Chargebee vs Recurly: Subscription Billing Showdown

Overview Comparison

When You Need More Than Stripe

Both Chargebee and Recurly sit on top of payment processors like Stripe. Why add another layer? These platforms provide subscription management features that Stripe's native billing lacks: sophisticated dunning, revenue recognition, complex pricing support, and analytics.

For simple subscription needs, Stripe Billing suffices. Once pricing gets complex or involuntary churn becomes significant, dedicated subscription platforms add value.

Pricing Model Support

Chargebee excels at supporting diverse pricing models. Usage-based pricing, hybrid models, tiered pricing, and custom enterprise deals all work well. The flexibility helps B2B SaaS companies with complex pricing requirements.

Recurly handles most pricing models but is less flexible at the edges. If your pricing is relatively standard with some usage components, Recurly works fine. For highly custom or experimental pricing, Chargebee provides more room.

Revenue Recovery

Recurly is famous for revenue recovery. Their intelligent retry logic, card updater integration, and dunning optimization recover more failed payments than competitors. Claims of recovering 5-10% additional revenue are substantiated by case studies.

Chargebee also has strong dunning and recovery capabilities. The difference is marginal for most companies, but at scale with significant transaction volume, Recurly's edge in recovery can translate to meaningful revenue.

Integration with Email Marketing

Subscription billing events should trigger customer communication. Payment failures need recovery emails. Upgrades deserve celebration. Renewals benefit from reminders. Sequenzy integrates with both platforms to automate billing-related email sequences.

Pricing Comparison

Chargebee publishes starting prices: $249/month for Launch, scaling based on revenue. Recurly does not publish pricing, requiring custom quotes. Both take percentage fees on top of payment processor costs.

For most SaaS companies, total costs are similar between platforms. The decision should be based on feature fit rather than price differences.

When to Choose Chargebee

Choose Chargebee for complex pricing flexibility. It makes sense when you experiment with pricing models frequently. Chargebee fits companies wanting comprehensive analytics and quote-to-cash workflow support.

When to Choose Recurly

Choose Recurly for maximum revenue recovery. It makes sense when involuntary churn is a significant problem. Recurly fits high-volume subscription businesses where recovery optimization moves the needle meaningfully.

Consider Stripe Billing First

Before adding either platform, consider whether Stripe Billing meets your needs. For straightforward subscriptions without complex pricing or severe recovery challenges, Stripe's native capabilities may suffice at lower cost and complexity. Add Chargebee or Recurly when you genuinely need their advanced features.

Our Recommendation

For most SaaS companies, start with Stripe Billing and add a subscription platform only when needed. If you do need advanced subscription management, choose between Chargebee and Recurly based on whether pricing flexibility or revenue recovery is your primary concern. Use Sequenzy for billing-triggered email automation regardless of platform.