A comprehensive guide to Subscription Payment Platforms (and 5 alternatives)

Most subscription billing platforms let you:

• Automate invoices and payment.
• Manage and customize any subscription model or trial models.
• Create a self-service platform for clients to manage their accounts (including seat information, payment information as well as other details).
• Manage and offer one-time add-ons Coupons, discounts, and more.
• Review reports and gather metrics of monthly recurring revenues.

But, the majority of organizations that do subscription billing will also need a solution to manage different aspects of managing subscription billing, such as:

• Payment processing.
• Chargeback prevention and fraud prevention.
• Remitting and collecting consumption tax.
• Legal compliance.
• and more.

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

Plus, you'll need to consider whether or not the billing solution is compatible with businesses similar to that of yours. For example, some billing solutions are only able to support SaaS firms, while other solutions support companies selling physical goods and/or services (e.g. gym memberships, monthly food clubs, or remote accounting).

 In this blog this article, we review five of the top payment platforms for subscriptions by describing what areas of the billing lifecycle they support, what additional solutions you'll have to add, and what kinds of businesses they support.

Our solution let global SaaS companies handle everything in both of the above lists. So, we'll start with a deep dive into . The other options on the list cater to ecommerce as well as companies that sell physical products and services.

 Table of Contents

•   Recurly
•   Chargebee
•   Chargify
•   Zuora

: Comprehensive Subscription Billing Platform for Global Software Companies

A complete solution for payment designed specifically for SaaS firms and businesses selling digital and/or downloadable goods. By using B2B and B2C software companies can manage:

• Multiple subscription models, trials and one-time add-ons, and more.
• Automated invoices , customer notification and invoices.
• Payment processing (for tons of payment methods around the world).
• Self-service portal that is fully managed to customers.
• Reporting and analytics.
• And many more.

Plus, takes on the risk of transactions that means we handle chargesbacks, fraud prevention collecting and remitting consumption tax, and legal conformity.

As you grow, there won't be surprises since every feature is available for the same price, based on the volume of transactions that you make- and you'll only be charged when transactions take place.

 In the following sections in the following sections, we will take a deeper look at how to:

•   Build Custom Subscription Models and Trials without code
•   Allow Customers to Manage Account Details from a User-friendly Portal
•   Enhance the Checkout Process to Improve Conversion
•   Secure Your Business from Legal Liability of Transactions
•   Let's Gather and Pay VAT and Sales Tax to You
•   Automate Payment Failure Handling and reduce the Churn
•   Automatically collect Key Metrics and display detailed reports

Build Custom Subscription Models and Trials without Code

The majority of companies require a range of recurring billing options as well as trial options to suit different products and different areas of focus. Also, the models that work for you at one point might not be the most effective long-term models as your business grows.

Some billing platforms permit the creation of custom subscription plans however you'll have to ask your developers team to configure these custom plans manually (with little or no assistance from the billing service provider).

 has a wide range of built-in features so everyone can build custom subscription plans without knowledge of technology.

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

• Paying for, free or use-based trial.
• Automatic billing after the trial has ended (or allow customers to manually begin an active subscription).
• You can set the frequency of your bill or dates (or let your customers choose).
• Usage-based billing.
• Discounts, coupons Prorated amount, discounts, as well as single-time additions.
• Automatically store the payment details (or allow customers to make the decision).
• Auto-renew for a new subscription plan.
• Plus.

If you're in need of greater customizations, utilize's API as well as Webhooks Library to create your own subscription models. The developers are on hand to provide you with your ideal solution and address all questions that you might have.

Help customers manage account information through a user-friendly portal

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

• Subscriptions that are active and inactive (or trials).
• The history of your order (and identification numbers).
• License keys and download history.
• Payment details.
• Contact details.
• And more.

From this portal, customers can manage upgrade, downgrades, and 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 have work. However, you'll have full control over the look and feel of the site. This lets you create an experience that is consistent for users and not put more stress on the development team.

Make your Checkout process more efficient to Increase Conversions

For most subscription-based billing platforms, you'll require an additional solution to manage the payment process and checkout (which will require additional charges and software that you have to control).

 allows you to control subscriptions, checkout as well as payment processing, all in the same solution.

With nearly 20 years of expertise in helping software firms, we have gained valuable knowledge of how to enhance checkouts to boost conversion rates. For example, customers are more likely to follow through with a purchase if:

• You agree to their preferred payment method.
• The payment gets accepted on the very first attempt.
• Checkout is in the local language and currency.
• The look and feel of checkout are in sync with the rest of the website.

Each of these areas is integrated into the platform:

• preferred payment method: lets you accept the most common payments methods in the world.
• High payment approval rates: Each card network and bank issuing it have different acceptance levels for fraud and chargebacks. Be sure that your transactions comply to these rules so that you will be able to maintain your high authorization rates. In addition, transactions are more likely to be approved if the payment gateway has a legal entity with the same address as the buyer. Works with multiple payment processors across the globe and sends each transaction through the gateway with the highest approval rates for that area.
• Automatic currency conversions that converts the price in the currency used by the purchaser. You can either choose an exact amount for each location or let do the conversion instantly.
• Checkout Language Translations Also, it helps translate checkout in the local language. You can choose to have select the right local language for the buyer based on their place of residence, or let the buyer choose which preferred language.
• Fully-branded checkouts: With , you have three choices for your checkout -- an embedded checkout that pops up, or a separate storefront managed by our team. With each option, you have complete control over the appearance and experience of your checkout page or. Many checkout platforms offer the option of modifying a couple of things (e.g., add a logo or choose from a preset list of colors) But checkouts are able to be customized down to the pixels.

Guard Your Company from the Legal Liability of Transactions

As experienced SaaS businesses know, it's necessary to outline the terms and conditions for the subscription and have customers be able to agree to these terms prior to collecting payment. The challenge is knowing the right terms to add in that contract. It gets even more complicated when you are transacting internationally since the details of what the contract should contain vary with each nation, state, territory, and province. If your contract doesn't contain certain elements correctly, you could face severe penalties or be disqualified from doing business within the jurisdiction.

Additionally, many jurisdictions have additional rules and laws for automatic periodic payments that go beyond the amount stipulated in the contract. For instance, India limits automatic payments to the amount of Rs15,000 (approximately $180 at the time of this writing). If a regular payment goes above that threshold users will need approval manually for the transaction each time. To avoid fines, you also have to file an eMandate with the Reserve Bank of India that outlines how you will be in compliance.

Being up-to-date with regulations like these for every jurisdiction is a huge challenge for any business.

Customers that aren't concerned, this shouldn't be a concern because we handle conformity with local law and rules. Our legal team keeps up to date with the legalities of transactions and make sure that the proper procedure and documentation is put in place to process 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 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 but tax regulations for software firms are changing and are being enforced more rigorously.

The majority of payment services will assist collect consumption tax; however, you're responsible for making sure that it's the right amount and for remitting taxes after each tax period. If you fail to make sure you collect and pay the correct amount (and type) of consumption tax at the right dates, you may be subject to massive fines or be disqualified from conducting business at that particular location.

automatically adds the appropriate amount (and kind) of consumption tax into the customer-facing price and remits the tax for you..

We also support tax-exempt transactions, as well as other cases of specialization. We also lead on any audits.

Automate Payment Failure Handling and reduce churn

Between the initial payment and every subsequent rebill there are many issues that stop the payment from being processed and cause customers to turn. After working with hundreds of businesses We've designed automated procedures to address common problems, prevent churn, and recover most failed payments.

 There are some HTML0 options that could help cut down on churn as well as failed transactions:

• Proactive reminders:In our experience, informing customers of upcoming payment dates and notifying them about payments that have expired is among the most effective methods to decrease involuntary churn , as well as the failure of payment attempts. By using this software , you can create automatic reminders for upcoming payments.
• Multi-reminders When a transaction is unsuccessful, clients typically require multiple reminders until they are able to fix the issue (e.g. to add money to their account, update their payment method, etc.). You can choose to remind them two or three, five, seven 14, and/or 21 days following the initial failure of the payment ( will retry the payment after every reminder).
• Continued service: Another effective way to decrease churn in involuntary manner is to continue the service while you attempt to make the payment. This provides a better customer experience because the customer has an opportunity to address their issue without suffering the negative experience of a paused service. The more pleasant the experience for customers, the more likely they are to stay.
• Reactivation is simple: After all reminders have been made it is possible to pause rather than cancel the customer's subscription. This will allow users to renew their subscriptions without the hassle of onboarding yet (onboarding can be a major barrier to restarting a service).

We have already discussed it also automatically retries each payment with a different gateway (without any member of your team needing to lift a finger) to fix any failed payments caused by difficulties with your network.

Automatically collect key metrics and View Detailed Reports

Analytics and Reporting can help you answer questions such as:

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

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

The Revenue overview dashboard provides you with a comprehensive summary of the entire company's progress, such as:

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

Subscription overview dashboard Subscription Overview Dashboard lets you track the monthly recurring income (MRR) and dig deeper into the factors that affect your MRR over time. This dashboard gives you statistics on:

• Cross-sells, upsells, and other add-ons.
• Long-term value for every customer.
• Total customer churn.
• In the billing cycle, churn happens most often.
• The value over the life of a client.
• Plus.

You can customize your report, save it and distribute reports to key users via the dashboard, or in the form of a PNG, CSV, or XLSX spreadsheet export.

Four More Subscription Management Platforms

Recurly

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

• B2C and B2B software.
• Mobile app.
• Media and entertainment.
• Retail and consumer goods.
• Professional services.
• eLearning.

Recurly is able to integrate easily using multiple payment gateways. However, it is your responsibility to creating and managing each one. The majority of companies that use Recruly are also able to add software solutions for:

• Taxes (e.g., Avalara).
• Accounting (e.g. the Accounting (e.g.,).
• Fraud protection (e.g. SiftCustomers are protected automatically by Sift).

Additionally, you'll be accountable for taxes and transaction costs, so you'll likely need a dedicated department to manage compliance. (With  everything, it comes in one cost and fully handled by our team.)

Chargebee

Chargebee is a subscription-based billing and revenue management platform built for:

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

As with Recurly Chargebee is primarily a subscription billing software so you'll probably require other solutions to prevent fraud, taxes as well as payment processing and much more. Chargebee has a number of integrations built in (e.g., Stripe, PayPal, SalesForce, and QuickBooks) but they aren't included in the plans of any Chargebee plan.

Chargify

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

It is likely that you will require other solutions for tax, fraud prevention as well as payment processing and more. However, Chargify does offer simple accounting software to recognize revenue (for various businesses).

Chargify has also joined forces with SaaSOptics to form a new company, Maxio. Through this deal, businesses that are subscription-based will be able to manage their finances such as automated expense reporting and revenue recognition as well as automatic reporting.

Zuora

Zuora can be described as an end-to-end platform for monetization with subscription management software built in. It is mainly used by companies operating within the following fields:

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

Zuora offers typically subscription-based pricing (e.g. it's a use-based freemium product that upgrades to a paid plan) however, they include features for streamlined the accounting process, such as dunning and payment processing (although some companies have the option of connecting to different Payment gateways).