A membership in Petboost is a recurring subscription plan that you create and sell to your customers. Pet owners pay a fixed amount on a regular billing cycle (weekly, fortnightly, or monthly) and in return receive a defined set of benefits - such as included services, percentage discounts, or unlimited access to certain service categories.

Memberships are powered by Stripe Subscriptions, so billing is automatic, secure, and requires no manual invoicing from your team.

Key Concept: Memberships are designed for businesses that want predictable recurring revenue while rewarding loyal customers with consistent value. Think of them as a "VIP programme" that automates both the billing and the benefit tracking.

Petboost offers both memberships and packages. They solve different problems:

Tip: Many businesses offer both. Use packages for casual customers who want a small discount for pre-paying, and memberships for your most loyal regulars who visit on a predictable schedule.

A plan is the membership product you design and sell. Each plan has a name, description, price, and billing cycle. You can create multiple plans to serve different customer segments - for example, a "Groom Club" for monthly grooming customers and a "Daycare Pass" for daily boarding clients.

Plans contain one or more benefits that define what the member receives each billing period.

Benefits are the specific entitlements included in a plan. Each benefit defines:

A single plan can have multiple benefits. For example, a "Premium Groom Club" might include 1 full groom, 2 nail trims, and a 15% discount on all add-on services.

Usage periods define the stretch of time over which benefit allowances are tracked and refreshed. Allowance length can match the billing cycle or be shorter (for example 7-day walks on a 28-day invoice):

When a period refreshes, unused allowances do not roll over. The counter starts fresh. On the default and fixed-day models, pay day and refresh day are the same weekday. A mid-week join on a fixed-day plan still bills on that weekday after the first payment; if Pro-rate the first week is on, that first payment covers only the remaining days. A plan can instead use a fixed benefit week: every member counts included uses over the same shared week while billing runs from each member's own start date. See Creating Membership Plans.

Overage is what happens when a member uses more than their included allowance within a period. You configure this per benefit:

A subscription is the link between a pet owner and a plan. When you add a member, Petboost creates a Stripe Subscription that handles automatic billing. The subscription tracks:

Memberships work best for businesses with:

Common use cases include:

You have full control over how you structure your plans. Common approaches include:

One plan at one price point. Simple and easy to communicate.

Three tiers at increasing price points with escalating benefits.

Separate plans for different service lines.

Separate plans per number of pets, each with its own inclusions.

Use when each dog needs its own inclusions. An owner holds one active membership per business, so the tier is how a multi-dog household buys more. Set Minimum pets so only households with that many pets can join, and keep the count in the name as well so staff read it at a glance.

Each plan can be billed:

Tip: Match the billing cycle to how often customers visit. Weekly or fortnightly suits daily daycare and walking; monthly suits grooming on a 4-6 week cycle.

When a pet owner has an active membership subscription, their profile displays a crown badge. This badge appears:

The crown badge is identity: it means they have a membership. It does not mean this visit is included. The visit is included when you see Included or Member benefit available, or after you Apply member pricing on an older booking.

Here's the end-to-end flow of a membership from creation to daily use:

Design a plan with a name, price, billing cycle, and benefits. Choose which services are included, what discounts apply, and how overage is handled. Turn on Member limit if the plan should stop taking enrolments once it is full.

Either your team enrols a pet owner with Add member manually, or - if the plan allows self-service purchase - the owner joins it themselves from your booking page. Their card on file is charged and a Stripe Subscription is created. The crown badge appears on their profile.

When booking for a member, Petboost automatically applies their benefits. Included services show as covered, discounts are applied to prices, and usage counters decrement.

Throughout each period, Petboost tracks how many benefits have been stamped versus the total allowance. Remaining counts stamped uses, not every walk in the diary. Staff can check remaining usage at any time.

At the end of each period, usage counters refresh and the full benefit allowance is restored. On the default and fixed-day models the customer is charged on that same weekday; on a fixed benefit week the charge follows their own start date instead.

You can pause, resume, or cancel a membership. There is no mid-cycle plan switch. To put someone on a different price or plan, cancel that membership, then Reactivate (same plan) or Add member manually (different plan). Failed payments are retried automatically by Stripe.

Each subscription has a status that determines whether benefits are active:

No. An owner holds one active membership per business at a time. For multi-dog households, create a plan tier sized for the household, for example a two-dog plan with doubled inclusions, rather than a second subscription.

The additional pet surcharge is billing only. It raises the price when a member covers more than one pet; it does not give each pet its own inclusions. Adding a pet does not add more included uses. All pets on the membership share the same allowance. If each dog should get its own walks, create a household tier instead: a two-dog plan with the included quantities doubled, priced at about the base plus what you would charge the second dog.

Open the one-dog plan and choose Make the 2-dog version. It opens the plan builder prefilled as a "(2 Dogs)" copy with Minimum pets 2, the included quantities doubled and the price prefilled at the base plus the surcharge, or double the base when the plan has no surcharge. Discount the price, save it as a draft, then publish. Only households with two or more pets can join a plan with Minimum pets 2; one-pet owners see it with a 2+ pets badge and cannot buy it. If you run several tiers, build the whole ladder in one pass: select Create plan, choose A group of plans, and set What do the plans vary by? to Number of pets. Every plan you add after the one-dog plan is priced, sized and restricted for its pet count.

No. An owner holds one active membership per business at a time. A multi-dog household that needs more inclusions moves to a bigger tier (for example a two-dog plan with doubled inclusions). Cancel the current membership, then enrol them on the bigger plan with Add member manually. If the bigger tier has Minimum pets set, the account needs at least that many active pets before you can enrol them.

It depends on the plan's pet coverage. If one price covers every pet on the account, the puppy is covered automatically, including pets added later. If the plan covers chosen pets (an additional pet surcharge plan), the covered pets are fixed for the life of the subscription: cancel that membership, then Reactivate and tick the right pets, or use Add member manually on a household-size tier. If the plan has a minimum commitment, early-cancel charges may apply.

If the plan covers all pets for one price, yes: every pet on the account, including pets added later, can use the plan's benefits. If the plan uses an additional pet surcharge, only the pets chosen at enrolment are covered. Either way the included quantities are per membership and shared, not per pet.

Because usage counters are per membership, not per pet. A plan with 2 included daycare days per week covering two dogs has 2 days in total; booking both dogs on the same day draws both. This is the shared allowance working as designed. If you want each dog to have its own days, cancel that membership and enrol them on a two-dog tier with the days doubled.

No. When a usage period refreshes, any unused allowance is lost. The counter starts fresh each period.

Yes, if the plan has self-service purchase enabled. Every plan has an Allow self-service purchase toggle. When it's on, pet owners can find the plan on your booking page and join it from their pet owner portal. When it's off, the plan is published as Hidden and only your team can enrol members. Either way, your team can always enrol a customer directly with Add member manually.

Cancel their current membership, then Reactivate if they stay on the same plan, or enrol them on the plan they should be on with Add member manually. There is no Change Plan button and no proration on plan changes. The new membership starts a new agreement at the catalogue price on the plan at enrolment. If a refund for unused days on the old membership is appropriate, issue it through Stripe from that member's billing history.

No. Each membership is an agreement. Existing members keep the amount they joined on. People who join after you save pay the new catalogue price. To put an existing member on the new price, cancel that membership, then Reactivate. See Move a member onto a different price or plan.

No. Create as many plans as you need to serve your different customer segments and service lines.

Ready to set up your first membership plan? Continue to: