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Square makes it easy to accept recurring payments on your WordPress site, even without setting up a full online store. If you’ve ever wanted to add subscriptions, memberships, or donation forms but felt overwhelmed by WooCommerce, then you’re in the right place. In this guide, I’ll show you exactly how I set up recurring Square payments on WordPress, step by step.  By the end, you’ll be able to create your first subscription form, connect it to Square, and start collecting recurring payments without touching any code—even if you’ve never done this before. 💡Quick Answer: How to Accept Recurring Square Payments Without WooCommerce You can easily accept recurring Square payments in WordPress by using the right plugin: Choose WPForms if: You want to accept recurring payments and build other forms on your site, like contact forms, surveys, event registrations, or membership signups. Choose MyPayKit if: You only need a simple payment or subscription form connected to Square. It’s a good choice if you want the fastest setup. Choose Charitable if: You run a nonprofit or fundraising website and need to accept recurring donations through Square. It’s built specifically for donation campaigns. Why Accept Recurring Payments on Your WordPress Site? Recurring payments turn one-time customers into steady, predictable income. There’s no need to send invoices or chase payments each month, and automatic billing helps maintain long-term relationships through consistent engagement. This works especially well for these kinds of websites: Type of subscription Example Memberships or Subscriptions Premium content, online communities, or courses Service Retainers Monthly web services, consulting, or maintenance plans Subscription Products Recurring product boxes or digital downloads Donations Monthly contributions for nonprofits or causes Why Is Square a Good Choice for Recurring Payments? Square is a popular payment platform that makes accepting online recurring payments simple and secure. It handles everything from credit card processing to PCI compliance (the strict security standards required for accepting credit cards), so you don’t have to worry about the technical side. Plus, if you already use a Square card reader in your physical store, using it for your website keeps all your online and offline sales in one single dashboard. Here’s why Square works well for accepting payments in WordPress: Easy to Use: The dashboard is clean and intuitive, making it easy for beginners to accept payments quickly. Secure Payment Handling: Square manages card security and compliance, keeping customer information safe. No Extra Hardware Needed: Online subscriptions work without card readers or point-of-sale equipment. Works With WordPress Plugins: Plugins like WPForms, MyPayKit, and Charitable integrate with Square, allowing recurring payments to be set up without coding. In my experience, Square’s combination of simplicity, security, and plugin support makes it a reliable option for recurring payments. Why Not Use WooCommerce? WooCommerce is great for full online stores, but it can feel overkill if all you want is a simple subscription, membership, or donation form. I’ve seen beginners get overwhelmed by its many settings when there’s no need to manage products, shipping, or inventory. Here’s why lightweight payment plugins often make more sense: Faster to Set Up: No need to configure products, shipping, or checkout pages. Easier to Manage: A simpler dashboard means fewer settings to navigate. Beginner-Friendly: Focused tools for payments or donations make it easier to get started. Targeted Features: Lightweight plugins provide exactly what’s needed for recurring payments without extra clutter. For most subscription or donation setups, using a plugin that connects directly to Square is simpler, faster, and less stressful than going through WooCommerce. What You’ll Need Before You Start Before getting started with one of the methods in my tutorial, make sure you have the basics ready. This will make the process much smoother: A Self-Hosted WordPress.org Site: You’ll need a WordPress.org site with hosting and a domain name. Self-hosted WordPress gives you full control, lets you install plugins, and works perfectly with Square. For details, see our guide on how to create a WordPress website. SSL Certificate: You must have an SSL certificate enabled (so your site uses https://). Square requires a secure connection to process payments and protect data. A Square Account: Square handles all credit card payments for recurring subscriptions. Signing up is free and only takes a few minutes. You’ll need a business name, an email address, and a bank account to receive payments. Admin Access to Your Site: You need the Administrator user role to install plugins, connect payment processors, and manage site settings. Once these are ready, it’s time to choose a plugin to make recurring payments easier. There are three main options, depending on what you want to do: Plugin Best For Ease of Use Other Benefits WPForms Subscriptions + other payment forms Beginner-friendly Contact forms, surveys, registrations MyPayKit Simple Square payment forms Very easy Lightweight setup Charitable Nonprofits / donation forms Easy Donation campaigns, supporter management Now, let’s look at the 3 easiest ways to accept recurring Square payments in WordPress without WooCommerce. You can use the links below to jump to the method of your choice: Method 1: Accept Recurring Square Payments With WPForms (For Beginners Who Want Recurring Payments + Other Forms) Method 2: Accept Recurring Square Payments With MyPayKit (For Simple Recurring Payment Forms) Method 3: Accept Recurring Payments With Charitable (For Nonprofits and Recurring Donations) Before You Go Live With Recurring Square Payments (Final Checks) Frequently Asked Questions About Accepting Recurring Square Payments in WordPress Method 1: Accept Recurring Square Payments With WPForms (For Beginners Who Want Recurring Payments + Other Forms) I recommend WPForms for anyone who wants to accept recurring payments and the flexibility to create other forms. It integrates smoothly with Square, and it offers plenty of extra features if you want to expand beyond payments. Overall, it is the best WordPress form builder, great for small businesses, service providers, and membership sites. We use WPForms at WPBeginner to build all our contact forms, so I’ve seen firsthand how reliable and easy it is to use. For a deeper look, you can check out our

Running a nonprofit is hard enough without having to spend hours managing donor data. When I first started helping nonprofits build their websites, I quickly realized that many organizations were drowning in disorganized data. They’d have donor information scattered across Excel files, email inboxes, and even handwritten notes. That chaos could be costing you time, money, and momentum. That’s where the right donor management software comes in. This isn’t just a fancy address book – it’s the tool that helps you automate thank-you emails, track pledges, spot key fundraising trends, and generate accurate reports that actually make sense. To cut through the noise and find the true winners, I put 10 leading donor management platforms to the test. I checked their pricing, core features, how easy they are to use, and whether they can actually help your nonprofit raise more money. Based on these results, here’s my top 6 recommendations for your nonprofit. Quick Pick – The Best Donor Management Software for Nonprofits Product Starting Price Best For Key Feature WP Charitable Free (Lite) Full control + zero platform fees Easy donor management in WordPress Bloomerang $40/month Donor retention Rich donor profiles with giving patterns and capacity insights Donorbox Free with transaction fees Small organizations that need a fast setup and checkout experience Start collecting donations in minutes with zero technical configuration DonorPerfect Contact for quote Comprehensive donor lifecycle management Customizable fields for detailed donor tracking GiveWP Free (Lite) Established nonprofits needing a built-in CRM Built-in donor database with complete WordPress integration Little Green Light $45/month Small teams managing complex donor databases 360-degree view of your supporter relationships Keela $144/month Data-driven AI insights AI-powered donor behavior analysis Virtuous Contact for quote Automated donor communications Marketing automation integrated with CRM GiveButter Free (Plus at $29/month) Grassroots organizations on tight budgets Free platform with unlimited donation forms goDonate Contact for quote Large, UK-based nonprofits Supports over 50,000 donations per hour Why Use Donor Management Software? Donor management software can completely change how your nonprofit operates. It’s the difference between spending hours digging through spreadsheets and having instant access to organized, actionable donor information. If you’re worried you’ll forget to thank a major donor or lose track of who gave last year, then you’ll almost certainly benefit from a good donor management system. Here’s a look at what this software can do for you: Saves time: Many donor management systems can automatically send things like thank-you emails and receipts, which means you’re doing way less manual work. This gives you more time to focus on the actual fundraising efforts that truly move your mission forward. Increases donations: With the right reports and analytics, you can spot important trends and identify the perfect time to follow up with a supporter. I’ve seen many organizations significantly increase their donations just by timing their appeals better. Improves relationships: By creating a complete donor history, the right system can help you personalize your outreach and make every person feel valued. Rather than sending a generic email, you can acknowledge their past donations and build stronger, more meaningful relationships. Reduces errors: You won’t have to worry about lost data or forgotten follow-ups, as many processes are automated. Provides insights: A good donor management system will show you which campaigns are working well and which donors might be ready to give more to your cause. This is how you turn raw data into a smart, winning fundraising strategy. Overall, the right system doesn’t just store information – it helps you use that information to raise more money. How I Test and Review Donor Management Software I’ve seen too many nonprofit organizations struggle simply because they chose the wrong software. Some teams picked a system that was far too complex for their needs, while others chose platforms that couldn’t possibly grow with them, forcing a painful migration later. That’s exactly why I don’t just read feature lists when I’m reviewing these tools. Instead, I set up real test campaigns, process small test donations, and see how the software handles day-to-day nonprofit work. Here are the key areas I focused on while testing the donor management systems listed in this roundup: Setup and ease of use. I time how long it takes to get from signing up for an account to publishing your first donation form. For example, systems like Donorbox really impressed me because I could get my forms live in minutes, while other platforms required hours of confusing configuration and technical setup. Donor tracking capabilities. I rigorously test how well each platform stores and organizes donor information, which is essential for any great customer relationship management (CRM) app. The best tools don’t just record gifts – they analyze the data and show you key giving patterns and overall engagement levels. Automation features. This is a critical one. I set up automated thank-you emails, recurring donation reminders, and follow-up sequences. This can help you build real donor relationships at scale. Reporting and insights. I create test campaigns and then evaluate the data that each platform provides. I ask myself, ‘Can I easily see which appeals actually worked?’ and ‘Am I getting truly actionable insights, or am I just looking at raw, confusing numbers?’ Integration options. Since no single tool does everything, I test how well each system connects with essential services like your email marketing provider, your accounting software, and other key nonprofit tools. If the integrations are poor, they create more work for you, rather than less. My goal in all this is simple: I want to find the tools that genuinely help nonprofits like yours raise more money with far less stress. Why Use WordPress for Donor Management? Deciding how to track your supporters usually comes down to two choices: using a dedicated SaaS (Software as a Service) platform or a WordPress plugin. SaaS platforms are hosted on someone else’s servers and often charge a monthly fee plus a percentage of every donation you receive. This can get expensive as your organization grows. By contrast, using a

Hi there! Yes, it’s been a while. Did you miss me? I hope you and yours had a great start to the new year, and I wish you a healthy, happy and prosperous 2026. I am infinitely grateful you are a reader on this site and newsletter. Thank you for your ongoing support. My Year-End vacation directly merged into an intensive training and exploration into AI-first software development. It was eye-opening to say the least and entirely liberating. Ideas can be prototyped fairly quickly and their implementation is not stifled by the level of my personal coding skills. Success heavily depends on a clear vision, architectural consistency and radical quality control. Although there was a downturn in publishing over the holidays, I found a plethora of posts and plugins again. This edition catches up on most of it. Looking forward to going through our connecting with you in our eighth year of Gutenberg Times. Yours, Birgit Developing Gutenberg and WordPress Aaron Jorbin published the WordPress 6.9.1 Release Schedule. RC1 will be next week on January 29, 2026, and the final release on February 3, 2026. The GitHub project board of WordPress 6.9.x Editor Tasks lists the PRs that will make it into the release in the Done column. Other core updates are available in this trac report. WordPress 7.0 Jeff Paul announced the WordPress 7.0 release squad, led by Gutenberg’s chief architect Matias Ventura. It’s a team of veterans and newbies spread around the globe. Rae Morey, The Repository, also reported with more background and details on the state of real-time collaboration feature in her post: Matías Ventura Named WordPress 7.0 Release Lead as Contributors Close In on Real-Time Collaboration Approach WordPress 7.0 will run your post editor inside an iframe by default, so now’s the time to test your blocks for compatibility. If you’re still registering blocks with apiVersion 2, you’ll start seeing console warnings in WordPress 6.9. The main gotcha: your document and window references won’t work inside an iframe. You’ll need to switch to useRefEffect with ownerDocument and defaultView instead of globals. You can find more details in the official migration guide. In his post WordPress 7.0 Enforces Block API v3: Why Existing Blocks Begin to Fail, Benjamin Zekavica, core-team rep, also provides some tips and Tricks. Custom blocks that target admin selectors like .wp-admin or .editor-styles-wrapper, rely on global document queries, or initialize libraries globally and now fail consistently. Reading through the article, it seems this is mostly related to agency work, with bespoke theme and block development on sites of the early block era. Gutenberg releases Gutenberg 22.3 and 22.4 have been released. Hector Prieto highlights in his release post Gutenberg 22.3 (December 17) Dedicated Fonts page for easier typography management Image editing improvements Responsive Grid block Other highlights JuanMa Garrido led the 22.4 release together with Anne McCarthy and they had to tame quite a large changelog with more than 400 PRs merged by 77 contributors, of whom 16 were first-timers! It must have been difficult to pick the top highlights for their release post What’s new in Gutenberg 22.4? (20 January): Classic and Hybrid Theme Support for the Font Library Pattern Overrides: Custom Block Support Image Block: Focal Point Controls Block Visibility Based on Screen Size (Experimental) Other Notable Highlights The latest episode is Gutenberg Changelog #125 – WordPress 6.9, Gutenberg 22.1 and Gutenberg 22.2 with JC Palmes, WebDev Studios Justin Tadlock‘s January developer roundup covers new responsive Grid blocks with adjustable columns and widths, an easy-to-use Fonts admin screen, and experimental PHP-only block registration with full metadata. New tools include an image cropper and an updated Abilities API client. The Breadcrumbs block is on track for WordPress 7.0, and Navigation overlay tests are allowing template part assignments. Playground now features a DevTools extension and a new dashboard interface. Plugins, Themes, and Tools for #nocode site builders and owners If you’ve ever watched a client accidentally drag your carefully crafted block layout into chaos, Eric Karkovack has your back. In his guide on How to Protect WordPress Block Layouts From Accidental Changes he walks you through two built-in WordPress safeguards: save your layouts as exportable block patterns you can restore anytime, then use the Lock feature to let clients update content without rearranging your design. You can even lock entire Group blocks at once for extra security. Wes Theron demonstrates the Details block for WordPress, showcasing how you can create collapsible sections perfect for FAQs, definitions, transcripts, and supplemental content. The tutorial covers inserting the block, navigating with List View, and customization options for keeping pages organized and tidy. Theron walks through practical examples showing how the accordion-style functionality helps hide and reveal content on demand, offering a native WordPress solution for managing long explanations without cluttering the page layout. Matthew Cowan released Find Blocks, Patterns & Shortcodes, a plugin that helps users locate Gutenberg blocks on WordPress sites and allows CSV export for content audits. The tool includes batch processing, post-type filtering, synced pattern searches, and WP-CLI support, with sortable results tables. It also features security measures like rate limiting and XSS prevention, and improves accessibility for screen readers and keyboard navigation. In his post How to create magic effects in WordPress with core blocks, Joel Olawanle demonstrates creating cinematic effects using only WordPress core blocks, focusing on the Cover block’s layering capabilities. In his tutorial, Olawanle covers fixed backgrounds for parallax simulation, scroll snap with minimal CSS, creative typography using duotone filters and blend modes, and multi-layered depth through nested Group blocks. Olawanle emphasizes building premium visuals while maintaining performance through native blocks, avoiding heavy page builders and keeping sites lightweight, accessible, and fast. Matt Cromwell created the Synced Pattern Popups plugin, which turns WordPress’s reusable synced patterns into modal popups that load content with AJAX and use smart caching. Triggers can be activated using simple class or href attributes, and third-party blocks display correctly with good styling. The plugin supports accessibility with keyboard navigation and ARIA support, has an

I once tried to buy a pair of headphones I really wanted. But when I got to the checkout page, the store asked me to sign in. Since it was just a one-time purchase, I didn’t want to create an account and start getting promotional emails. So, I left and found the same model somewhere else. That’s when it hit me—many online shoppers probably do the same thing. Curious, I started digging and found that WooCommerce actually offers a built-in guest checkout option. It’s a simple setting that can save sales you’d otherwise lose at the very last step. That’s why I created this guide—to walk you through everything you need to know about guest checkout in WooCommerce. By the end, you’ll know how to set up guest checkout correctly and turn more visitors into paying customers. 🚀 Here is a quick overview of all the topics I will cover in this guide: What Is Guest Checkout in WooCommerce? Benefits of Guest Checkout in WooCommerce When to Use Guest Checkout (Best Scenarios) How to Enable Guest Checkout in WooCommerce Optimize Your Store with Merchant More Options to Customize WooCommerce Checkout Let Shoppers Create an Account During Checkout Force Guest-Only Checkout Let Returning Customers Log In During Checkout 🏆 Quick Wins to Improve Guest Checkout 🚀 Take Guest Checkout Further with FunnelKit Frequently Asked Questions About WooCommerce Guest Checkout What Is Guest Checkout in WooCommerce? Guest checkout lets customers buy from your WooCommerce store without creating an account on your website. Instead of signing up or logging in, they can simply add items to their cart, enter their details at checkout, and complete the purchase. Think of it like walking into a physical store: you grab what you need, pay at the counter, and leave, with no membership or signup required. This option speeds up the shopping process and makes it more convenient, especially for first-time or one-time buyers. Benefits of Guest Checkout in WooCommerce Enabling guest checkout improves the shopping experience for customers and helps store owners make more sales. It removes extra steps, reduces frustration, and makes shopping smoother. Here’s a simple breakdown: For Store Owners 🛍️ For Customers 🙌 Higher conversion rates – More people finish their orders since they don’t have to create an account. Faster, hassle-free checkout – Shoppers can pay and go in just a few clicks. Reduced cart abandonment – Guests are less likely to quit halfway through. No forced sign-up – Customers don’t feel pressured to share extra details. Faster impulse purchases – Perfect for one-time or last-minute buys. Privacy and trust – Shoppers can keep their data limited to what’s needed for delivery. Email capture is still possible – You can still collect shoppers’ emails for receipts or future marketing. More control – Customers can decide later if they want to create an account. 👉 In short: guest checkout helps store owners sell more while giving customers a simpler, stress-free shopping experience. When to Use Guest Checkout (Best Scenarios) Guest checkout can help you get more sales, but it’s not ideal for every situation. For example, stores selling high-value items or subscriptions may require accounts for security and long-term management. From what I’ve seen, guest checkout works best when customers want a quick, hassle-free purchase. Some common scenarios include: 🎉Holiday or seasonal sales – Shoppers want to grab deals fast. 👋First-time customers – Make it easy for new visitors to finish their first order. 🎁Gift purchases – People buying gifts often don’t want to create an account. 💸Low-cost, one-time products – Quick buys don’t need long-term accounts. 💻Digital downloads – Instant access to files without extra steps. Using guest checkout in these situations can reduce friction and help more visitors complete their purchases. How to Enable Guest Checkout in WooCommerce The easiest way I found to enable guest checkout was by using WooCommerce’s default settings. WooCommerce is the best eCommerce plugin for WordPress, and it gives you complete control over your online store. That’s why it’s my top recommendation for selling physical products. We also have a detailed WooCommerce review you can check out to learn more about all its built-in features and options. To enable guest checkout, you need to visit the WooCommerce » Settings » Accounts & Privacy page. Here, you’ll see an option labeled ‘Enable guest checkout (recommended).’ This setting allows people to buy without creating a username or password. Go ahead and tick that box to enable guest checkout for your store. Once that’s done, simply click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings. You can now visit your online store and test the checkout to make sure everything is working properly. Optimize Your Store with Merchant Merchant by aThemes is an all-in-one WooCommerce plugin that helps improve your store and optimize the checkout. It offers features like stock scarcity notifications, free shipping bars, and buy X, get Y promotions. These modules help reduce cart abandonment and encourage guests to finish their orders without making the checkout process complicated. Get Merchant Now! More Options to Customize WooCommerce Checkout While exploring the guest checkout settings, I noticed a few other options on the same page that can improve your checkout experience. You don’t have to use all of them, but knowing what’s available can help you tailor the experience. Let Shoppers Create an Account During Checkout You can also give customers the option to create an account during checkout. WooCommerce can even auto-generate usernames and passwords, so customers don’t have to think about it. To turn it on, go to WooCommerce » Settings » Accounts & Privacy and tick ‘During Checkout’ for the ‘Allow customers to create an account’ setting. This gives you the best of both worlds: a fast guest checkout flow that still lets users sign up seamlessly without redirecting them to a separate registration page. This comes in handy when you want repeat shoppers to save their information for next time. It also helps people who like to track orders or save shipping addresses.