---
title: Cancel Subscription
description: "Use the Cancel Subscription integration to cancel a customer's existing subscription when an event occurs on a different product. For example, when a customer buys an upgrade, Cart cancels the subscription to the old plan. Cancel Subscription is available in…"
url: "https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/cancel-subscription/"
updated: "2026-11-05"
category: PublishPress Cart / Integrations
---

# Cancel Subscription

Use the Cancel Subscription integration to cancel a customer's existing subscription when an event occurs on a different product. For example, when a customer buys an upgrade, Cart cancels the subscription to the old plan.

Cancel Subscription is available in [PublishPress Cart](https://publishpress.com/links/cart) Free and Pro.

## How Cart finds the subscription

Cancel Subscription does not cancel the order that runs it. Cart looks for a different subscription. The subscription must match all of these:

- **Same customer.** The subscription has the same WordPress user account or the same email address as the order that ran the trigger.
- **Same product.** The subscription is for the product in **Select Product**.
- **Same plan.** The subscription uses the plan in **Select Plan**.
- **Status.** The subscription status is **Active**, **Trialing**, or **Completed**.

If more than one subscription matches, Cart cancels the most recent one. Cart cancels one subscription each time the integration runs.

## Example: cancel the old plan on upgrade

You sell two products:

- **Basic Membership**, with a monthly **Subscription** plan.
- **Premium Membership**.

A Basic member buys Premium. You want Cart to stop the Basic subscription. On the **Premium Membership** product, add a Cancel Subscription integration:

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| **Service** | **Cancel Subscription** |
| **Trigger** | **Product purchased** |
| **Select Product** | Basic Membership |
| **Select Plan** | The monthly Basic plan |
| **Cancel** | **Immediately** |

When the customer pays for Premium, Cart finds the Basic subscription of that customer and cancels it.

## Before you start

You need:

- A product with a plan whose **Price type** is **Subscription**. This is the subscription that Cart cancels.
- Customers who use the same email address or WordPress account for the old subscription and the new purchase.
- A payment gateway that can cancel subscriptions, for example Stripe or PayPal.

Cancel Subscription has no settings in **Cart → Settings → Integrations**. You set it up on each product.

**Select Product** lists only published products that have a payment plan. The list is empty on a new product that you have not saved yet. Save the product as a draft first, then add the integration.

## Add the integration to a product

1. Go to **Cart → Products** and open the product that starts the cancel, for example the upgrade product.
2. Open the **Integrations** tab.
3. Click **+ Add integration**.
4. In **Service**, select **Cancel Subscription**.
5. In **Trigger**, select the event that runs the integration, for example **Product purchased**.
6. Optional: in **Restrict by payment plan / purchase type**, select the plans that run the integration.
7. In **Select Product**, select the product of the subscription to cancel.
8. In **Select Plan**, select the plan of the subscription to cancel. The list shows only the **Subscription** plans of that product.
9. In **Cancel**, select when the subscription ends. See the next section.
10. Click **Publish** or **Update**.

![Cancel Subscription integration on the product Integrations tab](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/cancel-subscription-product.png)

For the full list of triggers and the **Restrict by payment plan / purchase type** field, see [Integrations Overview](https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/integrations-overview/).

## Choose when the subscription ends

| **Cancel** option | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| **Immediately** | Cart cancels the subscription at the payment gateway now. The subscription status changes to **Canceled**. |
| **At the end of the current billing period** | The subscription stays active until the next bill date. Then it ends. The customer pays no more renewals. |

Cart does not refund a payment when it cancels a subscription. To refund the old order too, add a Refund Order integration. Refund Order needs [PublishPress Cart](https://publishpress.com/links/cart) Pro.

## Cart cancels once for each order

After a successful cancel, Cart saves a record on the order that ran the trigger. If the same order runs the trigger again, for example after you change the order status, Cart does not cancel again for the same product and plan.

If the cancel fails, Cart tries again the next time the trigger runs.

## Do not select the product that the customer buys

Cart cancels the most recent subscription that matches. If **Select Product** and **Select Plan** are the product and plan that the customer buys, Cart can cancel the new subscription. Select a different product or plan.

## The order notes show an error

Cart writes each step to the **Order Notes** box of the order that ran the trigger.

| Order note | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| "No active subscriptions found for product ID: … and plan ID=…" | Cart found no subscription that matches. Check that the customer used the same email address or account. Check **Select Product** and **Select Plan**. Check that the subscription is **Active** or **Trialing**. |
| "Error canceling subscription ID: …! Message: …" | The payment gateway did not cancel the subscription. Read the message. |

For Stripe, Cart uses the keys of the current Stripe mode. Cart cannot cancel a subscription that you made in **Test** mode while Stripe uses **Live** mode.

## Check that it works

1. Buy the subscription product with a test email address.
2. Buy the product that has the integration. Use the same email address.
3. Open the new order in **Cart → Orders**. The **Order Notes** box shows "Subscription cancel integration called by product ID: …" and "Subscription ID: … has been canceled".
4. Go to **Cart → Subscriptions** and open the old subscription. If you selected **Immediately**, the status is **Canceled**.