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Last updated on Aug 28, 2026
Every new site starts in test mode, which is where you build out your catalog and rehearse the subscription lifecycle before any real money moves. This article covers how a test site behaves and where it differs from a live one.
For a structured walkthrough of what to test, see the Test Your Site Before Going Live help article.
A newly created site is in test mode automatically. You can begin building out your products, components and coupons with ease. Your responsibility is to create test subscriptions to simulate actions of a subscriber and to better understand the product.
A site in test mode works with the Advanced Billing test gateway and with the test gateways provided by Authorize.Net, Windcave, Bambora/Beanstream, Stripe, and others.
Major gateway providers offer a free test account, sometimes called a developer or sandbox account, for testing your integration.
Each gateway has its own set of test cards. Use the ones your gateway publishes, or subscriptions won't simulate correctly.
Newer accounts have their test-mode sites capped, which keeps throwaway test records from accumulating indefinitely.
Record limits on a test site
| Record type | Test site limit |
|---|---|
| Products | 500 |
| Subscriptions | 500 |
| Customers | 500 |
| Coupons | 500 |
| Components | 10,000 |
| Custom fields | 50 |
Exceeding a limit returns an error naming it, such as Would exceed the limit of 500 subscriptions.
WARNING: Test site data isn't guaranteed to be retained. Subscriptions on a test site become eligible for automatic removal once they're more than 6 months old and their state hasn't changed in that time. Don't treat a test site as a record you can return to.
See the Understand Merchant Limits help article for account-level limits.
WARNING: Don't sign up real customers while your site is in test mode. Subscriptions do not carry over when you switch to live mode, so anything real you create has to be recreated.
When your site has no active subscriptions, you may change it in and out of test mode. Once you clear your subscriptions, you can move your site to live mode and change your gateway credentials to those for your production payment gateway.
Run a handful of tests against your live gateway too. This testing can reveal misconfigurations in your gateway settings for things like AVS (Address Verification Service) and other fraud filter checks. You can void these transactions afterward through your payment gateway interface. The few cents in transaction fees are worth paying to catch a misconfiguration before a Customer does.
Two indicators tell you a site is in test mode:
A site in Live Mode behaves differently:
Configure your gateway before taking any signups on a newly live site.
WARNING: Taking signups while still on the test gateway makes switching to your real gateway difficult afterward.
When you’re ready to go live, you can use the clear site data link at the top of the application to clear all of your test data. You may choose to keep your product set up at this time. Our section on clearing site data goes in to more detail.
The Clear Site Data option appears only on a site in test mode.
Each gateway utilizes a specific set of test cards so that you may simulate certain scenarios. Advanced Billing has gathered a list of these for easy reference:
Still need help?
Reach out and our support team will take it from here.