Pix Automático: how to bill recurring payments in Brazil
Pix Automático is the Pix variant that lets a company bill a customer repeatedly after a single upfront authorization, without resending a boleto or a QR code each cycle.
A foreign company billing Brazilian customers on a subscription or recurring basis runs into the same friction every cycle: issuing a boleto, waiting for the customer to pay or confirm a QR code, and reconciling what came in afterward. Brazil's central bank designed Pix Automático for exactly this problem, but it only solves the piece that happens in reais, inside Brazil's own payment system.
In Soulbit Academy, this article covers how Pix Automático works, who can offer it, how a charge is scheduled and canceled, and how it differs from direct debit, boleto, and scheduled Pix. This piece complements our general guide to recurring B2B payments: here we stay inside Brazil and its specific authorization scheme.
What Pix Automático is and why it matters for a company billing in Brazil
Pix Automático is the Pix variant that lets a customer grant, once, authorization for a named receiver to initiate recurring charges on their account, with no manual confirmation each cycle. Brazil's central bank put it into operation on June 16, 2025, according to its Pix Management Report 2023-2025 (Relatório de Gestão do Pix).
The regulatory basis for Pix Automático sits in the Pix regulation and the technical implementation guide published by Brazil's central bank, which describe the variant as an extension of ordinary Pix, run by the same participants and infrastructure, with a permission object registered between payer and receiver.
For a foreign company billing Brazilian customers for a subscription, software license, or service fee, Pix Automático solves three problems at once: it removes the boleto generated each cycle, cuts missed payments caused by forgetting, and gives the company its own channel to initiate the charge within the agreed window, instead of relying on the customer to remember to pay.
The practical catch for a foreign company is access, not demand. Brazilian customers increasingly expect to authorize a subscription through Pix rather than enter card details or wait for a boleto, so a company selling into Brazil without a local banking relationship faces a product gap its local competitors don't have.
How authorization works: the three Pix Automático journeys
Pix Automático defines three authorization journeys, according to the central bank's implementation guide. The first is the journey without a QR code, where the payer chooses Pix Automático directly within the commercial relationship with the receiver (for example, when subscribing on a website) and then gets a notification in their bank's app to confirm the recurrence. The second is the journey with a recurrence QR code, where the payer scans a code that already contains the requested permission's data and authorizes from there. The third is the single-command journey, where authorization and the first payment happen in one gesture, and the operation only completes if both steps succeed.
All three journeys produce the same outcome for the billing company: an active authorization, tied to a specific billing object, that allows future debits without asking for a new confirmation at each due date. What changes is the payer's experience at the moment of authorizing, not what the company receives afterward.
Who decides which journey to use?
The receiver chooses the journey, based on the channel where it requests authorization. A journey without a QR code typically fits a subscription flow started on the company's own website or app, while the QR code journey works better for charges presented in person or through a physical channel.
Who can offer Pix Automático: mandatory for the payer's bank, optional for the receiver's
Offering Pix Automático as a receiver is optional for each institution that participates in Pix, so not every bank has implemented it. That's the practical question a company must answer before advertising it to customers. Offering it on the payer's side is mandatory for every Pix participant that holds transactional accounts for individuals. Acting as a receiver, on the billing side, is optional for each institution.
This means the paying customer likely already has access to Pix Automático through their own bank, but the company that wants to collect depends on its bank or Brazilian payment provider already having implemented the receiver role, as detailed in the central bank's technical FAQ for Pix Automático participants. The table below sorts out who is responsible for what.
| Role | Obligation under the BCB regulation | What it means for the billing company |
|---|---|---|
| Payer's bank (the paying customer's institution) | Mandatory for institutions serving individuals with transactional accounts | The end customer likely already has the option available through their own bank |
| Receiver's bank (the billing company's institution) | Optional for each institution | The company must confirm with its bank or Brazilian payment provider whether it already acts as a receiver |
| Fee charged to the paying customer | Barred under the regulation | The company cannot pass a Pix Automático cost on to the customer |
| Fee charged to the receiver | At each institution's discretion | Request the fee schedule before adopting it as a primary billing channel |
How to schedule, change, and cancel a recurring charge in Pix Automático
Scheduling a charge under Pix Automático first requires the customer's authorization, granted through any of the three journeys; from there the receiving company can initiate payments within the limits and frequency agreed in the permission object. Changing the amount or date of a specific charge depends on how the receiver built its integration: some changes require a new authorization, others stay within what was already permitted.
Cancellation follows a simple rule that always favors the payer: only the paying customer cancels the authorization, at any time, from their bank's app. Canceling the authorization automatically ends the linked recurrence, and the reverse also applies. The one exception is a charge already in same-day settlement when the cancellation happens, which goes through regardless.
Who can cancel a Pix Automático charge?
Only the payer cancels the authorization they granted. The receiving company can request that a charge end on its own side, for example when a plan is canceled, but it cannot force an authorization to continue once the payer has ended it. For treasury, this means treating cancellation as an event that can happen without notice and building reconciliation to flag it quickly.
Pix Automático, direct debit, boleto, and scheduled Pix: the differences that matter to a CFO
Pix Automático, direct debit, boleto, and scheduled Pix all address the same underlying problem (billing repeatedly or on a schedule) through different mechanisms, with different consequences for cancellation, speed, and cost. Knowing these differences matters because promising a Brazilian customer an experience the chosen mechanism doesn't deliver creates friction later.
| Mechanism | How it's authorized | Who cancels it and how | When it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pix Automático | A single upfront authorization, through one of the three Pix journeys | The payer, at any time, from their bank's app | Recurring subscriptions and invoices in reais, inside Brazil |
| Bank direct debit | Authorization signed directly with the payer's bank, outside the Pix arrangement | The payer, with their bank | Established utility accounts with a long billing history |
| Boleto | No upfront authorization; each boleto is an independent billing document | There's no recurrence to cancel, since none exists; each boleto simply expires | One-off charges or customers without Pix Automático available |
| Scheduled Pix (Pix Agendado) | The payer manually schedules a one-time payment for a future date | The payer, before the scheduled date, from their bank's app | One-time payments with no subscription relationship |
The most relevant difference for a billing company is who initiates the charge: under Pix Automático and direct debit, the company initiates the debit within what was authorized; under boleto and scheduled Pix, the customer still has to act each cycle, which leaves room for missed payments.
What it costs: the fee rule that protects the payer
Brazil's central bank regulation bars charging a fee to the paying customer for using Pix Automático. This rule exists so the variant doesn't end up more expensive for the end customer than other ways of paying through Pix, and any institution trying to charge the payer would be breaking the arrangement.
Does the billing company pay any fee?
Yes, it can. The receiving company's bank or payment institution can charge a fee to the company itself for providing the service, at its own discretion. That makes the fee a contractual matter that varies from one institution to the next, not a figure set by the central bank. Before pricing a subscription for Brazilian customers, treasury should request that fee schedule from its bank or local payment provider.
What Soulbit delivers today, and what Pix Automático doesn't solve outside Brazil
Soulbit does not operate on Pix. Its only local banking rail today is in Colombia, and Pix Automático is public infrastructure run by Brazil's central bank, not a service Soulbit offers or replaces. That matters because Pix Automático solves one specific problem well: recurring billing in reais, from a payer with an account at a Brazilian bank, to a receiver also based in Brazil.
Outside that scenario, Pix Automático simply doesn't apply. A foreign company billing a customer who sits outside Brazil, or one that prefers to hold part of its balance in digital dollars rather than reais, faces a different problem: cross-border recurring billing, in another currency. That's where Soulbit's real V1 comes in: the company reissues a payment link or a collection QR code each cycle, and the customer pays in USDC or USDT every time. It's an instrumented recurring charge, not an automatic debit: there's no upfront authorization or company initiated charge without the payer's action each time, and the model doesn't compete with Pix Automático because it isn't built to collect reais inside Brazil. Our guide to recurring B2B payments covers that mechanism and its limits in more detail.
This split matters most for a company that sells both inside and outside Brazil from the same back office. Running one recurring flow for domestic reais and a separate one for cross-border collections in stablecoins keeps each flow inside the rail built for it, instead of forcing a single mechanism to do a job it wasn't designed for.
For a company that needs both sides (billing in reais locally and billing clients or a subsidiary outside Brazil), it's worth keeping the channels separate: Pix Automático for the domestic recurring flow, and a stablecoin channel for the cross-border one. Our article on foreign exchange for companies in Brazil explains how that second flow fits into treasury, and our overview of instant payments in Latin America compares Pix with other regional systems, including Mexico's SPEI and Colombia's Bre-B. Recent changes to how Brazil treats international payments, including BCB Resolution 561, also affect that second flow and are worth tracking separately.
Frequently asked questions
What is Pix Automático and how does it work for recurring billing?
Pix Automático is the Pix variant that lets a payer authorize, once, a specific receiver to initiate recurring charges on their account without confirming each payment manually. Brazil's central bank launched it to the public on June 16, 2025, replacing the monthly cycle of resending a boleto.
Can a foreign company collect payments through Pix Automático?
Not directly. Pix Automático moves funds between accounts held in Brazil through a bank or payment institution that participates in the Pix arrangement as a receiver. A company without a banking presence in Brazil needs a local subsidiary, a local partner, or a Brazilian payment provider acting on its behalf.
How does a payer cancel a Pix Automático authorization?
Only the paying customer cancels the authorization, at any time, from their bank's app. Cancellation is immediate and automatically ends the linked recurrence, except for a charge already settling that same day, which goes through.
Does Pix Automático charge a fee to the paying customer?
No. The central bank's regulation bars charging a fee to the payer for using Pix Automático. The receiving company's bank or payment institution may charge the company itself, at its own discretion, based on its own fee schedule.
What's the difference between Pix Automático and scheduled Pix (Pix Agendado)?
Scheduled Pix is a one-time payment the payer sets up manually for a future date, with no ongoing authorization or link to a specific receiver. Pix Automático requires an upfront authorization from the payer to a named receiver and supports repeated charges for as long as that authorization stays active.
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