A comprehensive guide on Subscription Payment Platforms (plus 5 options)

Most subscription billing platforms let you:

• Automate invoices and payment.
• Customize and manage the subscription or trial models.
• Offer a self-service interface to customers to help them control their accounts (including payment information, seats as well as many more).
• Create and manage add-ons that are one-time, coupons, and more.
• Gather metrics and view reports of monthly recurring revenues.

The vast majority of businesses that use subscription billing will also need solutions for other aspects of managing subscription billing, such as:

• Payment processing.
• Fraud prevention and chargebacks.
• Incorporating and paying tax on consumption.
• Legal conformity.
• And more.

A lot of subscription billing platforms don't provide these crucial aspects that are involved in managing subscriptions.

Additionally, you'll have be aware of whether the billing platform supports businesses like that of yours. For example, some payment services only support SaaS companies while others also provide support to companies that sell physical products and/or services (e.g., gym memberships, monthly food clubs, or remote accounting).

 In this article, we compare five top subscription billing platforms by specifying what areas of the billing lifecycle they support, what alternatives you'll have to add, and what types of companies they serve.

Our solution lets worldwide SaaS businesses handle all the details in both of the above lists. Therefore, let's begin by taking a the deepest dive of . The remaining options on the list cater to ecommerce and businesses that offer physical goods as well as services.

 Table of Contents

•   Recurly
•   Chargebee
•   Chargify
•   Zuora

: Comprehensive Subscription Billing System for Global Software Companies

is a comprehensive payment solution built specifically for SaaS companies and companies selling products that are digital or downloadable. With , B2B and B2C software businesses can control:

• Multiple subscription models, trials, one-time add-ons, discounts as well as more.
• Automated invoices , customer notification and invoices.
• Processing of payments (for many payment options around the world).
• Fully managed, self-serve portal to customers.
• Analytics and reporting.
• and many and more.

Furthermore, takes on the responsibility for transactions, and we take care of the fraud and chargeback process as well as collecting and paying consumption tax, and legal regulatory compliance.

When you increase your usage, there won't be any surprise costs because every feature is available for the same price, based on how many transactions you're involved in -- and you'll only be charged after transactions occur.

 In the following sections, we take a closer look at how to:

•   Make Custom Subscription Models, Trials, and Subscriptions without Code
•   Allow Customers to Manage Account Details from a User-friendly portal
•   Improve Your Checkout Process for More Conversions
•   Protect Your Company from Legal Liability of Transactions
•   Let's Gather and Pay VAT and Sales Tax for You
•   Automate Payment Failure Handling and Reduce the Churn
•   Automatically collect Key Metrics and View Detailed Reports

Create Custom Subscription Models and Trials with no code

The majority of companies require a range of billing and trial models to meet the needs of different products and different market segments. Additionally, the types which work best for you at one point could not be the most efficient longer-term ones as your business grows.

Some billing platforms permit for custom subscription plans, however, you'll require your team of developers to set up these customizations manually (with minimal or no help from your billing solution provider).

 provides a variety of built-in features so everyone can build customized subscription plans with no knowledge of technology.

Here are just a few examples of of trial and subscription plans that you could set up:

• Paid, free, or usage-based trials.
• Automated billing once the trial has ended (or allow customers to manually begin an active subscription).
• Preset billing frequencies and/or date (or let your customers decide).
• Usage-based billing.
• Discounts, coupons or prorated quantities, plus single-time additions.
• Automatically store the payment details (or let customers decide).
• Auto-renew for a new subscription plan.
• and more.

If you need even additional customization, you could use 's API as well as Webhooks Library to design your own subscription model. Developers are available 24/7 to help you build the ideal solution, and to answer any questions you may need to ask.

Let Customers Manage Account Details via a simple and user-friendly website

offers a self-service portal through which customers are able to view:

• Subscriptions active and inactive (or trial subscriptions).
• History of orders (and Identifications).
• License keys and download histories.
• Payment details.
• Contact information.
• Plus.

From this portal, customers can manage changes, upgrades, or downgrades to their the bank or credit card information, and many more, all by contacting your staff.

controls the entire website to ensure that your staff doesn't need work. However, you'll be in complete control of the design and layout of the site. This lets you create an experience that is consistent for users and not put more stress on your team of developers.

Improve the Checkout Process of Your Business to increase conversions

With most subscription billing platforms, you'll require an alternative solution for the payment process and checkout (which means additional fees as well as software to handle).

 can manage subscriptions, checkout, as well as payment processing, all in the same solution.

In our nearly 20 years of experience helping software companies gain valuable knowledge of how to enhance checkouts to boost conversion rates. In particular, clients will be more likely to go the purchase through if:

• You agree to their preferred payment method.
• The money is accepted after the very first attempt.
• Checkout will be in local language and currency.
• The style and design that the process for checkout is in line with the other elements of the site.

Each of these areas is integrated into the platform

• Payment methods that are preferred: lets you accept the most common payments methods in the world.
• Rates of approval for payment that are high: Each card network and issuing bank has different acceptable levels of fraud and chargebacks. Make sure that you're in compliance to these rules so that you are able to keep high authorization rates. Furthermore the transactions are more likely to be approved if the gateway is an legal entity that is located with the same address as the customer. It works with multiple payment gateways across the globe and transfers each payment to that gateway that has the highest acceptance rates in that region.
• Automatic currency conversions that converts the price into the buyer's local currency. It is possible to choose a set amount for each place or make the conversion in real-time.
• Checkout translations into different languages: Also, it helps translate the checkout process into local languages. It is possible to choose the appropriate local language for the buyer based on their area of residence or let the buyer choose which language they prefer.
• Fully-branded checkouts: With , you have three choices for your checkout that include an integrated checkout, a pop-up checkout, or a separate storefront that is managed by our team. Each option lets you have complete control over the look and feel of the checkout or webpage. Most checkout solutions only have a few options for customization (e.g. include a logo or choose from a preset list of colors), but checkouts can be tailored to just the pixels.

Protect Your Company from the Legal Liability of Transactions

The experienced SaaS businesses know the importance of defining the terms and conditions of the subscription, and to have users accept those conditions prior to receiving the payment. The problem is figuring out the right terms to add in that contract. This becomes more difficult when you are transacting internationally since the details of what the contract needs to include will differ with every country, state, and province. If you do not include the right elements the contract must include, you may be subject to heavy fines or be banned from doing business within the jurisdiction.

Also, most countries have rules and laws for automatic regular payments, which are not stipulated in the contract. For instance, India limits automatic payments up to 15,000 rupees (approximately $180 at the time of writing). If a regular payment goes over that amount then the customer will have approval manually for the transaction each time. In order to avoid penalties You must also make an eMandate application to the Reserve Bank of India that outlines how you will adhere to the rules.

Keeping up to date on regulations like these for any jurisdiction is a massive issue for any company.

Customers that aren't concerned, this shouldn't be an issue as we manage conformity with local law and regulations. Our legal team keeps up to date with the legalities of transactions and make sure that the proper processes and documents are put in place to process the automatic payment.

It is completely compliant with EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and it is in full compliance with California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as well as other rules and regulations.

Allow Us to Gather and Pay VAT and Sales Tax to You

SaaS firms didn't need to collect consumption tax However, the tax rules for software businesses are evolving and being more strongly enforced.

The majority of payment services will assist to collect the consumption tax but you're still responsible for making sure it's the correct amount and for remitting taxes after each tax season. If you don't make sure you collect and pay the correct amount (and kind) of tax on consumption at the right time, you'll be liable to massive fines or be disqualified from doing business in the area.

automatically adds the right amount (and kind) in consumption taxes to the customer-facing price and remits these taxes on your behalf..

We are a firm advocate for tax-exempt transactions as well as other special cases. We also lead in any audits.

Automate Payment Failure Handling and reduce churn

Between the initial payment as well as each subsequent bill, there are many issues that stop the payment from going through and cause customers to become churned. After working with numerous companies We've designed automated procedures to address common problems to prevent churn as well as recover most failed payments.

 There are some HTML0 options that could help reduce churn and failed transactions:

• Reminders that are proactive:In our experience, informing customers of upcoming payments , and also notifying them of payments that have expired is one of the most efficient methods to decrease involuntary churn and failed transactions. You can also set up automatic reminders about future payments.
• Multi-reminders After a payment has failed, customers frequently require several reminders until they can fix the problem (e.g. to add money to their account, modify the payment method, etc.). The option is to issue follow-up reminders for two five, seven, or 21 days following the initial unsuccessful payment ( you can retry the transaction prior to sending each reminder).
• continuing the service Another effective way to cut down on involuntary churn is to run the service in the meantime you are trying to make the payment. It will provide a better customer satisfaction since they have an opportunity to address their issue without suffering the negative feeling of having a suspended service. A better customer experience, the more likely to remain.
• Reactivation is simple: Once all reminders have been sent out it is possible to stop instead of cancelling the customer's subscription. This allows customers to restart their subscriptions without having to onboard yet (onboarding is usually a huge hurdle to restarting services).

Like we mentioned earlier it also automatically retries each payment using a different payment processor (without anyone on your team needing to lift the finger) which can solve failed payments caused by problems with the network.

Automatically collect key metrics and view detailed reports

Analytics and Reporting lets you address questions like:

• What is the contribution of each product to my profit margin?
• Which products are the most successful and which consume resources?
• What promotions, coupons and discounts are attracting more customers?
• Which subscription model is most effective?
• Which markets have been most effective and which ones have more potential?

provides two main dashboards The revenue overview dashboard as well as the dashboard for subscription overview.

The revenue overview dashboard offers a complete summary of the entire company' performance, including:

• Your customers' locations.
• What currencies and payment methods consumers prefer.
• Net sales per product.
• The total number of transactions per country.
• and more.

The Subscription Overview Dashboard allows you to track your the monthly recurring income (MRR) and delves into what's impacting your MRR in the course of time. The dashboard offers information about:

• Cross-sells and upsells as well as other add-ons.
• The long-term value of each client.
• Total customer churn.
• In the billing cycle, churn happens most often.
• The value over the life of a consumer.
• Plus.

It is possible to customize your report, save it and share reports with key people via the dashboard. You can also export reports as a CSV, PNG or XLSX spreadsheet export.

Four More Subscription Management Platforms

Recurly

Recurly is a recurring billing and management system for subscriptions designed to help companies sell:

• Software for B2C and B2B.
• Mobile app.
• Media and entertainment.
• Consumer goods and retail.
• Professional Services.
• eLearning.

Recurly supports easy integrations using multiple payment gateways. however, you're responsible for setting up and managing each of them. The majority of companies that use Recruly are also able to add applications for:

• Taxes (e.g., Avalara).
• Accounting (e.g. Accounting (e.g., for example, QuickBooks).
• Protection against fraud (e.g., Sift -- customers are automatically protected with Sift).

Additionally, you'll be accountable for transaction and tax liability so it's likely that you'll need a separate department to manage compliance. (With  all this, everything is included in one price and fully handled by our staff.)

Chargebee

Chargebee is a billing for subscriptions and revenue management platform designed for:

• B2B SaaS.
• eCommerce.
• eLearning.
• Publishing.
• Videos and OTT.

Similar to Recurly, Chargebee is mostly an application for billing subscriptions, so you'll likely need additional solutions for tax, fraud prevention, payment processing, and much more. Chargebee does provide lots of integrations built in (e.g., Stripe, PayPal, SalesForce, and QuickBooks) However, they do not come with the plans of any Chargebee plans.

Chargify

Chargify offers subscription billing solutions to B2B SaaS firms.

There's a good chance that you'll require additional options for taxes, fraud prevention, payment processing, and many more. But, Chargify does offer simple accounting software for revenue recognition (for multiple businesses).

Chargify is also merging with SaaSOptics in order to create a brand new business called Maxio. As a result of this merger, subscription-based businesses will benefit from more tools to manage their finances, including automated expense and revenue recognition, as well as automated report-writing.

Zuora

Zuora is an end-to-end monetization platform that includes subscription management software into. The majority of their customers are in the following industries:

• Manufacturing and IoT.
• Software.
• High-tech.
• Entertainment, Media and Entertainment.

Zuora is compatible with subscription-based pricing models (e.g., a usage-based freemium plan that is upgraded to a paid-for plan) however, they include features for streamlined accounting workflows, dunning, as well as payment processing (although some companies end up connecting to additional payment gateways).