The quick answer
Create the subscription plan first. Each line on its Lines subtab names an item and sets its Type (One Time, Recurring or Usage), Billing Mode, whether it's Required, and renewal behavior. The plan holds no prices. Save it, open the Price Books subtab and click New Price Book. On the price book, open each line's price plan from the pencil icon to set the amount (and included usage), then set the line's Charge Frequency. Save the price book and check the plan's Price Books subtab, which lists every line's price and charge frequency.
The screenshots show sample data. Person and operating-company names are fictional. Use your own items, prices and currency when following the steps.
Before you start
This example builds Clinic Connect Plan, a clinic-management service sold with three items: a monthly per-seat fee, SMS appointment reminders billed on usage with a monthly allowance, and an optional one-time onboarding fee. The three items already exist and can be used on subscriptions, which usually means service or non-inventory items that aren't set to be fulfilled, with their income accounts, tax and subsidiaries set up. The account needs SuiteBilling with Subscription Billing enabled. Setup > Company > Enable Features shows what that feature depends on in your account, such as Billing Accounts and Charge-Based Billing. You need the Administrator role or a role that can create subscription plans and price books.
Menu paths and some field labels can differ by release and role. If a page isn't where it says, search for its name in global search.
01. Enter the plan header
Go to Lists > Subscriptions > Subscription Plans > New. Enter Subscription Plan Name Clinic Connect Plan and choose Initial Term 1 Year. Initial terms are records in your account, so the list shows the ones you've defined. Under Classification, select the subsidiary that sells the plan, Fernhill Holdings : Fernhill US here.
02. Add the three plan lines
On the Lines subtab, add one line per item and click Add after each:
- Clinic Onboarding Fee: leave Required cleared, Type One Time, Billing Mode In Advance, Include in Renewal Subscription Never.
- Clinic Connect Seat: check Required, Type Recurring, Billing Mode In Advance, check Prorate Start Date and Prorate End Date, renewal Always.
- SMS Reminder Messages: check Required, Type Usage, Billing Mode In Arrears, renewal Always.
Leave Revenue Recognition Option at its default unless your revenue policy needs something else.
Clearing Required makes the onboarding fee optional. It's offered when a subscription is created from the plan and can be left out, in which case the subscription shows it as Not Included. Renewal Never leaves the line out of the renewal subscription, so the fee isn't carried into the next term. It doesn't decide whether the subscription renews. The SMS line is In Arrears because the message count isn't known until usage is recorded for the period. Prorate Start Date and Prorate End Date turn on proration for partial first and last periods; the price book's Prorate By sets whether that's counted by day.
03. Save the plan and open Price Books
Click Save. The saved plan's Lines subtab shows the three lines. Only the onboarding fee has Required blank, and only the SMS line is billed In Arrears.
Open the Price Books subtab. It says No records to show. The plan says what you sell and how each line behaves, but it has no prices yet, so it can't price a subscription.
04. Create the price book
Click New Price Book. Enter Name Clinic Connect - Monthly USD. Currency shows US Dollar. Check it now: once a price plan is saved on the price book, you may not be able to change the currency. Subscription Plan is already Clinic Connect Plan.
Price Book Lines has one line for each plan line, each with Interval Month and Start On 1. The Price column is empty.
05. Give each line a price plan
Click a line, then click the pencil icon in its Edit column to open its Price Plan. A price plan has a Type (Tiered or Volume) and tier rows with From Quantity, Pricing Option and Value. Fixed Amount charges the value no matter the quantity. Rate multiplies the quantity by the value. With one tier starting at 0, Tiered and Volume price the same.
- Clinic Onboarding Fee: leave Type Tiered and From Quantity 0, choose Pricing Option Fixed Amount, Value 1,250.00. Click Add, then Save. Back on the price book, set Charge Frequency One Time and click OK.
- Clinic Connect Seat: leave Type Tiered, Pricing Option Rate, Value 45.00, so each seat costs 45.00. Save, set Charge Frequency Monthly, keep Repeat Every 1 and Prorate By Day, and click OK.
- SMS Reminder Messages: enter Included Quantity 2000, leave Type Tiered, then Pricing Option Rate, Value 0.03. Save, set Charge Frequency Monthly with Repeat Every 1, and click OK.
Included Quantity on the price plan is the allowance: only messages above 2,000 are rated at 0.03. With a single tier, Tiered and Volume give the same result. If you add quantity breaks later, pick Tiered to price each band at its own rate or Volume to price all of the quantity at the rate of the band it reaches. Included Quantity Multiplier on the price book line is a different setting that scales the allowance by another quantity, such as seats. This example leaves it blank.
Every line needs a price plan, and recurring and usage lines need a Charge Frequency. If one is missing, NetSuite asks for it before the line or the price book can be saved.
When all three are done, the Price column reads Above 0: $1,250.00, Above 0: $45.00, and 2,000 Included, Above 0: $0.03, and Charge Frequency reads One Time, Monthly and Monthly.
06. Save and check the Price Books subtab
Click Save on the price book. NetSuite returns to Clinic Connect Plan. Open the Price Books subtab. The Name, Item and Start Interval lists filter the grid, and the grid stays empty until something is selected. Select Clinic Connect - Monthly USD under Name and leave Item and Start Interval on - All -.
Check the result
- Clinic Connect - Monthly USD is listed as a group with Currency US Dollar.
- Clinic Onboarding Fee: Required No, One Time, Above 0: $1,250.00, Tiered, charged One Time.
- Clinic Connect Seat: Recurring, Above 0: $45.00, Tiered, Monthly, Repeat Every 1, prorated by Day.
- SMS Reminder Messages: Usage, 2,000 Included, Above 0: $0.03, Tiered, Monthly, Repeat Every 1.
To sanity-check the numbers: before tax, discounts and proration, a customer with 20 seats who sends 2,600 messages in a month pays 20 × 45.00 = 900.00 for seats and (2,600 − 2,000) × 0.03 = 18.00 for SMS, plus 1,250.00 once if the onboarding fee is included on their subscription. The plan doesn't produce those charges. They come from an active subscription created from it, with usage recorded against the SMS line and rated.
Before you use the plan, create a test subscription for a customer with a billing account in the same currency, and check that it picks up this price book and the optional onboarding line.
Common questions
What's the difference between a subscription plan and a price book?
A subscription plan lists the items in the offering and how each line behaves: its type, billing mode, whether it's required, and renewal. A price book gives those lines their prices and charge frequency in one currency. Clinic Connect Plan holds no prices on its own. One plan can have several price books, for example one per currency.
Where do I set the price of a subscription plan item?
On the price book, not the plan. Open the price book line's price plan from the pencil icon in the Edit column and enter the tier's pricing option and value. Here that's 1,250.00 once for onboarding, 45.00 a month per seat, and 0.03 per message after the included quantity.
How do I make an item optional on a subscription plan?
Clear Required on its line on the plan's Lines subtab. Clinic Onboarding Fee is optional here, while the seat and SMS lines are required. An optional line can be left out when a subscription is created from the plan.
How does included usage with an overage rate work?
Enter the allowance as Included Quantity on the usage line's price plan, then a Rate tier for everything above it. With 2,000 included and a rate of 0.03, 2,600 messages in a month bill 600 × 0.03 = 18.00. This guide sets up the pricing only. Recording usage, rating and invoicing happen on the subscription.
What's the difference between Fixed Amount and Rate?
Fixed Amount charges the tier's value no matter the quantity, which suits a one-time fee. Rate multiplies the quantity by the value, so 20 seats at 45.00 is 900.00.
What's the difference between In Advance and In Arrears?
In Advance bills a line at the start of its period, which suits access fees like the seat. In Arrears bills after the period, once the quantity is known, which is why the SMS usage line uses it.