In the past few years, there has been tremendous growth in subscription businesses. According to reports, the subscription economy will continue its growth trajectory and is set to reach $1.5 trillion by 2025. (1)
The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the trend of subscription businesses. During the pandemic, many people turned to subscriptions to access products and services from the safety of their homes.
One of the major reasons for opting for subscription services is the flexibility of recurring billing payments.
What is Recurring Billing?
Recurring billing refers to the practice of automatically charging customers regularly for a product or service they have subscribed to. This type of billing is often used by subscription-based businesses, such as magazines, streaming services, telecom businesses, software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications like Google Apps or Dropbox, and gym memberships.
Instead of requiring the customer to make a payment each time a product or service is purchased, the merchant sets up an automated billing cycle, typically on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. The customer’s payment information is stored securely, and the merchant charges the customer’s account automatically in each billing cycle until the subscription is canceled. Recurring billing can largely be of two types:
- Fixed (where the same amount is charged every payment cycle)
- Variable (where the amount changes based on usage of a service or quantity of goods consumed – like the number of licenses in case of SaaS applications)
Recurring billing can offer several benefits to both merchants and customers. For merchants, it can provide a more predictable revenue stream and reduce the need for manual billing and collection efforts. For customers, it can provide convenience and ensure uninterrupted access to a product or service they enjoy.
However, managing recurring payments is not as easy as it sounds. There are several challenges associated with recurring payments, like:
- Managing timely payments and avoiding failed transactions
- Ensuring that all payments have been processed correctly, and reconciling them with invoices
- Managing customer churn which may happen due to poor customer service or experience
- Managing technical issues like system downtime or slow payment processing
- Managing regulatory compliance to avoid penalties and legal issues
If you too run a subscription-based business and are struggling with the above challenges, it is time to switch to recurring billing software.
Fortunately, there are several options available in the market today. To help you make an informed decision, we have compiled a list of the top 9 recurring billing software. Each of these software options comes with its own unique features and pricing plans, so it’s important to carefully consider which one will best suit your business needs.
Top 9 Recurring Billing Software in 2023
1. Chargebee
Rating on Capterra: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Free Trial: Yes
Overview: Chargebee is a comprehensive subscription management and recurring billing platform designed to help businesses streamline their subscription billing process. With Chargebee, businesses can manage subscriptions, automate recurring payments, and handle customer billing and invoicing all in one place to boost subscription revenue.
Chargebee offers a range of features that make recurring payment management easy and efficient.
Top features include:
- Smart Dunning to reduce involuntary churn for recurring payment failures
- Support for multiple payment methods to increase the global footprint and boost conversions
- Multiple currencies’ support (100+) to prioritize customer payment preferences
- No-code and customizable checkout experience for faster payment acceptance
- Support for API integrations for more flexibility and seamless operations
2. Emersion
Rating on Capterra: 5 out of 5 stars
Free Trial: N/A
Overview: Emersion is a billing software solution designed to help Managed Services Providers (MSPs), telecommunication and other service-based businesses automate their billing and invoicing processes. With Emersion, businesses can easily manage their recurring payments, subscription plans, and customer accounts all in one place – with automation.
Businesses can automate several billing functions like usage and fee calculation, invoice generation, service management, reporting, compliance, taxes, and more.
Top features include:
- Customer portal to help with customer sign-up, account activation and account management
- Smart invoice templates to help businesses improve brand perception
- Automated signup and activation process for faster ordering
- Support for multiple payment methods like debit card, credit card, agent collection, and more
- Support for aggregation of all services in a single bill
3. FastSpring
Rating on Capterra: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Free Trial: Yes
Overview: FastSpring is a subscription management software that helps businesses manage their recurring billing processes. The platform offers a wide range of features to simplify subscription management and billing, including flexible pricing options, customizable billing cycles, and automated payment processing.
The platform is designed to be user-friendly with an intuitive interface that allows businesses to manage all aspects of their subscriptions from a single dashboard.
Top features include:
- Wide range of subscription management tools for managing trial periods, upgrades, downgrades, paused subscriptions, and more
- Automated payment failure handling and dunning to help avoid involuntary churn
- Does not require payment information during trial setup – allowing customers to easily sign up for free trials
- Allows easy setup of billing subscriptions, without requiring any code
- Supports API integrations for more flexibility and seamless operations
4. Freshbooks
Rating on Capterra: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Free Trial: Yes
Overview: FreshBooks is an accounting software designed for small businesses as well as self-employed professionals. The platform provides a range of features, including invoicing, expense tracking, time tracking, project management, and payment processing.
FreshBooks offers automated online payment options that enable businesses to streamline their billing and payment processes. With FreshBooks, businesses can set up automated recurring billing and provide clients with the flexibility to pay using their preferred payment method.
Top features include:
- Support for online payment set up in a single click
- Allows businesses to post checkout links on the website or social channels for faster checkouts
- Allows businesses to accept credit card payments online or over the phone and even in-person
- Allows businesses to set up recurring billing profiles for specific clients
- Supports international currencies with Stripe
- Allows to add automation and create a subscription-based client profile
5. RackNap
Rating on Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 stars
Free Trial: Yes
Overview: RackNap is an Ecosystem Orchestration Platform (EOP) designed to enable cloud service providers, data centers, telcos, SaaS, and other subscription-based companies to deliver cloud services and manage business operations with automation. The platform provides a range of features to help SaaS providers manage recurring billing and invoices.
One of the key features of RackNap is its ability to automate various aspects of the subscription service delivery process.
Top features include:
- Supports end-to-end automation of the entire service ordering to delivering process
- Automated billing that supports multiple payment cycles – Free, One-time, Recurring, Pay-per-use, and Contract plans
- Allows businesses to modify billing according to the billing cycle and number of units purchased
- Supports multi-tier partner management. Businesses can setup up partner ecosystems for their subscription business and manage them through the platform
- Allows businesses to provide a ready-made, white-labeled marketplace to partners
- Supports multiple integrations with various payment gateways as well as third-party software solutions for delivering an enhanced customer experience
6. Recurly
Rating on Capterra: 4.6 out of 5 stars
Free Trial: Yes
Overview: Recurly is a popular recurring billing and subscription management software designed for businesses of all sizes. The platform provides a range of features, including flexible subscription billing, payment processing, and customer management.
One of the key features of Recurly is its ability to manage complex subscription billing scenarios. The platform supports a range of billing models, including metered billing, usage-based billing, and tiered pricing, allowing businesses to create customized subscription plans to suit their specific needs.
Top features include:
- Support for multiple payment gateways for accepting global payments
- Support for customer account management with self-service portals
- Ability to handle customer upgrades, downgrades, and cancellations with a few clicks
- Reporting and analytics tools to provide businesses insights into the subscription business
- Tools and features to reduce involuntary churn management
7. Sage Intacct
Rating on Capterra: 4.2 out of 5 stars
Free Trial: N/A
Overview: Sage Intacct is a cloud-based financial management software designed for small and mid-sized businesses. The platform provides a range of features, including subscription billing, revenue recognition, and financial reporting.
Sage Intacct provides features for revenue recognition and deferred revenue management, improving the accuracy of financial reporting and compliance.
Top features include:
- Automated accounting for reducing manual billing errors and saving time
- Automated identification of various SaaS metrics to help businesses predict future revenue
- Automated revenue recognition and seamless data flows
- Data-rich and flexible dashboards for greater business insights
8. Zoho Subscriptions
Rating on Capterra: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Free Trial: Yes
Overview: Zoho Subscriptions is a recurring billing and subscription management software designed for growing businesses. The platform provides a range of features, including flexible subscription billing, payment processing, and customer management.
The platform has several great subscription management and recurring billing features related to customer upgrades, downgrades, cancellations, etc.
Top features include:
- Automated subscription billing frequencies, cycles, proration, etc.
- Support for multiple payment modes – online and offline
- Ability to customize plans, provide add-ons, and offer coupons
- Ability to tailor the subscription experience like payment pages, customer portals, pricing tables, and more
- Can generate 30+ analytical reports related to sales, churn, revenue, subscription activity, and more
- Supports powerful REST APIs for creating automated workflow rules and setting up email alerts and custom features
9. Zuora
Rating on Capterra: 3.9 out of 5 stars
Free Trial: Yes
Overview:
Zuora provides modern billing solutions that are designed to meet the billing and invoicing needs of subscription businesses. The platform provides a range of features, including flexible subscription billing, payment processing, and customer management.
One of the key features of Zuora is its ability to manage complex subscription billing scenarios. The platform supports a range of billing models, including metered billing, usage-based billing, and tiered pricing, allowing businesses to create customized subscription plans to suit their specific needs.
Top features include:
- Supports over 50 pricing models with the ability to apply discounts, set billing triggers, and more
- Supports omnichannel purchase flow (from quoting, service partners, website, and more)
- Supports order orchestration to quickly record changes in subscriptions (upgrade, downgrade)
- Gives the ability to combine subscriptions with other physical goods and manage everything through a single platform
Top Recurring Billing Software – Quick Comparison Table
| Features | Chargebee | Emersion | FastSpring | Freshbooks | RackNap | Recurly | Sage Intacct | Zoho Subscriptions | Zuora |
| Plans Starting | USD 249/month | N/A | N/A | USD 8.50/month | USD 750/month | N/A | N/A | USD 49/ month | N/A |
| Free Trial/Free Plan | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple Currencies Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple Payment Gateways | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Churn Management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Integration support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Invoice Customization | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Self-service customer portal | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Factors to consider when selecting a Recurring Billing Software
When you’re searching for recurring billing software, you must keep certain factors in mind before finalizing a solution. We’ve discussed a few of them below:
- Advanced features: Look for software that offers basic billing features as well as advanced features that are supported by technologies like Artificial Intelligence and automation. The platform must support flexible billing cycles, customizable invoices, automated payment processing, automated dunning management, reporting, dashboards, and more.
- Integration: Check if the software can integrate with your existing systems, such as your accounting software or your customer relationship management system (CRM). This will help you maintain a smooth flow of operations.
- Security: Ensure that the software has robust security measures in place to protect your customer’s payment information.
- Scalability: Consider if the software can scale along with your business and whether it can handle the increasing volume of transactions.
- Pricing: Evaluate the pricing structure, including any transaction fees or monthly subscription fees, and ensure that it aligns with your budget and revenue projections. Free trials are also a great way to check the software before investing in it.
- Support: Look for a software provider that offers reliable customer support to help you troubleshoot any issues that arise.
- User-friendliness: Choose software that is easy to use and navigate, with a simple and intuitive interface that your team can quickly learn and master. This is also important if the platform allows customers self-service options. Your customers too should be able to use the software easily.
Whether you are looking for a simple solution to manage subscriptions or a more complex platform to handle invoicing and accounting, there is a software option that can streamline your billing processes and improve your cash flow management. By carefully considering your specific needs and requirements, you can choose the recurring billing software that is best suited for your business and take advantage of the many benefits it has to offer.
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Disclaimer: This article aims to provide information about the recurring billing software of different vendors as available in the public domain in April 2023 for general informational purposes only. Vendors may change their product or service pricing and features from time to time. Updated information should be verified from the respective vendor’s site, before making any purchase. Though we make our best endeavors to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date, we do not guarantee its 100% accuracy or timeliness.
