How to Set Up Stripe in GoHighLevel: Payments and Invoicing Guide

What GHL payments covers

GoHighLevel's payment system handles four distinct payment scenarios that cover most service business and coaching business needs. One-time invoices sent to clients with a link to pay online. Order forms embedded on funnel pages for direct programme or service purchase. Recurring subscriptions for retainer clients, membership programmes and ongoing service contracts. And payment plans that split a larger amount into scheduled instalments.

All four run through Stripe as the payment processor. GHL acts as the front-end interface: you build the invoice or checkout in GHL, GHL sends it to Stripe and Stripe handles the actual card processing and deposit to your bank account. You do not need a separate Stripe dashboard for day-to-day payments once the integration is active, though the Stripe dashboard remains available for detailed payout reports and dispute management.

Step 1: Connect your Stripe account

Go to Settings in the left sidebar, then Payments, then Integrations. Click the Connect with Stripe button. You are redirected to Stripe's OAuth flow. Sign in with your existing Stripe account or create a new one. Grant GHL the requested permissions and click Authorise Access.

You are redirected back to GHL with Stripe showing as connected. The Stripe account name and the connected bank account appear in the integration settings. Verify that the Stripe account shown is the correct one if you manage multiple Stripe accounts.

Run a test payment before going live. GHL supports Stripe's test mode during setup. Enable test mode in your Stripe account, make a test purchase through a GHL checkout and verify the payment appears in both GHL's payment records and your Stripe test dashboard. Disable test mode when you are ready for real transactions.

Step 2: Create your products and services

Go to Payments, then Products, then Add Product. Create a product for each service or programme you sell. Give it a clear name that will appear on invoices and receipts, a description and a price. Set the product type: one-time for a single purchase or recurring for a subscription.

For recurring products, set the billing interval: weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. Set whether the subscription has a set end date or continues indefinitely until cancelled. For coaching programmes with a fixed length, set the end date to the programme completion date. For ongoing retainers, set the subscription to continue until manually cancelled.

Create products for every service you offer even if you do not yet use them in checkout forms. Having a complete product library makes it fast to generate invoices and build checkout pages without recreating product details each time. Update product prices directly in the product record and the new price applies to any new invoices or checkouts that use that product going forward.

Step 3: Send invoices

Go to Payments, then Invoices, then New Invoice. Select the contact you are invoicing from the contact dropdown. GHL pre-fills the client's name and email from their contact record. Add products from your product library to the invoice. Set the due date. Add any notes that should appear on the invoice such as project details or payment terms.

Click Send Invoice. GHL sends the invoice to the client's email with a payment link. The client clicks the link, enters their card details on a Stripe-hosted payment page and completes the payment. You receive a payment notification and the invoice status in GHL updates to Paid automatically.

For clients who prefer to pay by SMS, use the Share Invoice Link option to copy the payment URL and paste it into an SMS from the Conversations inbox. The same Stripe-hosted payment page works identically whether accessed from email or SMS.

View all outstanding invoices in the Invoices section filtered by status: Draft, Sent, Paid, Overdue. Overdue invoices that have not been paid by the due date can be chased with a workflow automation that sends a payment reminder SMS or email automatically when an invoice passes its due date.

Step 4: Build order forms and checkout pages

Order forms are embedded checkout pages that let contacts purchase directly from a funnel page or website without you needing to generate an invoice manually. Go to Payments, then Order Forms, then New Order Form.

Select the products to include in the order form. Configure the page layout: a simple one-step checkout shows the product details and payment form on the same page. A two-step checkout shows the contact details form first and the payment form second, which can improve conversion rates for higher-priced items by separating the commitment to buy from the act of entering payment details.

Add an order bump to the checkout: a complementary product offered at a discounted price just before the payment is submitted. An order bump for a coaching programme might offer a group Q&A session add-on. An order bump for a roofing estimate might offer a gutter inspection. Most order bumps convert at 15 to 30 percent, adding meaningful revenue to each checkout without requiring a separate purchase decision.

Embed the order form on a GHL funnel page by adding an Order Form element from the element panel. Connect the order form to a confirmation workflow that fires when a purchase is completed. The purchase confirmation workflow can send a receipt SMS, add the contact to the appropriate pipeline stage and start an onboarding sequence automatically.

Step 5: Set up recurring subscriptions

For ongoing retainer clients, membership programmes or subscription-based services, create a recurring product and use an order form or manual subscription start to set up the recurring charge.

To start a subscription manually for an existing client, open their contact record and find the Subscriptions section. Click Add Subscription, select the recurring product and enter the start date. Stripe charges the client on the interval set in the product (monthly, quarterly, etc.) until the subscription is cancelled.

For self-service subscription sign-up, create an order form with a recurring product. When a contact completes the checkout, Stripe automatically schedules all future charges. You do not need to do anything for subsequent billing cycles. Stripe handles the charge and GHL records the payment each time.

Subscription cancellations can be processed from the contact's Subscriptions section in GHL or directly in the Stripe dashboard. Set up a cancellation workflow: when a subscription is cancelled in GHL, trigger a workflow that tags the contact as "churned," removes them from the customer pipeline stage and starts a win-back sequence after 30 days.

Step 6: Connect payment events to automations

Payment events are powerful automation triggers. A successful payment can start an onboarding sequence, grant course access, move a contact to a new pipeline stage and send a receipt confirmation all automatically.

Go to Automation, then Workflows. Create a workflow with Payment Received as the trigger. Filter by specific product if you want different workflows for different products. Add your actions: Send SMS with a receipt confirmation and next steps, Add to Pipeline at the relevant stage, Add Tag "customer" and Remove Tag "lead," Grant Access to Course if you have a GHL course connected.

Build a separate workflow for failed payments. Trigger: Payment Failed. Action: Send SMS notifying the client their payment did not process and including a link to update their payment method. Add a follow-up if no action is taken within 3 days. Failed payment recovery is often an overlooked revenue recovery opportunity. A polite, automated reminder recovers a meaningful percentage of failed payments that would otherwise result in subscription cancellations. See our full CRM tutorial for how contact records and pipeline stages connect to your payment workflows.