TutorialMay 18, 20267 min read

Recurring billing: automate your subscriptions in Dolibarr

Managing 50, 200 or 1,000 client subscriptions? Here is how Dolibarr can generate your monthly invoices with zero manual work.

Why automate from 30 subscriptions

Beyond 30 client subscriptions, manual monthly billing becomes a full-time job: create each invoice, check amounts, send, follow up late payments. At least one day lost every month, with omission risk growing proportionally. Automation via DolicraftRecurring turns this day into 5 minutes of validation. And the module fixes typical errors: omissions, wrong dates, miscalculated proration. On 500 subscriptions, the gap between manual entry and automation is roughly 1,000 € of cash lost every month on average.

Switching threshold: about 30 subscriptions
At least 1 day/month for manual billing beyond
Omission risk proportional to volume
Frequent proration errors when manual
Cash recovered: ~1,000 €/month on 500 subscriptions

Configure a typical subscription

A Dolibarr subscription is defined as an invoice template that auto-duplicates at a regular interval. You configure: client, lines (products or services with quantity and price), periodicity (monthly, quarterly, annual), start date, optional end date, default payment method, and auto-email or not. DolicraftRecurring goes further with fine entry/exit proration, multi-year renewals with price revision, and special terms (first month free, decreasing discount).

Client × periodicity × dates invoice template
Automatic entry and exit proration
Multi-year renewals with price revision
Special terms (1st month free, discount)
Auto-email with customisable template

Daily cron and generation log

Automation relies on a daily cron scanning all active subscriptions and generating invoices due today. Each generation creates an entry in an audit log with timestamp, client ID, amount, status. On error (deleted client, unavailable product, invalid IBAN) the subscription is paused and an alert email is sent to the admin. This mechanism keeps automation reliable even when data shifts in the meantime.

Daily scan-and-generate cron
Full audit log per generation
Auto-pause on error with admin alert
Resume possible after data fix
Reliability stats in the dashboard

SEPA direct debit and card

Generating an invoice is useful; collecting is more useful. DolicraftRecurring integrates with standard Dolibarr payment modules (SEPA, Stripe, Mollie) to trigger debit immediately after issue. You set up the SEPA mandate once per client, and each invoice is debited automatically at due date. For card-based recurring (SaaS model), Stripe or Mollie keep the token and charge on each generation. Payment status is fed back to Dolibarr automatically, closing the loop invoice → cash → reconciliation.

SEPA, Stripe, Mollie integration
SEPA mandate set once per client
Card token kept for recurring debits
Payment status auto-fed back to Dolibarr
Full loop invoice → cash → accounting

Steering and MRR reporting

When managing subscriptions, MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) is the key KPI. DolicraftRecurring computes in real time your MRR, churn, LTV (Lifetime Value) and ARPU (Average Revenue Per User). You see new monthly subscriptions, renewals, cancellations and net balance. This SaaS-like view, rare in a classic ERP, transforms how you read your subscription business and directly feeds executive committees.