Coupons let you offer discounts to your customers. Create percentage or fixed-amount coupons with flexible redemption rules and apply them to subscriptions. Discounts appear automatically as line items on invoices.
Gilbert supports two types of discounts:
A percentage discount reduces the subscription total by a given percentage (0.01% to 100%). Percentage coupons work with any currency.
A fixed-amount discount subtracts a specific monetary amount from the subscription total. Fixed-amount coupons are tied to a specific currency and can only be applied to subscriptions in that currency.
Duration controls how long a coupon's discount applies once it's been added to a subscription:
| Duration | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Once | Applied to a single billing period, then automatically removed. |
| Repeating | Applied for a set number of billing periods. Remaining periods are tracked and decremented each cycle. |
| Forever | Applied indefinitely until manually removed. |
Control how and when a coupon can be used:
| Rule | Description |
|---|---|
| Expiration date | Coupon becomes invalid after this date. New applications are rejected. |
| Max redemptions | Total number of times the coupon can be applied across all customers. |
| Max per customer | Number of times a single customer can use the coupon. |
The stackable flag controls whether a coupon can be combined with other coupons on the same subscription:
Coupons can be scoped to specific plans or products:
When no scope is set, the coupon applies to the entire subscription.
Coupons can be applied to subscriptions in Draft, Trialing, or Active status.
Add coupons while creating a new subscription. The invoice preview updates to show the discounted total.
Gilbert validates the following before applying a coupon:
To remove a coupon from a subscription:
The discount stops applying from the next billing period.
When a subscription with coupons is invoiced, each coupon generates a discount line item with a negative amount:
| Product | Unit Price | Qty | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pro Plan | €100.00 | 1 | €100.00 |
| Discount: SUMMER20 (-20.00%) | €-20.00 | 1 | €-20.00 |
When multiple coupons are applied, they are calculated sequentially. Discounts are capped so the invoice total never goes negative.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Active | Can be applied to subscriptions. |
| Archived | No longer available for new applications. Existing subscriptions keep the discount. |
To archive a coupon:
Archived coupons remain on existing subscriptions but cannot be applied to new ones. Archiving cannot be undone.
Choose descriptive coupon codes that are easy to identify, such as SUMMER2026 or LAUNCH20PCT.
Always set max redemptions or expiration dates to prevent unbounded discount usage.
When running a promotion on a specific product, use product scoping rather than applying a blanket discount.