---
title: "Test with Time Travel"
description: "Move the clock of a test business forward to watch renewals, trial ends and failed-payment retries happen in seconds instead of weeks, before real customers do."
canonical_url: "https://twominutebilling.com/help/guides/test-with-time-travel"
---
# Test with Time Travel

> Move the clock of a test business forward to watch renewals, trial ends and failed-payment retries happen in seconds instead of weeks, before real customers do.

Time Travel moves the clock of a test business forward, so you can watch renewals, trial ends and
failed-payment retries happen in seconds instead of weeks.

Switch to test mode and open **Time Travel**.

<screenshot alt="The Time Travel screen for a test business, with the simulated date and the control that moves the clock forward" caption="Time Travel sets the clock of test mode to a start date, then moves it forward." src="time-travel">



</screenshot>

## How to use it

<steps>

### Start the clock

Select a start date and **Start Time Travel**. Test mode now runs on a simulated clock, and the
real billing clock skips it.

### Travel forward

Move the clock forward. Everything that would have happened in that time happens now: trials
ending, renewals, invoices raised, payments collected, retries run and webhooks sent. Each step
renews a subscription at most once, so keep each step no longer than your shortest billing
period.

### Look at the results

Invoices, subscriptions and logs all reflect the simulated time — so you see exactly what your
customers would have experienced.

### Stop when you are done

Test mode returns to the real clock. Stopping permanently deletes the simulated customers,
subscriptions, invoices, payments, credit notes and events. Your catalogue, coupons, tax rates,
settings, gateways, API keys and webhook endpoints stay, so you can start a new run with the same
set-up.

</steps>

## What it is worth testing

<table>
<thead>
  <tr>
    <th>
      Scenario
    </th>
    
    <th>
      How
    </th>
  </tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
  <tr>
    <td>
      A trial converting
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Subscribe with a trial, travel past its end, check the first invoice
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      A renewal
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Travel a full period forward and check the invoice and the charge
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      A failed payment, end to end
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Use card <code>
        4000 0000 0000 9995
      </code>
      
      , then travel through your whole retry schedule to see what your customer receives at each step and what happens when it runs out
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      A price change
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Change a subscription mid-period and check the proration is what you told the customer
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      Metered billing
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Record usage, travel past the period end, check what was billed
    </td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>

<warning title="The clock only goes forward">

You cannot go back to an earlier date. To run a scenario again, stop Time Travel and start a new
run.

</warning>

<note title="Test mode only">

Time Travel is not available in live mode.

</note>

## Related

- [Test cards and test mode for developers](https://twominutebilling.com/help/developers/getting-started/test-and-live)
- [Recover failed payments](https://twominutebilling.com/help/guides/recover-failed-payments)
- [The billing API for developers](https://twominutebilling.com/solutions/developers)


## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](https://twominutebilling.com/sitemap.md) for all pages.