Guest checkout lets visitors pay for a space with just an email address before creating a Sutra account. Use it to reduce friction for paid registration while still giving buyers a way to complete their account after payment.
Before you start
You must be a manager of the space.
Guest checkout is most useful when the space has at least one paid plan. The toggle is available regardless, but there is no checkout flow without a plan for visitors to purchase.
Guest checkout and plan prerequisites cannot be active at the same time. Sutra cannot verify membership for a buyer who does not yet have an account, so you must remove all prerequisites from your plans before turning on guest checkout. Likewise, you cannot add prerequisites to a plan while guest checkout is enabled. Attempting either action will show a dialog explaining the conflict.
Turn on guest checkout
Open the space you want to sell.
Go to the payment settings.
Scroll to the General Payment Settings section.
Find Allow guest checkout and turn the toggle on. The toggle saves automatically.
When the toggle is on, an Invitation message panel appears below it. Click the panel header to expand it.
Optionally, write a message in the text area. This message is included in the email invitation sent after purchase. Use it to add a personal welcome or instructions for getting started.
Click the Save button below the text area to save your message. You can also click outside the text area to save it automatically.
Guest checkout is off by default. Disabling it later preserves any invitation message you wrote, so you can re-enable it without rewriting your message.
Buyer experience
When guest checkout is enabled, a visitor can enter an email address and complete payment without signing in first. If your checkout also requires acceptance of terms, the buyer still needs to accept those terms during the process. Visitors who already have a Sutra account can use the sign-in link on the checkout page to log in before paying.
After payment
Immediately after payment, the buyer is redirected to a confirmation page. What happens next depends on whether the buyer already has a Sutra account:
New to Sutra -- The confirmation page shows a short registration form where the buyer can create an account right away. Completing this form links the purchase to their new profile and gives them immediate access to the space.
Existing account -- The confirmation page shows a login form instead. After signing in, the purchase is automatically linked to the buyer's account.
In both cases, Sutra also sends an email invitation to the address the buyer used at checkout. If the buyer does not complete the on-screen form, they can still create or connect their account later using the invitation email.