Variable Subscription Products

A variable subscription product sells tiers on one product page: 1 site / 3 sites / 10 sites, 150 softgels / 300 softgels, Basic / Pro / Agency. Each variation carries its own subscription price, and can be on its own durations.

Note: Variable subscription products require WPSubscription Pro. The free plugin sells simple products as subscriptions — see Simple subscription products.

Prerequisites

Step 1 — Create the product and its attribute

Go to Products → Add New, fill in the name and description, and set Product data to Variable product.

Open the Attributes tab and add the attribute the variations differ by — Size, Site License, Tier. Enter its values, tick Used for variations, and click Save attributes.

Screenshot of the WooCommerce Attributes tab with an attribute configured and marked for use in variations
Used for variations is the box that matters — without it there is nothing to vary.

Step 2 — Create the variations

Open the Variations tab and click Generate variations, or add them one at a time. This is ordinary WooCommerce — WPSubscription does not change it.

Screenshot of the WooCommerce Variations tab listing the product's variations
Standard WooCommerce variations. Subscription pricing comes next, on its own tab.
Note: You do not have to give a variation a price here. A variation on a plan takes its price from the plan connection, and WPSubscription keeps it visible and purchasable even when its WooCommerce price is empty. Setting one is still worth it — it becomes the one-time price if you offer one.

Step 3 — Connect the plan

Open the Subscription tab. On a variable product it shows one card per variation.

Screenshot of the Subscription tab on a variable product showing a separate card for each variation
One card per variation, each with its own durations and prices.

Connect the plan once, at the top, and every variation starts from the same prices. Each card has its own Enable subscription toggle, so a product can mix subscription variations with ordinary ones.

Step 4 — Price each variation

Click Edit prices on a variation's card and set its Regular Price and Offer Price per duration. This is where the tiers actually become tiers.

Screenshot of a variation's price table in edit mode with a regular and offer price for each duration
Editing one variation leaves the others alone.

The per-duration toggle works here too, so the 300-count can offer a quarterly option the 150-count does not.

Click Save, then Update the product.

What the customer sees

Plans can differ per variation, so the selector waits for the variation to be chosen.

Screenshot of a variable product page before a variation is selected, showing a message to select options
Before a variation is picked, the selector explains why it is empty.
Screenshot of the same product after choosing a variation, with that variation's plan durations and prices
Pick a variation and its own durations and prices appear. Switching rebuilds the selector.

In the catalogue the product shows a price range across every variation and every duration, because a listing has no room to ask which the shopper wants.

Troubleshooting

SymptomCheck
No plan cards on the Subscription tabWPSubscription Pro is active. Variable products are a Pro feature.
A variation is missing from the dropdownIt needs either a WooCommerce price or a plan connection. With neither, WooCommerce hides it.
"Select options to see available plans" never goes awayThe chosen variation is not on the plan, or its Enable subscription toggle is off.
A checkout link will not target a variationIt uses an Any … attribute, which cannot be resolved to one variation. Use an add-to-cart link instead — see Direct checkout links.

What to do next