Happy Valley

Chargebee vs Recurly

Chargebee and Recurly are both payments & billing tools. Chargebee is aimed at enterprise and small businesses, while Recurly is aimed at enterprise.

Chargebee

Subscription billing and revenue management

Recurly

Subscription management for growing brands

PricingPaidPaid · $249
Starting priceNot published$249/mo
Free planNoNo
Free trial—90 days
Built forEnterprise, Small businessesEnterprise
Platformswebweb
CountryUS · 2011US · 2009
Rating——

Choose Chargebee if

Growing SaaS with complex billing.

  • Flexible pricing models
  • Gateway independence
  • Strong revenue operations

Look elsewhere if: Simple subscriptions (Stripe Billing).

Choose Recurly if

Consumer and media subscription businesses.

  • Strong failed payment recovery
  • Good for consumer subscriptions
  • Gateway flexibility

Look elsewhere if: Early SaaS (Stripe Billing).

Chargebee vs Recurly pricing

Chargebee

  • Flow0.80% of volumeOr $99/mo + 0.65%; $66K/mo breakeven; 100M usage events
  • EnterpriseCustomMulti-entity, account hierarchy, contract terms

Recurly

  • Starter$249/mo+0.9% of billing volume; first $40K/mo included
  • All-AccessCustom<1% of billing volume; $1M volume minimum
  • All-Access for ShopifyCustomRecurly integrated into Shopify

Chargebee · Key features

  • Subscription and usage-based billing
  • Multi-gateway support
  • Dunning and retention flows
  • Invoicing, tax and revenue recognition
  • Subscription analytics
  • Customer self-serve portal

Cons

  • Fees grow with billing volume
  • Implementation effort
  • Overlap with Stripe Billing

Recurly · Key features

  • Subscription plans and promotions
  • Revenue recovery and smart retries
  • Multi-gateway support
  • Subscription analytics
  • Revenue recognition
  • Gift and trial management

Cons

  • Revenue-based fees
  • Less popular with SaaS startups
  • Implementation effort

Chargebee vs Recurly: FAQ

Do Chargebee and Recurly have a free plan?

Chargebee has no free plan. Recurly has no free plan, a 90-day free trial.

Which is better for small businesses, Chargebee or Recurly?

Chargebee lists small businesses as a core audience, while Recurly is aimed more at enterprise.

Not sure yet?