Laravel Cashier and Stripe Billing Guide

Managing billing and subscription payments is one of the most essential parts of running a modern web application, especially in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) models. Handling recurring payments, invoices, trials, and cancellations can quickly become complex if done manually.

That’s where Laravel Cashier comes in. It provides an elegant and simple way to integrate with Stripe, one of the world’s most trusted payment gateways. In this guide, you’ll learn how to use Laravel Cashier with Stripe to build a professional and scalable billing system.

What is Laravel Cashier?

Laravel Cashier is an official package developed by the Laravel team to make billing with Stripe simple and expressive. Instead of working directly with the complex Stripe API, Cashier provides ready-to-use methods for common payment tasks like subscription creation, plan upgrades, cancellations, and invoicing.

Key Features of Laravel Cashier

• Manage subscriptions (create, update, cancel)

• Handle free trials and coupon codes

• Generate invoices and view billing history

• Process one-time payments

• Manage proration during plan changes

• Integrate with Stripe webhooks for real-time updates

This package allows developers to focus on their application logic while Laravel and Stripe handle the heavy lifting of payment processing.

Why Choose Stripe for Payments?

Stripe is one of the most widely used and developer-friendly payment processors. It supports global payments, offers flexible APIs, and ensures the highest level of security compliance.

Benefits of Using Stripe

• Fast, secure, and global payment processing

• Support for multiple currencies and payment methods

• Excellent API documentation

• Real-time reporting and webhooks

• Built-in fraud protection

When combined with Laravel Cashier, Stripe becomes a powerful backbone for handling all kinds of payment and subscription scenarios.

Setting Up Laravel Cashier with Stripe

Setting up Stripe billing in a Laravel project involves only a few simple steps.

Step 1: Install Laravel Cashier

Use Composer to install Cashier in your Laravel project:

composer require laravel/cashier

Step 2: Configure Stripe API Keys

Create a Stripe account and get your API keys from the Stripe Dashboard. Add them to your .env file:

STRIPE_KEY=your_public_key
STRIPE_SECRET=your_secret_key

Step 3: Enable the Billable Trait

Add the Billable trait to your User model so each user can manage their own subscriptions and payments.

Step 4: Configure Webhooks

Webhooks allow Stripe to notify your Laravel app about billing events like successful payments or failed renewals. Cashier provides built-in routes to handle them automatically.

Creating Subscriptions in Laravel

After setup, you can start creating subscription plans.

Define Plans in Stripe

In your Stripe dashboard, create products and pricing plans such as:

• Basic Plan – $10/month

• Pro Plan – $25/month

Each plan gets a unique price ID, which is used when creating subscriptions in Laravel.

Subscription Workflow

1. The user selects a plan from your website.

2. Stripe Checkout collects their payment details securely.

3. Laravel Cashier creates the subscription using Stripe’s API.

4. The user gains access to premium features after successful payment.

This process ensures security, compliance, and simplicity.

Managing Subscriptions

Cashier provides convenient methods for managing user subscriptions.

Check Active Subscription

You can easily check if a user has an active plan:

if ($user->subscribed('default')) {
    // Active subscription
}

Change Subscription Plan

Allow users to upgrade or downgrade without canceling:

$user->subscription('default')->swap('price_pro_plan_id');

Cancel Subscription

When a user cancels, Cashier automatically updates the Stripe subscription:

$user->subscription('default')->cancel();

Grace periods can also be configured, so users keep access until their billing period ends.

Handling Invoices and Billing History

Cashier makes invoice management simple.

• You can list all invoices for a user

• Allow users to download invoices as PDFs

• Display billing details and transaction history on their dashboard

This enhances transparency and provides a professional billing experience for your customers.

Advanced Features

Laravel Cashier offers several advanced features to fine-tune your billing system.

Free Trials

You can offer users free trials before billing starts. This is especially useful for SaaS products:

$user->newSubscription('default', 'price_basic_plan')->trialDays(14)->create();

Coupons and Discounts

Stripe coupons can be integrated easily, allowing discounts during checkout or renewals.

Proration

When users switch from one plan to another, Stripe automatically handles prorated charges, ensuring fair billing for both parties.

One-Time Payments

If your app needs to handle single charges (like product purchases), Cashier can handle that too with simple methods for one-time billing.

Webhook Customization

Developers can extend Laravel’s webhook controller to perform custom actions — for example, sending email alerts when payments fail or logging canceled subscriptions for review.

Testing in Stripe Sandbox Mode

Stripe offers a test mode with dummy card numbers, letting you simulate payments safely.

You can use the test card number 4242 4242 4242 4242 with any valid expiry and CVC code. This helps test subscription flows before going live.

Testing in sandbox mode ensures all billing and webhook logic works correctly, preventing real financial transactions during development.

Security Best Practices for Payment Systems

When dealing with payments, following security best practices is essential:

1. Always use HTTPS to protect user data during transmission.

2. Never store card details directly — let Stripe handle all sensitive data.

3. Validate webhook events to ensure they are genuine.

4. Monitor failed payments and notify users automatically.

5. Use Stripe Radar for fraud detection and prevention.

6. Limit retries to prevent duplicate charges.

Laravel and Stripe together handle much of the security burden, but developers should still follow these best practices for maximum safety.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Webhooks Not Working

Ensure your webhook endpoint is publicly accessible and properly configured in your Stripe dashboard.

Subscription Status Not Updating

Check that the correct Stripe plan IDs are used and webhooks are firing correctly.

Trial Not Ending

Use Cashier’s onTrial() helper to check if the trial period has expired.

Currency or Tax Errors

Ensure both Stripe and Laravel use the same default currency and tax configuration.

Proper testing and logging can help identify and fix such issues quickly.

Benefits of Using Laravel Cashier and Stripe Together

1. Ease of Use: Minimal setup with expressive Laravel syntax.

2. Scalability: Ideal for startups and enterprise-grade systems.

3. Automation: Auto-handles billing cycles, invoices, and cancellations.

4. Security: Stripe’s PCI-compliant system ensures payment safety.

5. Transparency: Built-in invoice management and reporting.

Whether you’re building a subscription platform, e-learning site, or premium membership system, this combination gives you everything you need.

Conclusion

Integrating Laravel Cashier with Stripe transforms complex billing operations into an effortless, developer-friendly process. It handles subscriptions, one-time payments, invoices, coupons, and proration seamlessly, all while ensuring global scalability and top-tier security.

With Laravel Cashier, you can focus on growing your application while Stripe manages payments in the background. Together, they form a complete billing solution that’s reliable, efficient, and ready for production use.

Whether you’re running a small SaaS or a large-scale enterprise platform, Laravel Cashier and Stripe offer the flexibility, reliability, and automation needed to create a seamless subscription experience for your users.