Subscription-based businesses thrive when customers are given flexibility and control over their plans. Modern consumers expect the ability to make quick adjustments—whether that means upgrading to a better plan, adding more products, or even ending a subscription when no longer needed.
With Odoo 18, businesses can now offer these self-service options directly from the customer portal, creating a seamless and transparent experience. Instead of relying on support or sales teams for every modification, subscribers can manage their own plans with just a few clicks.
This blog walks you through how these features work, from configuring recurring plans to seeing how customers interact with them in the portal.
The first step is to go to the Subscription module > Configuration > Recurring Plans.
Here, you can either create a new recurring plan or edit an existing one. I have selected the monthly recurring plan.
Within the recurring plan form, go to the Self-Service Options section. This is where you can decide what actions subscribers can take directly from the portal. The available options are:
- Closable – allows customers to close their subscription themselves.
- Add Products – enables customers to add new products to an existing subscription.
- Renew – lets customers request renewal quotations directly from the portal.
- Optional Plans – defines the alternative plans that subscribers can switch to (e.g., upgrade from Monthly to 6 Months or Yearly).
In the Self-Service Options section of the recurring plan, enable the checkboxes for Closable, Renew, and Optional Plans to allow customers to close their subscription, request renewal quotations, and switch to another plan directly from the portal. After that, specify the available alternatives under Optional Plans—for example, add a “Yearly” plan as an option if the current one is “Monthly”. You can add as much as you need. Once these settings are configured, click Save to apply the changes.
Next, create a new subscription and link it to the recurring plan you just configured. To do this, go to Subscriptions > New
Select the customer, and then choose the recurring plan we set up in the earlier step. Add the subscription lines with the required products and quantities, and once everything is filled in, confirm the subscription. This ensures that the customer will see the self-service options you enabled when they access their subscription through the portal.
We can simply click the preview button to see the portal view.
On the left side of the portal view, you’ll notice several action buttons that appear due to the self-service options we enabled earlier in the recurring plan:
- Automate Payment – set up automatic billing to avoid manual payments.
- Renew – generate a renewal quotation for the subscription.
- Change Plan – switch to one of the optional plans, such as upgrading from Monthly to Yearly.
- Close Subscription – request closure of the subscription directly from the portal.
- Download – access and download related subscription documents.
Change Plan
To change the subscription plan, click on the change plan button in the portal view. Then a pop-up will come like this.
Here, we can choose the other plans that are available. Here I have selected the yearly plan, then confirmed it.
When the customer selects another plan (eg. Yearly) from the Change Plan option, Odoo automatically creates a renewal quotation. In this quotation, you can see that the selected Yearly plan is now applied, replacing the previous Monthly plan. Once the customer confirms it, the subscription updates to follow the new plan terms and pricing.
In this way, the customer can change their subscription plan directly from the portal.
Closing Subscription
There may be situations where customers no longer wish to continue their subscription. Instead of contacting the company, Odoo 18 allows them to directly close their subscription from the portal view.
In the portal, the customer will see a Close Subscription button on the left-hand side of the subscription page.
When the customer clicks this button, a confirmation popup will appear asking them to provide a reason for closing the subscription. Businesses can easily add or customize more reasons in the backend based on their requirements. This ensures businesses gain valuable feedback from customers while processing subscription cancellations.
Once the customer selects a reason, they can either:
- Submit to confirm the cancellation, or
- Discard, I want to stay if they change their mind
After submission, the subscription status is immediately updated to Closed in the portal. This ensures transparency for customers while also recording the closure reason for the company.
This streamlined process not only provides customers with full control over their subscriptions but also enables businesses to track closure reasons, analyze customer behavior, and work on improving their services.
Odoo 18 takes subscription management a step further by empowering customers with self-service options directly from the portal. Whether it’s upgrading or downgrading their subscription plan or closing it entirely, users can now perform these actions with just a few clicks.
This flexibility not only enhances the customer experience but also helps businesses by providing valuable feedback on why customers choose to cancel. With the ability to preconfigure and customize closure reasons in the backend, companies can gather insights to refine their offerings and improve retention strategies. By allowing customers to take control while maintaining transparency, Odoo 18 ensures a smoother, more efficient, and customer-friendly subscription lifecycle.
To read more about How to Manage a Subscription Renewal in Odoo 18, refer to our blog How to Manage a Subscription Renewal in Odoo 18.