Test membership tiers, paywalls and free trials with test accounts

Testing membership tiers and paywalls

Every tier is a different product: what a free member sees, what a trial unlocks, what a lapsed subscriber loses. Each needs its own account, and the emails that move people between tiers need checking too.

Updated October 13, 2026

The accounts you need

Account	State	What it checks
Free	Signed up, no plan	Free content, and paywalls that explain what’s behind them
Trial	Trial started today	Trial access, the welcome email and the trial-ending reminder
Paid	Monthly or annual plan	Full access for the tier, and the right price on receipts
Top tier	Highest plan, or members such as season ticket holders	Extras only that tier gets: early access, priority and discounts
Payment failed	A test card that fails on renewal	The payment-failed email, retries and any grace period
Cancelled	Cancelled, still inside the paid period	Access until the period ends, then a clean downgrade
Lapsed	Plan ended	Paywalls come back, and win-back emails go out if you send them

Set them up

Create the set in one go: choose Add account, set How many, label the batch “Tiers” and tick Generate persona.
Sign up as each one and take it to its state with your payment provider’s test mode, or your staging admin for members set up by hand.
Tag each address with its tier, such as free, trial, premium or lapsed, and write in its notes the plan, the test card and the date it started.
Save each password on its address, so the “lapsed member” is still there to sign in as next sprint.

What to check

Paywalls: every gated page, video and download is refused to tiers that shouldn’t have it. Try opening a paid page directly by its link while signed in as the free account.
Changes of plan: upgrades unlock straight away; downgrades and cancellations take effect when they should.
Money: the price, tax and renewal date in the receipt email match the plan.
Rejoining: a lapsed member can come back, and doesn’t get a second free trial if they shouldn’t.
Member benefits: discounts and priority windows apply to the right tier only.

The emails to check

Welcome, receipt, trial ending, renewal reminder, payment failed, card updated, cancellation and win-back. Each account’s row shows its newest email, and its inbox has every one in order, which makes it quick to check that a cancelled member got exactly one cancellation email and nothing after it.

Use these accounts only on apps you build or are allowed to test, in development, staging or QA.

Try it on your next sign-up test

Free plan, no credit card. Create an address and watch the code or link arrive.

Create a free accountOpen the app

Questions

Can I test payments without a real card?

Use your payment provider's test mode, such as Stripe's test cards, on a staging copy of your app. Proxy Mail QA receives the receipts and subscription emails your app sends.

How do I test a trial that lasts 14 days?

Most payment providers can move time forward in test mode, such as Stripe's test clocks, so you don't have to wait. Addresses last up to 30 days, longer than most trials.

What about members your box office or sales team sets up?

Create the account, then mark it as a member in your staging admin, the way your team would for a real customer. Write how you did it in the address's notes so anyone can repeat it.