Google Play subscriptions: base plans, offers and discounts
On Google Play a subscription is a set of benefits that holds one or more base plans (the billing period, renewal type and price) and each base plan can hold offers (free trials or discounted phases) for users who meet the eligibility you define, with up to 250 base plans and offers per subscription and 50 active at once.
How is a Google Play subscription structured?
Three levels, configured in this order in Play Console (Monetize with Play > Products > Subscriptions):
| Level | What it defines | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | The benefits people get; product ID, name, up to 4 listed benefits | "Premium" |
| Base plan | Billing period, renewal type, prices per region | "monthly-autorenew" at a monthly price |
| Offer | A discount for eligible users, in one or more phases | "7-day trial for new users" |
Limits: up to 250 base plans and offers per subscription combined, 50 active at the same time; the rest stay in draft or inactive. A subscription becomes available once at least one base plan is active, and from then on it cannot be deleted, only archived.
IDs to plan before you start: product IDs (up to 40 characters, start with a number or lowercase letter) and base plan and offer IDs (lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens) cannot be changed or reused once created or activated.
Which base plan types exist?
| Type | How it works | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-renewing | Charged each billing period until cancelled | Periods: weekly, every 4 weeks, monthly, every 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 months, yearly |
| Prepaid | A fixed period with no automatic charge; users top up to extend | No renewal |
| Installments | A commitment period paid in monthly instalments | Only in Brazil, France, Italy and Spain |
Auto-renewing base plans have account hold on by default: 60 days minus any grace period, and grace period plus account hold must total at least 30 days. You can also allow resubscribe, so people can buy an expired subscription again from the Play Store.
Who can get an offer?
Every offer has one eligibility rule:
| Eligibility | Who qualifies | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| New customer acquisition | Never had this subscription, or never had any subscription in this app (you choose) | Free trial or first-month discount |
| Upgrade | Currently subscribed to a specified subscription, optionally a specific billing period; you can cap redemptions | Discount for moving from a lower tier or from monthly to yearly |
| Developer determined | Your app decides; Google Play checks nothing | Win-back for lapsed users, loyalty, cancel-flow offers |
Developer-determined offers can only be bought inside your app. Google Play may detect people trying to get around trial or intro eligibility; they can still buy the base plan without the discount. Tags (up to 20 characters each) help your app pick the right offer when someone qualifies for several.
What can an offer contain?
An offer is one or more phases before the base plan price starts:
- Free trial: from 3 days to 3 years.
- Single payment: one discounted charge for a set number of days, weeks or months.
- Multiple payments: a discount for 1 to 52 recurrences of the base plan's billing period.
Introductory prices must be the same as or lower than the base plan price, and can be absolute or relative to it. Example: a 7-day free trial, then $2 for the first month, then the normal monthly price.
How do I create a subscription, base plan and offer?
- Subscription: Monetize with Play > Products > Subscriptions > Create subscription. Enter the product ID and a name (up to 55 characters; it must reflect the offer, for example not "Free Trial"). Add up to 4 benefits of up to 40 characters each; benefits must not mention a trial or price.
- Base plan: open the subscription > Add base plan. Enter the ID, choose the type and billing period, set prices by region, and Activate.
- Offer: in Base plans and offers, click Add offer, choose the base plan, enter an offer ID, set eligibility, add phases, optionally limit regions, and activate.
Deactivating a base plan or an offer stops new purchases; existing subscribers keep their plan or offer.
How do price changes work?
- Decreases apply at the next renewal for existing subscribers without their approval.
- Increases are either opt-in or opt-out. Opt-in: the user must agree, with at least 30 days' notice, or the subscription is cancelled before the first higher charge.
- Opt-out increases are allowed only in certain cases: users are charged after a notice period of at least 30 or 60 days depending on the country, and must meet extra conditions, including in-app notice and caps on the size of the increase.
- Existing subscribers can be kept on their old price as a legacy price cohort; each price change creates a new cohort.
What does the subscriptions policy require?
Google's Subscriptions policy is short and strictly enforced:
- Disclose price, billing frequency and automatic renewal clearly, and whether a subscription is needed to use the app.
- For free trials, state the duration, the price after it, and how and when it converts.
- Provide an easy online way to cancel and explain how to manage the subscription.
- Give sustained value; a subscription must not deliver what is effectively a one-time benefit.
- Localize prices and terms properly.
Listed violations include annual plans that show mainly a monthly breakdown instead of the actual charge, hidden or unclear dismiss buttons, and trials without clear conversion terms.
How does this map to App Store offers?
| App Store | Google Play equivalent |
|---|---|
| Introductory offer | Offer with New customer acquisition eligibility |
| Promotional offer (in app) | Offer with Developer determined eligibility, or Upgrade |
| Offer code | Not part of the base plan and offer model described here |
| Win-back offer | Developer-determined offer for lapsed users; promotional content targeting lapsed or churned users |
The App Store side is in App Store subscription offers and Win-back offers.
What does Google charge on subscriptions?
Auto-renewing subscriptions cost 15% in most markets, and 10% plus a 5% billing fee for users in the US, UK, EEA, Japan and Australia. The full table is in App Store and Google Play commission rates.
How does Uptika help?
Uptika does not read your billing data. It tracks the store page that sells the subscription: the ASO score and Keyword radar show how findable your listing is, and the Rival log records competitors' price and listing changes day by day. The Free plan tracks one app in one storefront: start free.
Questions
How do Google Play subscription offers work?
An offer belongs to one base plan and gives eligible users a discount through one or more phases: a free trial (3 days to 3 years), a single discounted payment, or a discount for 1 to 52 billing periods. After the phases end, the user pays the base plan price.
What is a base plan on Google Play?
A base plan defines how a subscription is billed: auto-renewing (weekly, every 4 weeks, monthly, every 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 months, or yearly), prepaid (no automatic renewal, users top up) or installments (monthly payments over a commitment, only in Brazil, France, Italy and Spain). Anyone can buy a base plan; offers are only for eligible users.
How do I give a subscription discount on Google Play?
Create an offer on the base plan: Monetize with Play > Products > Subscriptions, open the subscription, click Add offer, choose the base plan, set eligibility and add a free trial or introductory pricing phase. Introductory prices must be equal to or lower than the base plan price.
What does the Google Play subscriptions policy require?
Clear disclosure of price, billing frequency, automatic renewal and free trial terms before purchase; an easy online way to cancel; and sustained value over the life of the subscription rather than a one-time benefit.