On-Demand Subscriptions - Dodo Payments Documentation

Overview

On-demand subscriptions let you authorize a customer’s payment method once and then charge variable amounts whenever you need, instead of on a fixed schedule. This feature is available for all accounts—no approval required. Use this guide to:

Create an on-demand subscription (authorize a mandate with optional initial price)
Trigger subsequent charges with custom amounts
Track outcomes using webhooks

For a general subscription setup, see the Subscription Integration Guide.

Prerequisites

Dodo Payments merchant account and API key
Webhook secret configured and an endpoint to receive events
A subscription product in your catalog

If you want the customer to approve the mandate via hosted checkout, set payment_link: true and provide a return_url.

How on-demand works

You create a subscription with the on_demand object to authorize a payment method and optionally collect an initial charge.
Later, you create charges against that subscription with custom amounts using the dedicated charge endpoint.
You listen to webhooks (e.g., payment.succeeded, payment.failed) to update your system.

Create an on-demand subscription

Endpoint: POST /checkouts Key request fields (body):
Please find them in Create Checkout Session

Create an on-demand subscription

Node.js SDK
Python SDK
Go SDK
cURL

import DodoPayments from 'dodopayments';

const client = new DodoPayments({
  bearerToken: process.env.DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY,
  environment: 'test_mode', // defaults to 'live_mode'
});

async function main() {
  const subscription = await client.checkoutSessions.create({
    product_cart: [{ product_id: 'pdt_123', quantity: 1 }],
    billing_address:  { city: 'SF', country: 'US', state: 'CA', street: '1 Market St', zipcode: '94105' },
    customer: { customer_id: 'cus_123' },
    return_url: 'https://example.com/billing/success',
    subscription_data: {
        on_demand: {
            mandate_only: true // set false to collect an initial charge
            // product_price: 1000, // optional: charge $10.00 now if mandate_only is false
            // product_currency: 'USD',
            // product_description: 'Custom initial charge',
            // adaptive_currency_fees_inclusive: false,
        }
    }
  });

  console.log(subscription.checkout_url);
}

main().catch(console.error);

import os
from dodopayments import DodoPayments

client = DodoPayments(
    bearer_token=os.environ.get('DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY'),
    environment="test_mode",  # defaults to "live_mode"
)

checkout = client.checkout_sessions.create(
    product_cart=[
        {"product_id": "pdt_123", "quantity": 1}
    ],
    billing_address={
        "city": "SF",
        "country": "US",
        "state": "CA",
        "street": "1 Market St",
        "zipcode": "94105",
    },
    customer={
        "customer_id": "cus_123",
    },
    return_url="https://example.com/billing/success",
    subscription_data={
      "on_demand":{
      "mandate_only": True,  # set False to collect an initial charge
      # "product_price": 1000,  # optional: charge $10.00 now if mandate_only is false
      # "product_currency": "USD",
      # "product_description": "Custom initial charge",
      # "adaptive_currency_fees_inclusive": False,
      }
    },
)

print(checkout.checkout_url)

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "os"

    dodo "github.com/dodopayments/dodopayments-go"
)

func main() {
    client := dodo.NewClient(dodo.Config{
        BearerToken: os.Getenv("DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY"),
        Environment: dodo.TestMode, // defaults to LiveMode
    })

    checkout, err := client.CheckoutSessions.Create(dodo.CheckoutSessionCreateParams{
        ProductCart: []dodo.ProductCartItem{
            {
                ProductID: "pdt_123",
                Quantity:  1,
            },
        },
        BillingAddress: &dodo.BillingAddress{
            City:    "SF",
            Country: "US",
            State:   "CA",
            Street:  "1 Market St",
            Zipcode: "94105",
        },
        Customer: &dodo.CustomerRef{
            CustomerID: "cus_123",
        },
        ReturnURL: "https://example.com/billing/success",
        SubscriptionData: &dodo.SubscriptionData{
            OnDemand: &dodo.OnDemandSubscription{
                MandateOnly: true, // set false to collect an initial charge
                // ProductPrice: 1000,  // optional: charge $10.00 now if mandate_only is false
                // ProductCurrency: "USD",
                // ProductDescription: "Custom initial charge",
                // AdaptiveCurrencyFeesInclusive: false,
            },
        },
    })
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(checkout.CheckoutURL)
}

curl -X POST "$DODO_API/checkouts" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DODO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "product_cart": [
      {
        "product_id": "pdt_123",
        "quantity": 1
      }
    ],
    "customer": {
      "customer_id": "cus_123"
    },
    "billing_address": {
      "street": "1 Market St",
      "city": "SF",
      "state": "CA",
      "country": "US",
      "zipcode": "94105"
    },
    "subscription_data": {
      "on_demand": {
        "mandate_only": true
      }
    },
    "return_url": "https://example.com/billing/success"
  }'

Success

{
  "session_id": "cks_123",
  "checkout_url": "https://test.checkout.dodopayments.com/session/cks123"
}

Charge an on-demand subscription

After the mandate is authorized, create charges as needed. Endpoint: POST /subscriptions/{subscription_id}/charge Key request fields (body):

Charge request body parameters

product_price

integer

bắt buộc

Amount to charge (in the smallest currency unit). Example: to charge $25.00, pass 2500.

product_currency

string

Optional currency override for the charge.

product_description

string

Optional description override for this charge.

adaptive_currency_fees_inclusive

boolean

If true, includes adaptive currency fees within product_price. If false, fees are added on top.

metadata

object

Additional metadata for the payment. If omitted, the subscription metadata is used.

Node.js SDK
Python SDK
Go SDK
cURL

import DodoPayments from 'dodopayments';

const client = new DodoPayments({ bearerToken: process.env.DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY });

async function chargeNow(subscriptionId) {
  const res = await client.subscriptions.charge(subscriptionId, { product_price: 2500 });
  console.log(res.payment_id);
}

chargeNow('sub_123').catch(console.error);

import os
from dodopayments import DodoPayments

client = DodoPayments(bearer_token=os.environ.get('DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY'))

response = client.subscriptions.charge(
    subscription_id="sub_123",
    product_price=2500,
)

print(response.payment_id)

package main

import (
  "context"
  "fmt"
  "github.com/dodopayments/dodopayments-go"
  "github.com/dodopayments/dodopayments-go/option"
)

func main() {
  client := dodopayments.NewClient(option.WithBearerToken("YOUR_API_KEY"))
  res, err := client.Subscriptions.Charge(context.TODO(), "sub_123", dodopayments.SubscriptionChargeParams{
    ProductPrice: dodopayments.F(int64(2500)),
  })
  if err != nil { panic(err) }
  fmt.Println(res.PaymentID)
}

curl -X POST "$DODO_API/subscriptions/sub_123/charge" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DODO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "product_price": 2500,
    "product_description": "Extra usage for March"
  }'

Success

{ "payment_id": "pay_abc123" }

Charging a subscription that is not on-demand may fail. Ensure the subscription has on_demand: true in its details before charging.

Handling failed charges

When a charge against an on-demand subscription fails, you decide what happens next. Unlike scheduled subscriptions — where a failed renewal stops further automatic billing — on-demand subscriptions remain chargeable after a failure. You can call the charge endpoint again as part of your own retry logic.

What happens on failure

Charge attempt fails

The POST /subscriptions/{subscription_id}/charge request either returns an error response or completes asynchronously and emits a payment.failed webhook with the decline reason.

Subscription may transition to on_hold

The subscription may move to the on_hold state and emit a subscription.on_hold webhook (see Subscription States → On Hold). This is a signal — not a lock. For on-demand subscriptions, on_hold does not prevent you from charging again.

Retry the charge (your call)

For on-demand flows, Dodo does not auto-retry. You can call POST /subscriptions/{subscription_id}/charge again at any time to retry. Apply the safe retry policy below — use exponential backoff, skip hard declines, and avoid burst patterns — so retries are not flagged by our fraud and risk systems.

Optionally, ask the customer for a new payment method

Nếu các lần thử lại không thành công vì phương thức thanh toán bị lỗi (thẻ hết hạn, tài khoản đóng, v.v.), sử dụng POST /subscriptions/{subscription_id}/update-payment-method để thu thập phương thức mới từ khách hàng. Khi thành công, đăng ký sẽ trở về active và payment.succeeded tiếp theo sẽ gửi các webhook subscription.active.

On-demand vs scheduled: For scheduled subscriptions, Dodo runs its own renewal retries and dunning. For on-demand subscriptions, you own the retry policy because only you know when the next charge should occur (it’s driven by your usage events, not a calendar).

Webhook sequence on a failed on-demand charge

Order	Event	Meaning
1	`payment.failed`	The on-demand charge attempt did not succeed (includes the decline reason)
2	`subscription.on_hold`	The subscription was placed on hold (informational; does not block further charges)
3*	`payment.succeeded`	A subsequent charge — either your retry or after a payment method update — succeeded
4*	`subscription.active`	The subscription returned to `active` after a successful charge

Events 3 and 4 only fire after a follow-up charge succeeds.

Retry responsibility

Dodo Payments does not auto-retry failed on-demand charges. You own the retry policy. Follow the safe retry guidelines below to avoid being flagged by our fraud detection systems as card testing.

Subscription Dunning — the built-in email recovery sequence — is scoped to failed renewal payments on scheduled subscriptions and customer-initiated cancellations. It is not designed for on-demand charge failures. Communicate with the customer directly (e.g., transactional email or in-app prompt) when you decide the payment method needs to be updated.

Payment retries

Our fraud detection system may block aggressive retry patterns (and can flag them as potential card testing). Follow a safe retry policy.

Burst retry patterns can be flagged as fraudulent or suspected card testing by our risk systems and processors. Avoid clustered retries; follow the backoff schedule and time alignment guidance below.

Principles for safe retry policies

Backoff mechanism: Use exponential backoff between retries.
Retry limits: Cap total retries (3–4 attempts max).
Intelligent filtering: Retry only on retryable failures (e.g., network/issuer errors, insufficient funds); never retry hard declines.
Card testing prevention: Do not retry failures like DO_NOT_HONOR, STOLEN_CARD, LOST_CARD, PICKUP_CARD, FRAUDULENT, AUTHENTICATION_FAILURE.
Vary metadata (optional): If you maintain your own retry system, differentiate retries via metadata (e.g., retry_attempt).

Suggested retry schedule (subscriptions)

1st attempt: Immediate when you create the charge
2nd attempt: After 3 days
3rd attempt: After 7 more days (10 days total)
4th attempt (final): After another 7 days (17 days total)

Final step: if still unpaid, mark the subscription as unpaid or cancel it, based on your policy. Notify the customer during the window to update their payment method.

Avoid burst retries; align to authorization time

Anchor retries to the original authorization timestamp to avoid “burst” behavior across your portfolio.
Example: If the customer starts a trial or mandate at 1:10 pm today, schedule follow-up retries at 1:10 pm on subsequent days per your backoff (e.g., +3 days → 1:10 pm, +7 days → 1:10 pm).
Alternatively, if you store the last successful payment time T, schedule the next attempt at T + X days to preserve time-of-day alignment.

Time-zone and DST: use a consistent time standard for scheduling and convert for display only to maintain intervals.

Decline codes you should not retry

STOLEN_CARD
DO_NOT_HONOR
FRAUDULENT
PICKUP_CARD
AUTHENTICATION_FAILURE
LOST_CARD

For a comprehensive list of decline reasons and whether they are user-correctable, see the Transaction Failures documentation.

Only retry on soft/temporary issues (e.g., insufficient_funds, issuer_unavailable, processing_error, network timeouts). If the same decline repeats, pause further retries.

Implementation guidelines (no code)

Use a scheduler/queue that persists precise timestamps; compute next attempt at the exact time-of-day offset (e.g., T + 3 days at the same HH:MM).
Maintain and reference the last successful payment timestamp T to compute the next attempt; do not bunch multiple subscriptions at the same instant.
Always evaluate the last decline reason; stop retries for hard declines in the skip list above.
Cap concurrent retries per customer and per account to prevent accidental surges.
Communicate proactively: email/SMS the customer to update their payment method before the next scheduled attempt.
Use metadata only for observability (e.g., retry_attempt); never try to “evade” fraud/risk systems by rotating inconsequential fields.

Track outcomes with webhooks

Implement webhook handling to track the customer journey. See Implementing Webhooks.

subscription.active: Mandate authorized and subscription activated
subscription.failed: Creation failed (e.g., mandate failure)
subscription.on_hold: Subscription placed on hold (e.g., unpaid state)
payment.succeeded: Charge succeeded
payment.failed: Charge failed

For on-demand flows, focus on payment.succeeded and payment.failed to reconcile usage-based charges. When payment.failed is followed by subscription.on_hold, see Handling failed charges to recover the subscription.

Testing and next steps

Create in test mode

Use your test API key to create the subscription with payment_link: true, then open the link and complete the mandate.

Trigger a charge

Call the charge endpoint with a small product_price (e.g., 100) and verify you receive payment.succeeded.

Go live

Switch to your live API key once you have validated events and internal state updates.

Troubleshooting

422 Invalid Request: Ensure on_demand.mandate_only is provided on creation and product_price is provided for charges.
Currency errors: If you override product_currency, confirm it’s supported for your account and customer.
No webhooks received: Verify your webhook URL and signature secret configuration.

Bạn có thể hủy đăng ký theo yêu cầu qua API bất kỳ lúc nào. Bạn kiểm soát việc hủy bỏ ngay lập tức hay theo lịch. Endpoint: PATCH /subscriptions/{subscription_id}

Cancel immediately
Cancel at next billing date

Đặt đăng ký status thành cancelled để kết thúc ngay lập tức. Ủy quyền bị thu hồi và không thể tạo thêm các khoản phí nào khác.

import DodoPayments from 'dodopayments';

const client = new DodoPayments({ bearerToken: process.env.DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY });

await client.subscriptions.update('sub_123', {
  status: 'cancelled',
});

cURL

curl -X PATCH "$DODO_API/subscriptions/sub_123" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DODO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "status": "cancelled" }'

Giữ hành vi cổng khách hàng — duy trì đăng ký hoạt động cho đến ngày hủy theo lịch, rồi kết thúc.

import DodoPayments from 'dodopayments';

const client = new DodoPayments({ bearerToken: process.env.DODO_PAYMENTS_API_KEY });

await client.subscriptions.update('sub_123', {
  cancel_at_next_billing_date: true,
});

cURL

curl -X PATCH "$DODO_API/subscriptions/sub_123" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DODO_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "cancel_at_next_billing_date": true }'

Webhooks khi hủy bỏ

Sự kiện	Khi nó kích hoạt
`subscription.cancelled`	Đăng ký bị hủy hoàn toàn và không còn có thể tính phí
`subscription.plan_changed`	`cancel_at_next_billing_date` đã được chuyển đổi (hủy theo lịch đã thiết lập hoặc hoàn tác)

Để phân biệt giữa hủy bỏ theo yêu cầu và hủy đăng ký theo lịch trong bộ xử lý của bạn, hãy kiểm tra cờ on_demand của đăng ký khi xử lý webhook.

Theo dõi kết quả với webhooks

Thực hiện xử lý webhook để theo dõi hành trình khách hàng. Xem Thực hiện Webhooks.

subscription.active: Ủy quyền được xác nhận và đăng ký được kích hoạt
subscription.failed: Tạo không thành công (ví dụ, lỗi ủy quyền)
subscription.on_hold: Đăng ký bị tạm dừng (ví dụ, trạng thái chưa thanh toán)
subscription.cancelled: Đăng ký bị hủy hoàn toàn (xem Hủy Bỏ)
payment.succeeded: Tính phí thành công
payment.failed: Tính phí không thành công

Đối với luồng theo yêu cầu, hãy tập trung vào payment.succeeded và payment.failed để đối chiếu các khoản phí dựa trên sử dụng. Khi payment.failed được theo sau bởi subscription.on_hold, hãy xem Xử lý các khoản phí không thành công để khôi phục đăng ký.

Kiểm tra và bước tiếp theo

Create in test mode

Sử dụng khóa API thử nghiệm của bạn để tạo đăng ký với payment_link: true, sau đó mở liên kết và hoàn thành yêu cầu.

Trigger a charge

Gọi endpoint tính phí với một product_price nhỏ (ví dụ, 100) và xác nhận bạn nhận được payment.succeeded.

Go live

Chuyển sang khóa API trực tiếp của bạn một khi bạn đã xác thực các sự kiện và cập nhật trạng thái nội bộ.

Khắc phục sự cố

422 Yêu cầu Không hợp lệ: Đảm bảo on_demand.mandate_only được cung cấp khi tạo và product_price được cung cấp cho các khoản phí.
Lỗi tiền tệ: Nếu bạn ghi đè product_currency, xác nhận nó được hỗ trợ cho tài khoản của bạn và khách hàng.
Không nhận được webhook: Xác minh URL webhook của bạn và cấu hình ký bí mật.

Documentation Index

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​How on-demand works

​Create an on-demand subscription

​Create an on-demand subscription

​Charge an on-demand subscription

​Handling failed charges

​What happens on failure

​Webhook sequence on a failed on-demand charge

​Retry responsibility

​Payment retries

​Principles for safe retry policies

​Suggested retry schedule (subscriptions)

​Avoid burst retries; align to authorization time

​Decline codes you should not retry

​Implementation guidelines (no code)

​Track outcomes with webhooks

​Testing and next steps

​Troubleshooting

​Webhooks khi hủy bỏ

​Theo dõi kết quả với webhooks

​Kiểm tra và bước tiếp theo

​Khắc phục sự cố

Overview

Prerequisites

How on-demand works

Create an on-demand subscription

Create an on-demand subscription

Charge an on-demand subscription

Handling failed charges

What happens on failure

Webhook sequence on a failed on-demand charge

Retry responsibility

Payment retries

Principles for safe retry policies

Suggested retry schedule (subscriptions)

Avoid burst retries; align to authorization time

Decline codes you should not retry

Implementation guidelines (no code)

Track outcomes with webhooks

Testing and next steps

Troubleshooting

Webhooks khi hủy bỏ

Theo dõi kết quả với webhooks

Kiểm tra và bước tiếp theo

Khắc phục sự cố