Nostr Wallet Connect using a budget for the exact subscription amount. This also allows the user to maintain the ability to cancel at any time by simply deleting the connection string.
Discussion
But it only works if the user also has an NWC-enabled wallet, which is hard to ensure.
OakNode is interesting for recurring paments.
ZapPlanner is cool too, but sometimes it doesn't work for me. Is this because not everyone has a NWC wallet?
Oak Node looks like it uses NWC as well, from the description on Umbrel. That said, my Start9 is my node, and it isn't available there... It also suffers from the same problem nostr:nprofile1qqswum4p82uluhz2dr40nvdrflspffntgqghc58w9fs57nx6jkdkuaqd5rvcc pointed out, that most users probably don't have access to Oak Node via their wallet provider.
It's on Umbrel, but itcs been a while since I've used it. Nostr was around, but I used Oak Node before zaps existed.
That is absolutely true! Got another option for service-provider initiated subscription payments that is more widely adopted by wallets? I can't think of one.
I think NWC is pretty early in adoption, and yet anyone who runs their own node can use it with either Alby Hub or LNBits, there are viable custodial options in Coinos and Minibits, and self-custody in Electrum wallet, if I remember right. Would love to see Zeus' embedded LND support it, as well.
I hadn't heard of Flash, which someone else had mentioned, but from what I can see, that's just invoicing. So the user still needs to manually approve payment being sent each time, while a subscription implies the funds are automatically deducted each month without user interaction required.