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

Most subscription billing platforms let you:

• Automate invoicing and payments.
• Manage and customize the subscription or trial models.
• Create a self-service platform for customers so they can control their accounts (including payment information, seats and much other details).
• Offer and manage one-time add-ons, coupons, and more.
• Gather metrics and view reports on monthly recurring revenue.

However, the vast majority of organizations that do subscription billing will require an option to manage different aspects of managing subscription billing, such as:

• Payment processing.
• Prevention of fraud and chargebacks.
• Remitting and collecting consumption tax.
• Legal conformity.
• Plus.

Many subscription billing platforms won't provide these crucial elements of managing subscriptions.

Additionally, you'll have take into consideration whether the billing platform supports businesses similar to ones like yours. Some, for instance, billing platforms solely support SaaS businesses, while some offer support for companies selling physical items or services (e.g. gym memberships, monthly food club memberships, or remote accounting).

 In this article We review the five most popular payment platforms for subscriptions by describing which aspects of the billing process they are able to support, which alternatives you'll have to add, and what kind of business they can support.

Our solution let global SaaS businesses handle all the details on both lists above. Therefore, let's begin by taking a a deep dive into . The other options on this list serve both ecommerce and companies selling physical goods and services.

 Table of Contents

•   Recurly
•   Chargebee
•   Chargify
•   Zuora

: Comprehensive Subscription Billing Platform for Global Software Companies

A complete solution for payment developed to cater to SaaS businesses and for companies that sell products that are digital or downloadable. Through the use of B2B as well as B2C software firms can handle:

• Different subscription plans, trial versions and one-time add-ons, and more.
• Automatic invoices and notifications to customers.
• Processing of payments (for many payment options across the globe).
• Fully managed, self-serve portal for customers.
• Reporting and analytics.
• Plus there's plus.

Plus, takes on the risk of transactions that means we handle the fraud and chargeback process as well as collecting and paying consumption tax, and legal conformity.

When you increase your usage, there won't be any surprise costs as the entire feature set is offered at the same price, based on the amount of transactions that you makewhich means you'll only be charged for transactions that are completed.

 In the next sections We take a close look at how to:

•   Build Custom Subscription Models, Trials, and Subscriptions without Coding
•   Help Customers Manage Their account details from a simple portal
•   Optimize Your Checkout Process for More Conversions
•   Secure Your Business from legal liability of Transactions
•   Let's Collect and Remit VAT and Sales Tax to You
•   Automate Payment Failure Handling and Cut Back Churn
•   Automatically collect Key Metrics and view detailed reports

Create Custom Subscription Models and trial without code

A majority of businesses require a wide range of recurring billing options 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.

Many billing platforms will allow to create custom subscription plans however you'll have to ask your developers team to manually configure those customizations (with little or no assistance from your billing solution provider).

 has a wide range of pre-built options so anyone can set up custom subscription plans without the technical expertise.

Here are just a few examples of of subscription plans and trials you can set up:

• Paid, free, or trial-based on usage.
• Automatic billing after the trial has ended (or allow customers to manually begin a paid subscription).
• You can set the frequency of your bill and/or date (or let your customers decide).
• Usage-based billing.
• Coupons, discounts Prorated amount, discounts, as well as once-off add-ons.
• Automatically store payment information (or let the customer choose).
• Auto-renew for a new subscription plan.
• And more.

If you need even additional customization, you could utilize's API as well as Webhooks Library to create your own subscription model. Developers are available 24/7 to help you build the perfect solution and answer any queries you might need to ask.

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

is a self-service platform where your clients can access:

• Subscriptions that are active and inactive (or trials).
• Order history (and identification numbers).
• License keys and download histories.
• Payment details.
• Contact details.
• Plus.

Through this website, users are able to manage their upgrade, downgrades, and banking account or credit card information, and many more, all with no need to contact your support team.

handles the whole portal in a way that you don't need work. However, you'll retain full control over the look and feel of the website. It allows you to create an experience that is consistent for users without putting more strain on the development team.

Optimize Your Checkout Process to Increase Conversions

With most subscription billing solutions, you'll require an alternative solution for checkout and payment processing (which will require additional charges and software that you have to control).

 lets you control subscriptions, checkout and payment processing in the same solution.

Over the course of nearly two decades, we have gained expertise in helping software firms gain valuable insights into the best ways to optimize checkout for increased conversions. As an example, customers tend to stick through with a purchase if:

• You accept the preferred method of payment.
• The transaction is accepted on the first try.
• Checkout will be in local language and currency.
• The design and style of checkout match to the overall design of the website.

Each one of these is included in the platform

• Payment methods that are preferred: lets you accept the most commonly used payment methods around the world.
• high approval rate for payments: Each card network and issuing bank has different acceptable levels of fraud and chargebacks. Make sure that your transactions comply with the regulations in order that you are able to keep an acceptable rate of authorization. Additionally the transactions are more likely to be accepted if the provider of the transaction is an official legal entity located with the same address as the purchaser. It works with multiple payment gateways across the globe and transfers each payment to that gateway that has the highest approval rates for that area.
• Automated currency conversion is a software that automatically converts prices into the buyer's local currency. You can either choose an amount that is set for each location or let make the conversion in real-time.
• Checkout translations into different languages: also helps you translate the checkout process into local languages. You may choose to pick the correct local language for the buyer based on their area of residence or allow the customer to choose which one they would prefer.
• Fully customized checkouts: With , you have three choices for your checkout which include an embedded checkout, a pop-up checkout, or a separate storefront managed by our team. With each option, you are in complete control of the design and layout of the checkout , or website. The majority of checkout options offer a few options for customization (e.g., add an image or select from a pre-set list of colors), but checkouts can be tailored to just the millimeter.

Secure Your Company from legal Liability of Transactions

As experienced SaaS companies know well, it's necessary to outline the conditions and terms of the subscription and have customers accept those conditions prior to receiving payment. The problem is figuring out the right terms to add in that contract. This becomes more difficult for international businesses because the specifics of what the contract must contain will vary with each nation, state, territory and province. If you do not include certain elements correctly it could result in severe penalties or be disqualified from conducting business in that particular jurisdiction.

Also, most jurisdictions have additional laws and regulations for automatic regular payments, which are not required in the contract. As an example, India limits automatic payments up to the amount of Rs15,000 (approximately $180 at the time of this writing). If a recurring payment is in excess of that limit users will need approval manually for the transaction each time. To avoid fines Additionally, you must make an eMandate application to the Reserve Bank of India that outlines how you will be in compliance.

Staying current with rules like these in every jurisdiction is a huge problem for every business.

For customers, this is not an issue as we manage the compliance of local laws and rules. Our legal staff stays up to date on every aspect of transaction law and makes sure that the proper processes and documents are in place for collecting the automatic payment.

Fully compliant with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and it is in full compliance with California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), among many other laws and regulations.

Get Together and Remit the Sales and VAT on behalf of You

SaaS businesses didn't have to collect consumption tax However, the tax rules for software firms are changing and are being enforced more rigorously.

Most payment solutions will help you gather consumption tax, nevertheless, it's your responsibility to making sure it's the correct amount, and then remitting the tax after each tax year. If you do not make sure you collect and pay the correct amount (and kind) of consumption tax in the appropriate times, you could face severe penalties and be banned from doing business in the area.

automatically applies the correct amount (and the type) of consumption tax to the price that customers pay and then remits these taxes on your behalf..

We also support tax-exempt transactions, as well as others special situations. We also take the lead for any audits.

Automate Payment Failure Handling and Reduce Churn

Between the initial payment as well as each subsequent bill, many things can go wrong that prevent the payment from being processed and cause customers to turn. Working with numerous companies and organizations, we've created automated processes to solve common issues to prevent churn as well as recuperate the majority of failed transactions.

 There are some HTML0 features that can help you decrease churn and unsuccessful transactions:

• Proactive reminders:In our experience, informing customers of upcoming payments , and also notifying them of payments that have expired is one of the best methods to decrease the risk of involuntary churn as well as failed transactions. By using this software , you can create automatic reminders for upcoming payments.
• Multiple reminders: When a transaction fails, consumers typically require multiple reminders until they fix the issue (e.g., add funds to their account, update the payment method, etc.). It is possible to remind them at intervals of two five, seven, 14or 21 days after the initial unsuccessful payment ( will retry the payment after every reminder).
• Continued service: A different method to decrease churn in involuntary manner is to keep the service running while you attempt to make the payment. This will give your customers a more pleasant experience since the client has an opportunity to address the issue without the negative impression of a service that is stopped. A better customer experience and the better the likelihood that they are to stay.
• Reactivation is simple: When all the reminders have been sent You can decide to pause instead of cancelling the customer's subscription. This makes it easier for users to renew their subscriptions without the hassle of onboarding yet (onboarding is usually a huge obstacle to restarting a service).

We have already discussed the system automatically attempts to retry every transaction using a different processor (without anybody on the team lifting the finger) which can solve problems with failed transactions caused by network issues.

Automatically collect key metrics and View Detailed Reports

Analytics and Reporting can help you address questions like:

• How does each product contribute to my bottom line?
• Which products are the most effective and which ones can be a burden on resources?
• What coupons, promotions, and discounts are attracting new customers?
• Which subscription models are the most efficient?
• Which are the markets that have proven to be most effective and what ones are the most promising? potential?

provides two main dashboards that include the revenue overview dashboard as well as the subscription overview dashboard.

The Revenue Overview Dashboard gives you an summary of the entire company's progress, such as:

• The location of your clients.
• Which currencies and methods of payment do customers prefer.
• Net sales of the product.
• Total transactions by the country.
• and more.

Subscription overview dashboard subscription overview dashboard allows you to track your the monthly recurring income (MRR) as well as dig deeper into what's impacting your MRR in the course of time. This dashboard gives you metrics on:

• Cross-sells and upsells as well as other add-ons.
• The value that each customer.
• Total customer churn.
• In the billing cycle, the churning happens more often.
• The life-time value of a client.
• and more.

You are able to modify the report you want to save and also share them with important stakeholders via the dashboard or by exporting them as PNG, CSV or XLSX spreadsheet file export.

Four Other Subscription Management Platforms

Recurly

Recurly is a recurring-billing and management system for subscriptions designed for companies selling:

• B2C and B2B software.
• Mobile app.
• Entertainment and media.
• Consumer goods and retail.
• Professional Services.
• eLearning.

Recurly allows easy integration with various payment gateways, however, you're responsible for creating and managing each one. Many companies who use Recruly will also add software solutions for:

• Taxes (e.g., Avalara).
• Accounting (e.g. Accounting (e.g., Accounting (e.g.,).
• Security against fraud (e.g. Siftclients are protected through Sift).

Additionally, you'll be accountable for taxes and transaction costs, so you'll likely need a dedicated department to manage compliance. (With , all of this is included in one price and managed entirely by our experts.)

Chargebee

Chargebee is a billing for subscriptions and revenue management platform built to:

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

As with Recurly Chargebee is primarily an online subscription-based billing system, which means you'll probably require other solutions for tax, fraud prevention as well as payment processing and more. Chargebee has a number of built-in integrations (e.g., Stripe, PayPal, SalesForce, and QuickBooks) However, they are not included in every Chargebee package.

Chargify

Chargify offers subscription billing solutions for B2B SaaS companies.

You'll likely need additional solutions for taxes, fraud prevention as well as payment processing and more. However, Chargify does offer simple accounting software for revenue recognition (for multiple businesses).

Chargify will also join forces with SaaSOptics to create a new company, Maxio. With this merger, subscription-based businesses will be able to control their financials such as automated expense reporting and revenue recognition and automated reporting.

Zuora

Zuora can be described as an end-to-end monetization platform which includes subscription management software within. The majority of their customers are in the following industries:

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

Zuora offers typically subscription-based pricing models (e.g. the usage-based freemium plan that is upgraded to a paid plan), but they also include features for streamlined the accounting process, such as dunning and payment processing (although there are some businesses that have the option of connecting to different payments gateways).