A subscription bills a customer on a repeating schedule, and the way it actually charges them is by generating an invoice each billing cycle. So the two features work hand in hand: the subscription decides when and how much to bill, and each invoice it produces is what collects the money. This guide explains that relationship at a high level — for setting up recurring billing itself, see the dedicated Subscriptions guides.
How subscriptions generate invoices
When a subscription is active, Cornerspot generates an invoice for each billing cycle on the subscription's next invoice date. That invoice is a normal invoice in every way — it lands in your Invoices list, it can be finalized and sent, and your customer can pay it — but it carries one extra detail: it's linked back to the subscription that created it.
1. Recurring invoices land in your Invoices list
Open Invoices from the left-hand menu (under Members & Billing) to see every invoice in one place at /dashboard/billing/invoices. Each billing cycle of an active subscription drops a fresh invoice here, right alongside your one-off invoices. You'll see its number, customer, status, issued and due dates, total, and outstanding balance — just like any other invoice.
2. Each invoice links back to its subscription
Open an invoice to reach its detail page. In the sidebar, the Linked records card shows where the invoice came from. For an invoice generated by a subscription, you'll see a Subscription entry there — click it to jump straight to the subscription that's billing this customer. (Invoices created from a closed-won deal show the Deal here instead, and every invoice lists its Customer.)
3. The metadata card shows the source and terms
Just above Linked records, the Invoice metadata card lists the invoice ID, status, currency, issued and due dates, payment terms, billing period, and the Source — which tells you whether the invoice was created manually, from a deal, or from a subscription. It's a quick way to confirm at a glance how an invoice came to be.
4. Manage the recurring billing under Subscriptions
The invoices are the output; the recurring billing itself lives under Subscriptions (also in the Members & Billing menu). That's where you create a subscription, choose its products and frequency, set whether it auto-renews, and turn on auto-pay so each generated invoice charges the customer's saved payment method automatically. When auto-pay is off, the generated invoice behaves like a normal invoice you send and collect by hand.
What to expect over time
- One invoice per cycle: An active monthly subscription produces one invoice each month on its next invoice date; a yearly one produces one each year, and so on.
- Auto-pay: With auto-pay enabled (and Stripe connected), each generated invoice charges the customer's saved payment method automatically. Otherwise it waits to be paid like any open invoice.
- Normal invoice behavior: A subscription invoice can be sent, reminded on, downloaded as a PDF, partially paid, voided, or refunded — exactly like an invoice you create yourself.
- It always traces back: No matter how many cycles run, every generated invoice keeps its Linked records → Subscription reference, so you can always see which subscription produced it.
Where to go next
To set up and manage recurring billing — creating subscriptions, choosing frequency and terms, enabling auto-renew and auto-pay, and handling upgrades, pauses, and cancellations — head to the Subscriptions guides. To learn how to work with the invoices themselves, see the other guides in this Invoices section.