymentMethod, [
    'custom_option' => $value,
]);

You may also use the charge method without an underlying customer or user. To accomplish this, invoke the charge method on a new instance of your application’s billable model:

use App\Models\User;

$stripeCharge = (new User)->charge(100, $paymentMethod);

The charge method will throw an exception if the charge fails. If the charge is successful, an instance of Laravel\Cashier\Payment will be returned from the method:

try {
    $payment = $user->charge(100, $paymentMethod);
} catch (Exception $e) {
    //
}

Charge With Invoice

Sometimes you may need to make a one-time charge and offer a PDF receipt to your customer. The invoiceFor method lets you do just that. For example, let’s invoice a customer $5.00 for a “Maintenance Fee”:

$user->invoiceFor('One Time Fee', 500);

The invoice will be charged immediately against the user’s default payment method. The invoiceFor method also accepts an array as its third argument. This array contains the billing options for the invoice item. The fourth argument accepted by the method is also an array which should contain the billing options for the invoice itself:

$user->invoiceFor('Stickers', 500, [
    'quantity' => 50,
], [
    'default_tax_rates' => ['tax-rate-id'],
]);

The invoiceFor method will create a Stripe invoice which will retry failed billing attempts. If you do not want invoices to retry failed charges, you will need to close them using the Stripe API after the first failed charge.

Refunding Charges

If you need to refund a Stripe charge, you may use the refund method. This method accepts the Stripe payment intent ID as its first argument:

$payment = $user->charge(100, $paymentMethodId);

$user->refund($payment->id);

Invoices

Retrieving Invoices

You may easily retrieve an array of a billable model’s invoices using the invoices method. The invoices method returns a collection of Laravel\Cashier\Invoice instances:

$invoices = $user->invoices();

If you would like to include pending invoices in the results, you may use the invoicesIncludingPending method:

$invoices = $user->invoicesIncludingPending();

You may use the findInvoice method to retrieve a specific invoice by its ID:

$invoice = $user->findInvoice($invoiceId);

Displaying Invoice Information

When listing the invoices for the customer, you may use the invoice’s methods to display the relevant invoice information. For example, you may wish to list every invoice in a table, allowing the user to easily download any of them:

<table>
    @foreach ($invoices as $invoice)
        <tr>
            <td>{{ $invoice->date()->toFormattedDateString() }}</td>
            <td>{{ $invoice->total() }}</td>
            <td><a href="/user/invoice/{{ $invoice->id }}">Download</a></td>
        </tr>
    @endforeach
</table>

Generating Invoice PDFs

From within a route or controller, you may use the downloadInvoice method to generate a PDF download of a given invoice. This method will automatically generate the proper HTTP response needed to download the invoice:

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

Route::get('/user/invoice/{invoice}', function (Request $request, $invoiceId) {
    return $request->user()->downloadInvoice($invoiceId, [
        'vendor' => 'Your Company',
        'product' => 'Your Product',
    ]);
});

The downloadInvoice method also allows for a custom filename via its third argument. This filename will automatically be suffixed with .pdf for you:

return $request->user()->downloadInvoice($invoiceId, [
    'vendor' => 'Your Company',
    'product' => 'Your Product',
], 'my-invoice');

Checkout

Cashier Stripe also provides support for Stripe Checkout. Stripe Checkout takes the pain out of implementing custom pages to accept payments by providing a pre-built, hosted payment page.

The following documentation contains information on how to get started using Stripe Checkout with Cashier. To learn more about Stripe Checkout, you should also consider reviewing Stripe’s own documentation on Checkout.

Product Checkouts

You may perform a checkout for an existing product that has been created within your Stripe dashboard using the checkout method on a billable model. The checkout method will initiate a new Stripe Checkout session. By default, you’re required to pass a Stripe Price ID:

$checkout = $user->checkout('price_12345');

return view('your-checkout-view', [
    'checkout' => $checkout,
]);

If needed, you may also specify a product quantity:

$checkout = $user->checkout('price_12345', 15);

Once you have passed the Checkout session instance to your view, a button that directs the user to Stripe Checkout may be rendered using the button method:

{{ $checkout->button('Buy') }}

When a customer clicks this button they will be redirected to Stripe’s Checkout page. By default, when a user successfully completes a purchase or cancels a purchase they will be redirected to your home route location, but you may specify custom callback URLs using the success_url and cancel_url options:

$checkout = $user->checkout('price_12345', 1, [
    'success_url' => route('your-success-route'),
    'cancel_url' => route('your-cancel-route'),
]);

Promotion Codes

By default, Stripe Checkout does not allow user redeemable promotion codes. Luckily, there’s an easy way to enable these for your Checkout page. To do so, you may invoke the allowPromotionCodes method:

$checkout = $user->allowPromotionCodes()->checkout('price_12345');

Single Charge Checkouts

You can also perform a simple charge for an ad-hoc product that has not been created in your Stripe dashboard. To do so you may use the checkoutCharge method on a billable model and pass it a chargeable amount, a product name, and an optional quantity:

$checkout = $user->checkoutCharge(1200, 'T-Shirt', 5);

return view('your-checkout-view', [
    'checkout' => $checkout,
]);

Once you have passed the Checkout session instance to your view, a button that directs the user to Stripe Checkout may be rendered using the button method:

{{ $checkout->button('Buy') }}

When a customer clicks this button they will be redirected to Stripe’s Checkout page.

When using the checkoutCharge method, Stripe will always create a new product and price in your Stripe dashboard. Therefore, we recommend that you create the products up front in your Stripe dashboard and use of the checkout method instead.

Subscription Checkouts

Using Stripe Checkout for subscriptions requires you to enable the customer.subscription.created webhook in your Stripe dashboard. This webhook will create the subscription record in your database and store all of the relevant subscription items.

You may also use Stripe Checkout to initiate subscriptions. After defining your subscription with Cashier’s subscription builder methods, you may call the checkout method:

$checkout = Auth::user()
        ->newSubscription('default', 'price_xxx')
        ->checkout();

return view('your-checkout-view', [
    'checkout' => $checkout,
]);

Just as with product checkouts, you may customize the success and cancellation URLs:

$checkout = Auth::user()->newSubscription('default', 'price_xxx')->checkout([
    'success_url' => route('your-success-route'),
    'cancel_url' => route('your-cancel-route'),
]);

Of course, you can also enable promotion codes for subscription checkouts:

$checkout = Auth::user()->newSubscription('default', 'price_xxx')
    ->allowPromotionCodes()
    ->checkout();

Once you have passed the Checkout session instance to your view, a button that directs the user to Stripe Checkout may be rendered using the button method:

{{ $checkout->button('Subscribe') }}

When a customer clicks this button they will be redirected to Stripe’s Checkout page.

Unfortunately Stripe Checkout does not support all subscription billing options when starting subscriptions. Using the anchorBillingCycleOn method on the subscription builder, setting proration behavior, or setting payment behavior will not have any effect during Stripe Checkout sessions. Please consult the Stripe Checkout Session API documentation to review which parameters are available.

Stripe Checkout & Trial Periods

Of course, you can define a trial period when building a subscription that will be completed using Stripe Checkout:

$checkout = Auth::user()->newSubscription('default', 'price_xxx')
    ->trialDays(3)
    ->checkout();

However, the trial period must be at least 48 hours, which is the minimum amount of trial time supported by Stripe Checkout.

Subscriptions & Webhooks

Remember, Stripe and Cashier update subscription statuses via webhooks, so there’s a possibility a subscription might not yet be active when the customer returns to the application after entering their payment information. To handle this scenario, you may wish to display a message informing the user that their payment or subscription is pending.

Styling The Checkout Button

When rendering the checkout button, you may customize the button’s styling using the class and style options. These options should be passed within an associative array as the second argument to the button method:

{{ $checkout->button('Buy', ['class' => 'p-4 bg-blue-500 text-white']) }}

Handling Failed Payments

Sometimes, payments for subscriptions or single charges can fail. When this happens, Cashier will throw an Laravel\Cashier\Exceptions\IncompletePayment exception that informs you that this happened. After catching this exception, you have two options on how to proceed.

First, you could redirect your customer to the dedicated payment confirmation page which is included with Cashier. This page already has an associated named route that is registered via Cashier’s service provider. So, you may catch the IncompletePayment exception and redirect the user to the payment confirmation page:

use Laravel\Cashier\Exceptions\IncompletePayment;

try {
    $subscription = $user->newSubscription('default', $planId)
                            ->create($paymentMethod);
} catch (IncompletePayment $exception) {
    return redirect()->route(
        'cashier.payment',
        [$exception->payment->id, 'redirect' => route('home')]
    );
}

On the payment confirmation page, the customer will be prompted to enter their credit card information again and perform any additional actions required by Stripe, such as “3D Secure” confirmation. After confirming their payment, the user will be redirected to the URL provided by the redirect parameter specified above. Upon redirection, message (string) and success (integer) query string variables will be added to the URL.

Alternatively, you could allow Stripe to handle the payment confirmation for you. In this case, instead of redirecting to the payment confirmation page, you may setup Stripe’s automatic billing emails in your Stripe dashboard. However, if an IncompletePayment exception is caught, you should still inform the user they will receive an email with further payment confirmation instructions.

Payment exceptions may be thrown for the following methods: charge, invoiceFor, and invoice on models using the Billable trait. When interacting with subscriptions, the create method on the SubscriptionBuilder, and the incrementAndInvoice and swapAndInvoice methods on the Subscription model may throw incomplete payment exceptions.

Determining if an existing subscription has an incomplete payment may be accomplished using the hasIncompletePayment method on the billable model or a subscription instance:

if ($user->hasIncompletePayment('default')) {
    //
}

if ($user->subscription('default')->hasIncompletePayment()) {
    //
}

There are currently two types of payment exceptions which extend IncompletePayment. You can catch these separately if needed so that you can customize the user experience:

Strong Customer Authentication

If your business is based in Europe you will need to abide by the EU’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) regulations. These regulations were imposed in September 2019 by the European Union to prevent payment fraud. Luckily, Stripe and Cashier are prepared for building SCA compliant applications.

Before getting started, review Stripe’s guide on PSD2 and SCA as well as their documentation on the new SCA APIs.

Payments Requiring Additional Confirmation

SCA regulations often require extra verification in order to confirm and process a payment. When this happens, Cashier will throw a Laravel\Cashier\Exceptions\PaymentActionRequired exception that informs you that extra verification is needed. More information on how to handle these exceptions be found can be found in the documentation on handling failed payments.

Incomplete and Past Due State

When a payment needs additional confirmation, the subscription will remain in an incomplete or past_due state as indicated by its stripe_status database column. Cashier will automatically activate the customer’s subscription as soon as payment confirmation is complete and your application is notified by Stripe via webhook of its completion.

For more information on incomplete and past_due states, please refer to our additional documentation on these states.

Off-Session Payment Notifications

Since SCA regulations require customers to occasionally verify their payment details even while their subscription is active, Cashier can send a notification to the customer when off-session payment confirmation is required. For example, this may occur when a subscription is renewing. Cashier’s payment notification can be enabled by setting the CASHIER_PAYMENT_NOTIFICATION environment variable to a notification class. By default, this notification is disabled. Of course, Cashier includes a notification class you may use for this purpose, but you are free to provide your own notification class if desired:

CASHIER_PAYMENT_NOTIFICATION=Laravel\Cashier\Notifications\ConfirmPayment

To ensure that off-session payment confirmation notifications are delivered, verify that Stripe webhooks are configured for your application and the invoice.payment_action_required webhook is enabled in your Stripe dashboard. In addition, your Billable model should also use Laravel’s Illuminate\Notifications\Notifiable trait.

Notifications will be sent even when customers are manually making a payment that requires additional confirmation. Unfortunately, there is no way for Stripe to know that the payment was done manually or “off-session”. But, a customer will simply see a “Payment Successful” message if they visit the payment page after already confirming their payment. The customer will not be allowed to accidentally confirm the same payment twice and incur an accidental second charge.

Stripe SDK

Many of Cashier’s objects are wrappers around Stripe SDK objects. If you would like to interact with the Stripe objects directly, you may conveniently retrieve them using the asStripe method:

$stripeSubscription = $subscription->asStripeSubscription();

$stripeSubscription->application_fee_percent = 5;

$stripeSubscription->save();

You may also use the updateStripeSubscription method to update a Stripe subscription directly:

$subscription->updateStripeSubscription(['application_fee_percent' => 5]);

Testing

When testing an application that uses Cashier, you may mock the actual HTTP requests to the Stripe API; however, this requires you to partially re-implement Cashier’s own behavior. Therefore, we recommend allowing your tests to hit the actual Stripe API. While this is slower, it provides more confidence that your application is working as expected and any slow tests may be placed within their own PHPUnit testing group.

When testing, remember that Cashier itself already has a great test suite, so you should only focus on testing the subscription and payment flow of your own application and not every underlying Cashier behavior.

To get started, add the testing version of your Stripe secret to your phpunit.xml file:

<env name="STRIPE_SECRET" value="sk_test_<your-key>"/>

Now, whenever you interact with Cashier while testing, it will send actual API requests to your Stripe testing environment. For convenience, you should pre-fill your Stripe testing account with subscriptions / plans that you may use during testing.

In order to test a variety of billing scenarios, such as credit card denials and failures, you may use the vast range of testing card numbers and tokens provided by Stripe.