An In-Depth Guide on Subscription Payment Platforms (+ 5 Options)

Most subscription billing platforms let you:

• Automate billing and making payments.
• Modify and control the subscription or trial models.
• Offer a self-service interface to customers to help them control their accounts (including seating information, payment details and much other details).
• Create and manage add-ons that are one-time coupons, add-ons, and other.
• Review reports and gather metrics on monthly recurring revenue.

But, the majority of organizations that do subscription billing will also need an option for different aspects of management of subscription bills, including:

• Payment processing.
• Chargeback prevention and fraud prevention.
• Incorporating and paying consumption tax.
• Legal conformity.
• And more.

Many subscription billing platforms won't provide these crucial issues in managing subscriptions.

In addition, you'll want take into consideration whether the billing solution is compatible with businesses like ones like yours. As an example, certain bill-paying solutions solely support SaaS companies while others also support companies selling physical goods and/or services (e.g. gym memberships, monthly food club memberships, or remote accounting services).

 In this post, we compare five top payment platforms for subscriptions by describing which aspects of the billing process they support, what alternatives you'll have to add, and what kind of business they can support.

Our service let global SaaS companies handle everything that is listed above. Therefore, let's begin by taking a a deep dive into . The remaining options on this list serve both ecommerce and companies selling physical goods or services.

 Table of Contents

•   Recurly
•   Chargebee
•   Chargify
•   Zuora

: Comprehensive Subscription Billing Platform Global Software Companies

A complete solution for payment developed to cater to SaaS firms and businesses selling digital and/or downloadable goods. With , B2B and B2C software firms can handle:

• Different subscription plans, trial versions and one-time add-ons, and other features.
• Automatic invoices and notifications to customers.
• Payment processing (for a myriad of payment methods across the globe).
• A fully managed self-serve portal to customers.
• Analytics and reporting.
• And there's more.

Additionally, takes on the responsibility for transactions, which means we manage chargebacks, fraud prevention as well as collecting and paying consumption tax, and legal conformity.

As you grow, there won't be surprises since all features are offered for the same price, based on the amount of transactions that you make- and you'll only be charged when transactions occur.

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

•   Create Custom Subscription Models, Trials, and Subscriptions without Coding
•   Help Customers Manage Their account details from a simple Portal
•   Improve Your Checkout Process to Improve Conversion
•   Guard Your Business from the Legal Liability of Transactions
•   Let Gather and Remit Sales Tax and VAT for You
•   Automate Payment Failure Handling and Cut Back Churn
•   Automatically collect Key Metrics and View Detailed Reports

Make Custom Subscription Models, Subscriptions and Trials with no code

Most companies need a variety of recurring billing options as well as trial options to suit different products and different areas of focus. Also, the models that you are using at one point could not be the best long-term models as your business changes.

A lot of billing platforms allow for custom subscription plans, however, you'll require your development team to configure these custom plans manually (with very little assistance from the billing service provider).

 provides a variety of pre-built options so everyone can build custom subscription plans without knowledge of technology.

Here are a few examples of the types of trials and subscriptions you can set up:

• Free, paid, or use-based trial.
• Automatic billing after the trial period has expired (or let customers manually start the paid subscription).
• Set up your billing frequency and/or dates (or let your customers choose).
• Usage-based billing.
• Discounts, coupons or prorated quantities, plus single-time additions.
• Automatically store payment information (or allow customers to decide).
• Auto-renew to a different subscription plan.
• And more.

If you need even additional customization, you could use 's API and Webhooks Library to design your own subscription model. The developers are on hand to assist you in creating the ideal solution, and to answer any questions you may have.

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

provides a self-serve portal where your customers can view:

• Subscriptions that are active and inactive (or trials).
• The history of your order (and Identifications).
• License keys and download histories.
• Payment details.
• Contact details.
• Plus.

Through this website, users can control upgrade, downgrades, and credit card or bank account details, and more with no need to contact your support team.

handles the whole portal in a way that you don't have the burden of. However, you'll have full control over the appearance and experience of the site. This lets you create an unified experience for your customers without straining your team of developers.

Optimize Your Checkout Process to increase conversions

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

 can manage subscriptions, checkout, and payment processing in only one tool.

In our nearly 20 years of working with software companies, we have gained valuable insights into the best ways to enhance checkouts to boost conversion rates. For example, customers are more likely to follow the purchase through if:

• You accept the preferred method of payment.
• The payment gets accepted on the first attempt.
• Checkout takes place in the local language and currency.
• The design and style of the checkout process match the other elements of the site.

Each one of these is built into the platform

• Preferred payment methods: lets you accept the most commonly used method of payment around the globe.
• Rates of approval for payment that are high: Each card network and issuing bank has different acceptable levels of fraud as well as chargebacks. Be sure that your transactions comply with these regulations so you are able to keep the highest rates of authorization. Furthermore, transactions are more likely to be accepted if the payment gateway has a legal entity that is located in the same place as the purchaser. works with multiple payment gateways around the world and automatically transfers each payment to the one with the best approval rates for that area.
• Automatic currency conversions: automatically converts prices in the currency used by the purchaser. You can either choose a set amount for each location or let make the conversion in real-time.
• Checkout translations into different languages: can also assist you in translating checkout into the local language. You may choose to pick the correct one based on the customer's area of residence or allow the customer to choose which language they prefer.
• Fully-branded checkouts: With , you have three options for checkout that include an integrated checkout, a pop-up checkout or an individual storefront, which is run by our staff. In each case, you are in complete control of the design and layout of your checkout page or. The majority of checkout options offer only a handful of options to customize (e.g. you can add the logo, or pick from a set of colors) However, checkouts can be customized to the pixel.

Protect Your Company from legal Liability of Transactions

The experienced SaaS companies know well the importance of defining the conditions and terms of the subscription, and to have users accept those conditions prior to collecting the payment. It's a challenge to determine the right terms to add in that contract. This becomes more difficult for companies transacting internationally because the specifics of what the contract should contain vary with each country, state as well as province. If you do not include certain elements correctly, you could face heavy fines or be banned from doing business within the jurisdiction.

Also, most countries have rules and laws for automatic recurring payments beyond what's required in the contract. For example, India limits automatic payments up to the amount of Rs15,000 (approximately $180 as of the date of writing). If a recurring payment is in excess of that limit, the user will have to manually approve the transaction each time. To avoid fines Additionally, you must make an eMandate application to the Reserve Bank of India that specifies how you'll comply.

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

For customers that aren't concerned, this shouldn't be an issue since we ensure the compliance of local laws and regulations. Our team of legal experts stays up to date on all transaction legalities and makes certain that all processes and documents are put in place to process automatic payments.

Fully compliant with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and is fully compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as well as other rules and regulations.

Let Gather and Remit the Sales and VAT on behalf of You

SaaS companies didn't always have the obligation to collect tax on consumption, however, tax laws for software companies are changing and getting more strict enforced.

Most payment solutions will help to collect the consumption tax but you're still responsible for making sure that it's the right amount, and then remitting the tax at the end of each tax season. If you do not pay and deposit the right amount (and the correct type) of consumption tax in the appropriate time, you'll be liable to heavy fines and/or be barred from transacting in that location.

automatically adds the appropriate amount (and type) of tax on consumption to the price that customers pay and then remits the tax for you..

We support tax-exempt transactions and others special situations. We also 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 churn. After working with numerous companies, we've developed automatic processes to solve common issues that cause churn and recuperate the majority of failed transactions.

 Here are a few options that could help cut down on churn as well as failed payments:

• Reminders that are proactive:In our experience, letting customers know about upcoming payments , and also notifying them of the expiration date of payment methods is one of the best strategies to cut down on the risk of involuntary churn as well as failed payments. You can also set up automatic reminders about the upcoming payment.
• Multiple reminders: When a transaction fails, consumers often need multiple reminders before they are able to fix the issue (e.g. to add money to their account, update their payment process, etc.). The option is to remind them for two, five, seven, or 21 days following the initial unsuccessful payment ( it will try to make the payment again before sending out every reminder).
• Continuing the service: Another way to reduce involuntary churn is to run the service while you attempt to make the payment. This provides a better customer satisfaction since they have an opportunity to solve issues without having to endure the unpleasant feeling of having a suspended service. The better the customer experience, the more likely to remain.
• Reactivation is simple: When all the reminders have been sent out, you can choose to stop rather than cancel the customer's subscription. This will allow users to renew their subscriptions without the hassle of onboarding once more (onboarding can be a major obstacle to restarting a service).

Like we mentioned earlier it also automatically retries each payment with a different method (without any member of your team having to lift a finger) to fix any failures in payments due to network issues.

Automatically collect key metrics and review detailed reports

Analytics and Reporting lets you address questions like:

• What is the contribution of each product to my bottom line?
• What products have proven to be the most effective and which ones can be a burden on resources?
• What coupons, promotions, and discounts are attracting new customers?
• Which subscription model is most effective?
• What markets are the most profitable and what ones are the most promising? potential?

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

The Revenue Overview Dashboard offers a complete overview of your entire business's performance, which includes:

• The location of your clients.
• Which currencies and methods of payment do customers prefer.
• Net sales per product.
• All transactions for each the country.
• Plus.

This subscription overview dashboard lets you track the monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and dig deeper into what's affecting your MRR over time. The dashboard offers metrics about:

• Upsells, cross-sells, and add-ons.
• Long-term value for each client.
• Customer churn is the total number of customers.
• When in the billing cycle the churning happens more often.
• The life-time value of a consumer.
• and more.

You can customize your report, save it and also share them with important stakeholders via the dashboard or as a CSV, PNG, or XLSX spreadsheet export.

Four More Subscription Management Platforms

Recurly

Recurly is a recurring bill and subscription management platform built for companies selling:

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

Recurly supports easy integrations with multiple payment gateways; but you're accountable for creating and managing each of them. The majority of companies that use Recruly also end up adding software solutions for:

• Taxes (e.g., Avalara).
• Accounting (e.g., QuickBooks).
• Security against fraud (e.g., Sift -Customers are protected automatically by Sift).

You'll also be responsible for transaction and tax liability so there's a good chance you'll require a separate department that is responsible for compliance. (With  everything, it comes in one cost and is fully managed by our team.)

Chargebee

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

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

As with Recurly Chargebee is mostly an application for billing subscriptions, so it is likely that you will require additional options for taxes, fraud prevention payments, fraud prevention, and much more. Chargebee offers a variety of integrated integrations (e.g., Stripe, PayPal, SalesForce, and QuickBooks) but they do not come with every Chargebee plan.

Chargify

Chargify provides subscription-based billing services for B2B SaaS firms.

There's a good chance that you'll require additional options for taxes, fraud prevention as well as payment processing and much more. However, Chargify does offer simple accounting software to recognize revenue (for multiple types of business).

Chargify will also join forces with SaaSOptics in order to create a brand new companycalled Maxio. With this deal, businesses that are subscription-based will be able to manage their finances, including automated expense and revenue recognition and automated report-writing.

Zuora

Zuora provides an end-to-end monetization platform which includes subscription management software within. They primarily serve companies within the following fields:

• 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) However, they offer features to streamline the accounting process, such as dunning as well as payment processing (although some companies end up connecting to additional payment gateways).