Annual billing lets you pay for your Lightspeed Restaurant subscription 12 months at a time instead of monthly. Your POS base plan costs 15% less than it would over the same 12 months on monthly billing, and your subscription is consolidated onto a single annual invoice.
This guide explains how annual billing works, how to switch, what happens when you change your subscription afterwards, and how to move back to monthly billing.
What's in this guide?
About annual billing
Changing your plan to annual billing
Scheduled changes
Switching back to monthly billing
Frequently asked questions
About annual billing
Switching to annual billing takes effect straight away and the annual amount is charged upfront. The key details to know before you switch:
- 15% discount on the POS base plan: the discount applies to the POS base plan only. Your other products and add-ons move to annual billing at their full price.
- Your whole subscription moves to annual: your POS plan and your paid add-ons, including Insights, Purchase, Produce, Loyalty and Kiosk, all move across together.
- What stays monthly: transaction fees and Lightspeed Bump Screen (Bump-it) continue to be billed monthly and are not part of your annual invoice.
- One invoice, one renewal date: every product moving to annual is given the same renewal date, anchored to your existing billing day, and billed on one annual invoice. If that anchor makes your first annual period slightly longer than 12 months, the extra days are free of charge. If it makes the period slightly shorter, the amount is pro-rated. You are never charged for more than you receive.
- Automatic renewal: your annual subscription renews automatically on your renewal date unless you change or cancel it beforehand. Your renewal date and a link to the Lightspeed Service Agreement are shown on step 3 before you confirm.
- What you pay today: if you already pay for a monthly plan, that plan covers you up to your next billing date and you are not charged twice for it. If a product is moving to annual from a free or Lite plan, you are charged a pro-rated amount for the days between today and your first renewal date so that you get access immediately. That extra amount is added on top, which is why Due today can be higher than your estimated annual total. Select the help icon next to Due today on step 3 for a full breakdown.
- Discounts: any discount on your account, normally applied by your Account Manager, is tied to your billing cycle and will not carry over when you switch to annual. If you have one, a comparison of your current and new pricing is shown before you confirm so you can see exactly what changes. If you later switch back to monthly, the discount applies again, as long as it has not expired in the meantime.
- When changes take effect: switching to annual and upgrading happen straight away. Downgrading, removing add-ons and switching from annual back to monthly are scheduled to take effect on your next billing date. See Scheduled changes below.
- Direct debit limits: if you pay by automatic bank transfer, your direct debit agreement sets a limit on each individual payment, $2,000 by default. A year charged upfront often exceeds it, so Confirm is unavailable on step 3 and the bank transfer payment method explains why. You can sign a new agreement with a higher limit without leaving the page. Direct debit is only available for Australian bank accounts. See Managing your billing payment information.
Changing your plan to annual billing
Only the site owner can switch the plan to annual billing and manage the site's subscription. This helps prevent unauthorised changes to the site's billing plan. Make sure you have selected the correct site and review the plans and charges shown during the setup.
To change your plan to annual billing:
- Log in to Back Office with your Lightspeed credentials.
- From the Home menu, select Subscriptions.
- (Optional) If you have multiple sites, select the site you want to switch to annual billing.
- Select Change plan.
- Select Pay yearly.
- Select your preferred POS plan, then click Continue.
- (Optional) Select plans for your additional products, such as Insights, Purchase and Produce. Products you are not subscribed to stay on their free Lite plan.
- Click Continue.
- (Optional) If you have a discount applied to your current billing cycle, a prompt shows a comparison of your current monthly pricing and the new annual pricing. Review the changes, then click Continue with annual billing.
- Review your new plan summary, then click Confirm.
Step 3 shows the amount due today, your renewal date and the auto-renewal disclaimer. If Due today is higher than the estimated total, select the help icon beside it to see what makes up the difference.
Scheduled changes
Some subscription changes are applied straight away and others are scheduled to take effect on your next billing date. This works the same way on monthly and annual billing, but it matters more on an annual plan, because your next billing date can be up to 12 months away.
These changes take effect straight away:
- Switching from monthly to annual billing, with or without changing your POS plan at the same time.
- Upgrading your POS plan or adding a product.
These changes are scheduled to your next billing date:
- Downgrading your POS plan.
- Removing an add-on.
- Switching from annual billing back to monthly.
Nothing is charged when you schedule a change. You keep your current plan, features and add-ons until the date it takes effect, because you have already paid for them. When you schedule a downgrade, a warning first lists the features you will lose and the date you will lose them, and you need to tick I understand before you can continue.
While a change is scheduled
The Subscriptions page shows a banner with the date the change takes effect. From the banner you can select View details to see exactly what is changing, or cancel the change at any time before that date.
You can only have one scheduled change at a time. While a change is pending, Change plan, Change add-on plans, Pause plan, Transfer site ownership and Cancel site subscription are all unavailable. If you need to do something different, cancel the scheduled change first.
Registers and kiosk devices are the exception. You can still add or remove them while a change is scheduled, and they adjust your estimated total without affecting the scheduled change itself. Because your registers and add-ons can still change before then, any total shown for a scheduled change is an estimate. See Managing your companies, sites, and registers.
We email you to confirm the change when you schedule it, send a reminder seven days before it takes effect if you scheduled it more than seven days in advance, and confirm again if the change is cancelled.
Cancelling a scheduled change
To cancel a scheduled change before it takes effect:
- Log in to Back Office with your Lightspeed credentials.
- From the Home menu, select Subscriptions.
- (Optional) If you have multiple sites, select the site with the scheduled change.
- On the pending change banner, select View details to check what is changing.
- Select Cancel change.
Your subscription then continues exactly as it is now, and you receive a confirmation email. For how scheduled changes work on a monthly plan, see Managing your Lightspeed Restaurant subscription.
Switching back to monthly billing
You can move back to monthly billing at any time. The change is scheduled rather than immediate, so you keep the annual plan you have paid for, at the discounted annual rate, right up until your renewal date.
To switch back to monthly billing:
- Log in to Back Office with your Lightspeed credentials.
- From the Home menu, select Subscriptions.
- (Optional) If you have multiple sites, select the site you want to switch back to monthly billing.
- Select Change plan.
- Select Pay monthly.
- Select your preferred POS plan, then click Continue.
- (Optional) Adjust the plans for your additional products, then click Continue.
- Review the summary, then click Confirm.
Monthly billing starts on your renewal date, and any discount that was on your account before you moved to annual applies again from that date, as long as it has not expired. You can cancel the scheduled switch at any time before your renewal date.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Pause plan and Cancel site subscription are both on the Subscriptions page in Back Office, and selecting either one opens a short form in a new tab.
Submitting the form does not pause or close your account straight away. Under the Lightspeed Service Agreement, all plans require at least 30 days' notice prior to your next billing date, and cancelling before the end of a term may involve early termination fees or specific exit procedures. A team member will contact you to confirm the details, and your current plan and billing continue as normal until the request is processed.
Both options are unavailable while you have a scheduled change pending, so cancel the scheduled change first. See pausing your subscription and cancelling your subscription.
Your annual subscription renews automatically for another 12 months on your renewal date, unless you change or cancel it before then. Your renewal date is shown on the Subscriptions page, and it is also shown on step 3 of the Change plan flow, along with a link to the Lightspeed Service Agreement, before you confirm your switch to annual billing.
If you do not want to renew on annual billing, schedule a switch back to monthly before your renewal date.
This happens when a product on your subscription is moving to annual billing from a free or Lite plan. Because there is no paid monthly plan covering you between today and your first renewal date, you are charged a pro-rated amount for those days so that you get access immediately. That amount is added on top of the annual total, so Due today can be higher than the estimated total, which is the recurring annual amount.
Products that are already on a paid monthly plan are not charged this, because the plan you are paying for already covers that period. Select the help icon next to Due today on step 3 for a full breakdown of the charge.
Discounts are tied to your billing cycle, so a discount applied to your monthly plan will not carry across to annual billing. Before you confirm the switch, you are shown your current monthly pricing alongside your new annual pricing, so you can see the difference before deciding.
If you switch back to monthly billing later, the discount applies again from the date that change takes effect, as long as it has not expired. Discounts are normally applied to your account by your Account Manager, so speak to them if you are not sure what is on your account.
Yes. Step 1 of the Change plan flow lets you change your POS plan and your billing cycle at the same time, and both take effect straight away.
Yes. Upgrades take effect straight away. Downgrades, removing add-ons and switching back to monthly are scheduled to take effect on your renewal date, so you keep the plan you have paid for until then.
You can only have one scheduled change at a time. To make a different change, cancel the pending one first from the banner on the Subscriptions page.
Yes. You receive a confirmation email when the change is scheduled, a reminder email seven days before it takes effect if you scheduled it more than seven days in advance, and a confirmation email if the change is cancelled.
The amount to be charged is larger than a single payment on your direct debit agreement allows. This most often happens when switching to annual billing, because the year is charged upfront. The check covers both the amount due today and your next annual bill, so either one can trigger it.
Step 3 of the Change plan flow shows a message on the bank transfer payment method, with the option to sign a new agreement with a higher limit without leaving the page. Once the new agreement is in place, the message clears and you can confirm your change. See Managing your billing payment information.
What's next?
Find answers to common questions about invoices, billing, and subscription charges.
Manage your billing payment information for your Lightspeed Restaurant subscription.