What happens when a renewal fails on Ghost, Substack, WordPress and Circle

The short version

On all of these platforms, Stripe retries the card. Who emails the member varies: Substack and Paid Memberships Pro send their own email, MemberPress and Restrict Content Pro can if you switch theirs on, and on Ghost, Leaky Paywall and Circle the only email is Stripe's optional one. Members generally keep access while the card is being retried, which is kind to them, and means a lapse often shows up only when the retries run out.

Platform by platform

Ghost

Emails the member: Ghost's help center leaves failed-payment notices to Stripe's own customer emails; it doesn't describe an email of its own.
Retries: Stripe's retry settings.
Access meanwhile: Past-due members keep paid access. If Stripe cancels the subscription after its last retry, Ghost makes them a free member.

Substack

Emails the member: Yes. Substack emails the subscriber on your behalf each time a payment fails.
Retries: Stripe generally retries three times before the subscription is canceled.
Access meanwhile: The subscriber keeps paid access for two weeks, then becomes a free subscriber if payment can't be collected.

Paid Memberships Pro

Emails the member: Yes, by default: a billing-failure email to the member and the site admin, at most one per order in 24 hours. The template is editable.
Retries: Your gateway (Stripe) retries and decides when to give up.
Access meanwhile: The level isn't canceled on a single failed payment; it ends when the gateway gives up.

MemberPress

Emails the member: Optional: a Failed Transaction Notice, if you switch it on. Every MemberPress email is editable.
Retries: Stripe's retry rules, which can cancel the subscription after a set number of failures.
Access meanwhile: The docs don't say what happens during the retries.

Restrict Content Pro

Emails the member: Two options: let Stripe email the member, or have Restrict Content Pro send its Renewal Payment Failed email.
Retries: Stripe's settings.
Access meanwhile: The docs don't say what happens during the retries.

Leaky Paywall

Emails the member: Its docs leave emails to recurring subscribers to the gateway, which on Stripe means Stripe's own email setting.
Retries: The gateway retries and sends the final status.
Access meanwhile: A past-due reader keeps access while the gateway retries.

Circle paywalls

Emails the member: Circle's paywall notifications cover signups and trials. A failed-payment email is Stripe's optional setting.
Retries: Stripe's retry schedule.
Access meanwhile: Members keep access while past due and lose it when Stripe cancels the subscription.

Ghost

Ghost bills paid members through your connected Stripe account. Its help center says Stripe “will try to recover the payment based on your retry settings”, and that members in a Past Due state still have access to paid content. For emails it points to Stripe, which “supports sending renewal reminders, failed payment notifications, and more”. So whether a Ghost member hears anything depends on one setting in your Stripe dashboard. Our guide to Stripe's failed-payment emails covers where it is and what that email does.

Substack

Substack handles it for you: it will “automatically retry and email the subscriber on your behalf”, and its payment processor, Stripe, generally retries three times before the paid subscription is canceled. Readers keep paid access for two weeks. Substack's own help article adds that a personal note from the writer can help on top of its emails.

WordPress membership plugins

Paid Memberships Pro is the most hands-on. When Stripe reports a failed charge, it “creates a failed payment order and sends a billing failure email to the member and the site admin”, no more than one per order a day. It leaves the retries to Stripe: “Your gateway is responsible for retrying the charge and deciding when to give up.” The membership isn't canceled on a single failure.

MemberPress has a Failed Transaction Notice you can switch on under Settings, Emails, and every MemberPress email can be edited. On Stripe, the retry rules in your Stripe dashboard decide when Stripe gives up and cancels the subscription.

Restrict Content Pro documents both routes: adjust your Stripe settings “to have Stripe email the customer, handle retries”, or turn on its own Renewal Payment Failed email, which can link the member straight to the page for updating their card.

Leaky Paywall sends recurring subscribers' payment reminders through the gateway, so on Stripe it's Stripe's email or nothing. A failed payment marks the reader past due, and they keep access “while the gateway retries the charge”.

One thing the three plugin emails share: they ask the member to log in to your site to update their card. A member who has forgotten their password has one more step between them and paying.

Circle

Circle's paywalls bill through a Stripe account Circle sets up for your community. Circle's own paywall notifications cover signups, trials and trial expiry; a failed-payment email is Stripe's optional setting, and members keep access until Stripe cancels the subscription after its last retry.

What to check this week

In Stripe, under Settings, Billing, Subscriptions and emails, see whether Send emails when card payments fail is on. On Ghost, Leaky Paywall and Circle it is usually the only email a member gets.
Look at your retry schedule. Stripe recommends “8 tries within 2 weeks”; after the last one, the subscription is canceled or marked unpaid, depending on your setting.
On WordPress, open your plugin's email settings and read the failed-payment email as a member would. If it doesn't sound like you, edit it.
Count how many subscriptions are past due right now. That is the money still recoverable today.

Sources

Each platform's documentation, checked October 9, 2026. Platforms change these settings; check the page for your version.