A WooCommerce installment payment plugin only earns its spot if it does one job well: split a purchase into payments and actually collect every one.
High prices kill sales before they close. A shopper loves the product, opens checkout, sees the full total, and bounces.
Splitit found 35% of shoppers are more likely to buy online when a store offers interest-free monthly installments.
We tested over 13 plugins and put together the best 6 WooCommerce installment payment plugins with the important details so you can choose the right one for you.
Quick Comparison Of Best WooCommerce Installment Payment Plugins
| Plugin | Best For | Free Available | Starting Price | Auto-Charges Installments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sublium Subscriptions | High-ticket installments that stop on their own | Yes | $99.50/Year | Yes, Stripe, PayPal, Square |
| Acowebs Deposits & Partial Payments | Budget-friendly automated deposits | Yes | $49/Year | Yes, Stripe only (Pro) |
| Ultimate Payment Plans | Marketplace-vetted reliability | No | $59/Year | Yes, Stripe & PayPal |
| WooCommerce Deposits | Bookings & Subscriptions integration | No | $219/Year | No, manual invoicing |
| YITH Deposits / Down Payments | Single deposit, pay in 2 parts only | Yes | $129.99/Year | Only with a separate YITH Stripe plugin |
| FunnelKit Stripe Gateway | Free BNPL through Affirm, Klarna, Afterpay | Yes | Free | Yes, via the BNPL provider |
How We Evaluated These Plugins
An installment plugin has one job that matters more than any feature list: does it actually split a purchase into multiple payments and collect every one of them without the store owner chasing anyone down? We built our criteria around that question.
- True installment capability: Whether the plugin splits a purchase into three or more scheduled payments, versus a single deposit plus one balance.
- Who owns the schedule: Whether the store runs the installment plan on its own gateway, or a BNPL provider like Affirm, Klarna, or Afterpay sets the terms and carries the risk instead.
- Automated collection: Whether the plugin charges the saved card itself on each due date, versus generating a follow-up order that has to be manually invoiced or paid.
- Gateway reach: Which processors- Stripe, PayPal, Square, and others, the automatic charging actually works through.
- Failure handling: How the plugin responds when a scheduled charge fails. Retry logic and dunning emails separate a real installment system from a hopeful one.
Sourcing is official pricing pages, live WordPress.org listings, and each vendor’s own documentation. No resellers, no aggregators.
6 Best WooCommerce Installment Payments Plugins
1. Sublium Subscriptions: Best For Installments With Email Notifications
Sublium Subscriptions offers a dedicated Installments plan type, separate from its Recurring and Subscribe & Save types. That distinction matters. Most plugins bolt installments onto a deposit feature. Sublium built its installment logic on top of a full subscription engine, which is why it can do things the smaller deposit plugins simply can’t.
Key features
- Dedicated Installments plan type to let customers pay in parts
- Auto-charges saved cards through Stripe, PayPal, or Square on each scheduled due date
- Fixed installment counts (3, 4, 6, or a custom number) on daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly intervals
- You can ask for a down payment before the installments starts
- Along with installments, you can also offer one-time payments
- Offers two other payment types, which include Recurring and Subscribe & Save plans
- Installment-specific notifications for Installment Created, Paid, and Complete
- Email notifications for expired cards so the installment payments are paid on time.
What Makes This Plugin Special?
Most installment plugins do one job. This one does three. Same install, and you also get Recurring subscriptions and Subscribe & Save, so a store isn’t buying three separate tools for three payment models. Gateway support spans Stripe, PayPal, and Square, with Mollie and Authorize.net on the way.
Email alerts track the whole installment cycle: created, paid, complete, plus a heads-up when a card’s about to expire. MRR, ARR, and churn tracking come free. It’s less an installment plugin and more a subscription engine that handles installments well.
Pros
- Installments stop automatically once the total balance is paid off
- Built-in dunning retries a failed card and emails the customer to update billing details
- Email notification before card expiry to ensure next payment is successful
- Customers can pay off remaining installments early from their own account portal
- Real-time MRR, ARR, and churn analytics come built in, no separate reporting add-on
- Have a 5/5 rating on WordPress.og and
Cons
- A newer product in the market. However, customer reviews across platforms are mostly positive.
Pricing
- Free available: Yes, on WordPress.org
- Starting price: $99.50/Year
2. WooCommerce Deposits: Best for WooCommerce Official Integration
WooCommerce Deposits comes straight from Woo itself, built to let a store accept a deposit or a full custom payment plan on any product it chooses. Days, weeks, or month whatever schedule fits the sale, with variable percentages and intervals guiding customers through an easy-to-follow checkout. It’s built around flexibility for the seller, not automatic billing, and Woo’s own documentation says so directly.
Key features
- Custom payment plans with variable percentages and intervals, scheduled in days, weeks, or months
- Works natively with variable products and the newer Cart and Checkout blocks
- Gateway-independent. Since it never stores card data, it runs alongside any WooCommerce-supported payment method already in use
- Native WooCommerce Bookings integration multiplies a fixed deposit by the number of people on a booking, suited to tours, classes, and group reservations
What Makes This Plugin Special
This is the one built by WooCommerce itself, not a third party trying to fill a gap. That matters more than it sounds. It ships tested against core WooCommerce updates before they go live, so a Woo version bump won’t suddenly break checkout the way it can with outside plugins. It also never stores card data, so it works with whatever gateway a store already runs, no need to switch processors or migrate saved payment methods.
Deposit rules go down to the product level, fixed amount or percentage, and the native Bookings integration multiplies a deposit by headcount for tours, classes, or group reservations automatically. Backed by Woo’s own support team and a 30-day money-back guarantee, not a vendor’s forum.
Pros
- Backed directly by Woo’s own support team, documentation, and a 30-day money-back guarantee
- Runs on any WooCommerce-supported payment gateway, since it never stores card data or locks a store into one processor
- Deposits can be offered as optional or required, storewide or per product, giving full control over which items need a commitment upfront
- Refunds are handled per order rather than automatically, which suits custom work, bookings, or restocking decisions that need a human call
Cons
- No automatic recurring billing. Woo’s own documentation points store owners to WooCommerce Subscriptions instead for that specific need
- No built-in reminder emails. Pairing with AutomateWoo or WooCommerce Zapier is needed to notify customers before a balance is due
- Not built for refundable security deposits, and not compatible with Composite Products
Pricing
- Free available: No
- Starting price: $219/Year
3. Acowebs Deposits & Partial Payments: Best For Budget Pick With Real Automation
Acowebs’ plugin starts life as a straightforward deposit tool. Fixed amount or percentage, set globally or per product. What actually earns it a spot on this list is the Pro tier’s Stripe auto-charge feature, added in version 3.1.16, which turns a simple deposit plugin into something that genuinely handles installments on its own.
Key features
- Fixed-amount or percentage deposits, configurable globally, by category, or by user role
- Automatic Stripe charging for scheduled balance payments (Pro tier)
- Deposit analytics dashboard tracking revenue timeline, overdue payments, and upcoming charges
- Flexible schedules by day, week, month, or year
What Makes This Plugin Special
This one auto-charges the balance through Stripe, and that’s what sets it apart from most budget deposit tools. Most stop at collecting the upfront payment and leave the rest to manual invoicing, someone has to remember to follow up. This one finishes the job on its own once Stripe auto-charge is turned on.
Category and user-role rules let different products carry different deposit terms from the same install, and a lifetime license option means the cost doesn’t creep up every renewal the way it does with most competitors.
Pros
- Stripe auto-charge removes manual invoicing for future installments entirely
- Large, mature install base (5,000+) with a near-perfect WordPress.org rating
- Category and user-role deposit rules let different products carry different terms
- Lifetime license option avoids the recurring cost most competitors require
Cons
- Automatic charging works through Stripe only. Every other gateway falls back to manual collection
- No built-in retry or dunning sequence if a scheduled Stripe charge fails
Pricing
- Free available: Yes, on WordPress.org
- Starting price: $49/Year
4. Ultimate Payment Plans: Best for the officially Vetted Marketplace pick
Ultimate Payment Plans lets a store configure deposits or full multi-part payment schedules right from the product editor, with automatic charging built in rather than bolted on as an afterthought.
Selling through the official WooCommerce Marketplace means it passed Woo’s own vulnerability and compatibility checks before ever reaching a customer, a real trust signal for a plugin built outside Woo’s own catalog.
Key features
- Both product-level and cart-level payment plan rules in one plugin
- Auto-charges through WooCommerce’s own official Stripe and PayPal Payments extensions
- Custom schedules by specific date, or fixed schedules on a recurring day, week, month, or year
- Admin tools to manually create plan orders or retry a failed payment by hand
What Makes This Plugin Special
This plugin sells through the official WooCommerce Marketplace, which means Woo actually reviewed it for security and compatibility before it ever went live. That’s a real trust signal, since most payment plan plugins are just listed on WordPress.org with no outside check.
It handles both product-level and cart-level payment plan rules in the same plugin, so a store isn’t stuck choosing one or the other. If a scheduled payment fails, admins can jump in and retry it manually instead of waiting around for the customer to update their card.
Pros
- Passed WooCommerce’s own security and compatibility audits before being listed, a check none of the third-party plugins here have gone through
- Handles both product-level and cart-level payment plans
- Guest checkout works for payment plan orders, no forced account creation
- Admins can manually process or retry a stuck payment without waiting on the customer
Cons
- Automatic payments are limited to WooCommerce Stripe and PayPal Payments specifically
- Review count is thin (11 total), which makes long-term reliability harder to gauge
Pricing
- Free available: No
- Starting price: $59/Year
5. YITH WooCommerce Deposits / Down Payments: Best for 2-Part Payments
YITH WooCommerce Deposits / Down Payments lets a customer put down a deposit to reserve something, then pay the rest later. Picture a room booked for an event, a tailor-made dress, or a custom-built piece of furniture- the kind of sale where a commitment upfront protects both sides before real work begins. The plugin splits that purchase into exactly two payments: the deposit now, the balance whenever the store decides it’s due.
Key features
- Deposit set as a fixed amount or a percentage, with different rules assignable per product, variation, or category
- Balance due date set to a specific calendar date, or a countdown of days from the deposit, useful for something tied to a hotel check-in or a medical appointment
- Optional integration with YITH WooCommerce Stripe to auto-charge the balance to the same card used for the deposit
- Native integration with YITH Booking & Appointment carries the same deposit-then-balance structure into reservations
What Makes This Plugin Special
Built for one job: deposit now, balance later, nothing more. Because YITH didn’t try to stretch it into a full installment tool, the deposit-specific details got real attention. Balance due dates can count down from the deposit date instead of locking to a fixed calendar date, which fits a hotel check-in or a tailor fitting far better.
The native YITH Booking & Appointment integration carries that same logic straight into reservations. It caps out at two payments, but for a store that only ever needed a deposit and a balance, that’s exactly the point.
Pros
- Deposit rules flex by product, variation, or category, so cheaper and higher-priced items can carry entirely different terms
- Balance due dates follow either a calendar date or a countdown from the deposit, which fits bookings tied to a check-in or appointment time
- Native integration with YITH Booking & Appointment carries the same deposit logic straight into reservations
- Large, established user base (11,000+ customers)
Cons
- Caps at two payments total, a deposit and one balance, with no way to configure three or more scheduled installments
- Automatic balance charging needs a second, separate purchase: YITH WooCommerce Stripe
- The deposit choice only appears on the product page, not the cart or checkout
Pricing
- Free available: Yes, on WordPress.org
- Starting price: $129.99/Year (Premium)
6. FunnelKit Payment Gateway for Stripe: Best for the Free BNPL Payments
FunnelKit’s Stripe plugin takes an entirely different approach. Instead of building its own installment schedule, it plugs a store into Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay directly through Stripe, so the BNPL provider handles underwriting, the schedule, and the collection risk, not the store.
Key features
- Native, free BNPL support for Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay through Stripe
- Apple Pay, Google Pay, and 15-plus local payment methods bundled into the same plugin
- Offers express payment options like Google Pay and Apple Pay as well.
What Makes This Plugin Special
Every other plugin on this list puts the missed-payment risk on the merchant. This one doesn’t. Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay plug in directly through Stripe, so the provider handles underwriting, sets the schedule, and chases anyone who doesn’t pay. The store carries none of that risk, since the BNPL provider earns through the transaction itself rather than a license fee.
For a merchant who wants installment-style purchasing at checkout without managing a schedule or carrying the risk themselves, nothing else here works quite this way.
Pros
- Completely free, no license cost on top of standard Stripe processing
- Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay show live on product and checkout pages without separate integrations
- Largest install base and highest rating of any plugin on this list
- The BNPL provider carries the credit risk and collections, not the store owner
Cons
- Not a self-hosted schedule. Approval terms and fees are set by the BNPL provider, not the merchant
- BNPL methods carry a per-transaction fee on top of Stripe’s own processing rate
- Requires a Stripe account specifically. Stores on a different primary gateway can’t use this integration
Pricing
- Free available: Yes, on WordPress.org (no paid tier)
- Starting price: Free
Best Practices for WooCommerce Installment Payments
Show the payment schedule before checkout, not after
Sixty-two percent of consumers say they want to know upfront whether pay-later is available, and it directly shapes what they decide to buy (Splitit/PYMNTS, 2024).
Match the plugin to the price point
A subscription-grade engine like Sublium is overkill for a $40 item, just as a basic deposit plugin can’t carry a $2,000 course through six installments.
Test failed payment handling before launch
Run a test card through a decline scenario and confirm the retry or reminder actually fires.
Keep installment counts low and round
Three or four payments read as manageable. Twelve reads as a loan application.
Reconcile installment revenue monthly
Scheduled future orders can distort your WooCommerce reports if you’re not tracking collected versus pending amounts separately.
Frequently Asked Questions About WooCommerce Installment Payments
What’s the difference between a deposit plugin and a true installment plugin?
A deposit plugin, like YITH or the free tier of most Acowebs-style tools, collects one upfront payment and one balance. A true installment plugin splits the total into three or more scheduled payments and, ideally, charges each one automatically.
Is WooCommerce Deposits or Sublium Subscriptions better for a $2,000 course?
Sublium Subscriptions, in most cases. It auto-charges each installment and retries failed cards on its own. WooCommerce Deposits would require manually invoicing every follow-up payment on a purchase that size.
Do I need a separate BNPL account to offer Affirm or Klarna in WooCommerce?
With FunnelKit’s Stripe gateway, no separate account setup beyond enabling the BNPL methods inside your existing Stripe dashboard.
What happens if a customer’s card fails on an installment?
Depends entirely on the plugin. Sublium retries automatically and emails the customer. Acowebs and WooCommerce Deposits don’t retry on their own, so a failed charge needs manual follow-up.
Do installment plugins affect WooCommerce’s built-in reports?
Scheduled future payments usually show as separate orders, which can inflate order counts if you’re not filtering by status. Check each plugin’s reporting docs before relying on native WooCommerce analytics alone.
Is YITH Deposits / Down Payments the same as an installment plan?
No. It’s a single deposit and a single balance. Its own FAQ states plainly that installment payments aren’t part of what the plugin does.
How many installments should I offer?
Three to four tends to perform best. It keeps the per-payment amount meaningful without turning checkout into a financing application.
Choose the Best WooCommerce Installment Payments Plugin for Your Store
The right pick comes down to what you’re selling and how much manual work you’re willing to take on. High-ticket items with real installment logic point toward Sublium.
Budget-conscious stores that just need automated Stripe collection do well with Acowebs. Stores that want official Marketplace vetting land on Ultimate Payment Plans.
And if carrying zero installment risk matters most, FunnelKit’s free Stripe gateway routes that risk to Affirm, Klarna, or Afterpay instead of your own checkout.
Whichever plugin fits, pair it with a checkout built to keep the rest of the process just as frictionless. FunnelKit’s checkout and upsell tools work alongside any of the gateways above to keep cart abandonment down once the payment question is settled.
