An in-depth guide on the Subscription Billing Platforms (plus five alternatives)

Most subscription billing platforms let you:

• Automated billing, and payments.
• Manage and customize any subscription or trial model.
• Provide a self-service portal to clients for managing their accounts (including details about seating as well as payment information and more).
• Offer and manage one-time add-ons coupons, add-ons, or additional.
• Gather metrics and analyze reports on monthly recurring revenues.

The majority of organizations that manage subscription billing will need solutions to handle different aspects of managing subscription billing for example:

• Payment processing.
• Prevention of chargebacks and the prevention of fraud.
• Incorporating and paying consumption tax.
• Legal Compliance.
• and more.

Certain subscription billing platforms don't cover these essential elements in controlling subscriptions.

Additionally, you'll have be aware of whether the platform you're using to manage your billing has firms that are comparable to yours. As an example, certain companies that offer billing offer only offer support for SaaS firms, while other solutions offer support for companies selling physical items or products (e.g. fitness clubs, food club memberships, or remote financial services).

     In this in this post, we will review five of the best bill-paying platforms that allow subscriptions, stating the aspects of their billing processes they can accommodate, the other options you'll need to integrate and the type of business they can support.    

Our service lets SaaS businesses handle all the details that is described above. This article will begin by taking a deeper analysis of . The remaining options on the list are geared towards e-commerce and businesses that offer physical goods or services.

Table of Contents

•       Recurly
•       Chargebee
•       Chargify
•       Zuora

Complete Subscription Billing System for Global Software Companies

It's a full payments system that is designed to be a service to SaaS companies as well as businesses who sell digital and/or downloadable products. With the help of B2B and B2C software companies can manage:

• Trials, multiple subscription choices, one-time add-ons and subscriptions as well as many other.
• Automatic invoices and notifications to customers.
• Payment processing (for tons of payment methods around the globe).
• Self-service portal that is completely managed by clients.
• Analytics and reportage.
• And there's plus.

Additionally, takes on the risk associated with transactions and we take control of chargebacks and fraud prevention as well as the collection and payment of taxes on consumption, as well as legal compliance.

If you decide to expand, there won't be any surprise costs as the complete package of features is available at an affordable price that is based upon the volume of transactions you perform which means you'll only be charged after transactions take place.

In the following sections in the sections to follow, we will take a deeper review of how you can:

•       Make Custom Subscription Modelsand Subscriptions and Trials with no codes
•       Let Customers manage the details of their accounts through a user-friendly portal
•       Make Your Checkout Process More Effective to Increase Conversions
•       Securing Your business from legal Liability of Transactions
•       Let Gather and Remit VAT and Sales Tax for You
•       Automate payment failure handling and reduce The amount of cash that is lost
•       Automatically Gather Key Metrics and view detailed reports

Design Custom Subscription Models and Subscriptions and trial without code

The majority of companies require a range of models for recurring billing and trial models to meet the demands of different product lines and markets. Also, the models that you are using in the beginning might aren't the most efficient in the long run as your company develops.

Many billing solutions allow the creation of custom subscription plans, but you'll require your developers team to configure these custom plans by hand (with very little or no assistance from your service provider for billing solutions).

offers lots of options built-in, meaning that anyone can set up customized subscription plans with no experience in technologies.

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

• Cost of a free trial or use-based trial.
• Automatic billing when the trial has ended (or the customer can manually enroll for a subscription).
• You are able to set the frequency of your bill and/or the date (or allow your clients to choose).
• Usage-based billing.
• Coupons, discounts or prorated amounts, as well as the chance to purchase add-ons for one time.
• Automatically store information about payment (or permit customers to make the decision).
• Auto-renew for a new subscription plan.
• and more.

If you're in need of even more customisation, make use of's API as well as Webhooks Library to build your custom subscription models. The developers are on hand to help you build the ideal solution, and to answer all questions that you might need to ask.

Allow customers to manage their account details through a user-friendly and simple site

provides a self-service portal the customers can access:

• Subscriptions that are active and inactive (or trial subscriptions).
• Order history (and ID numbers).
• License keys and download histories.
• Payment details.
• Contact details.
• Plus.

On this site, clients can control upgrades or downgrades as well as bank account and credit card information, and numerous other things, without having to call the customer support.

controls the entire website with a manner that means it doesn't require. However, you'll retain full control over the appearance and experience of your website. The result is a unified experience for your customers without putting additional stress on your team of developers.

Improve the Checkout Process of your business to increase conversions

For most subscription-based billing options, you'll require an additional solution to manage payments and check-out (which will result in additional costs and software for handling).

allows for subscription management and checkout along with payment processingall from the same system.

Over the course of nearly two decades, we have gained working with software companies, we have gained valuable expertise in optimizing checkout for increased conversions. In particular, clients are more likely to follow their purchase when:

• Accept the preferred method of payment.
• The funds are accepted upon the first time.
• Check-out occurs with the native language as well as the currency.
• The design and style of the checkout process is in line with to the general design and style of the website.

Each of these are part of the platform

• preferred method of payment: allows you to accept the most commonly used payment methods around the world.
• Rates of authorization for payment that are high: Each card network and the bank who issued it, has its own acceptable levels of fraudulent transactions and chargebacks. Be sure to comply with these regulations so you're able to maintain the high rates of authorization. Additionally the transactions are more likely to be approved if the gateway is an official legal entity located within the same place as the user. Works with several payment gateways across the world, and sends each transaction through that gateway that has the highest rate of approval for that area.
• Automated currency conversion that converts the price in the currency used by the buyer. You can choose to choose a specific amount set for each place or convert in real-time.
• Checkout translations in different languages: will also help you to translate the checkout process into local languages. You may choose to choose the right local language for the purchaser's place of residence, or let them choose the preferred one.
• Fully custom-designed checkouts With HTML0, you are able to choose from three checkout options including an embedded checkout, a pop-up checkout and a storefront controlled by our team. Each time, you are in complete control of the design and appearance of your checkout page or the one you are using. Most checkouts provide a variety of options of personalization (e.g. incorporate the logo, or select from a pre-defined list of colors) However, checkouts are able to be customized to the pixels.

Guard Your Company from the Legal Liability of Transactions

As the experienced SaaS firms know, it's essential to clearly define the conditions and terms of the subscription and have users accept those conditions before they can receive payments. It can be a difficult task to decide what should be included in the contract. The process becomes more complex when transacting international because the specifics of what a contract must be made up of will vary for every state, country, and even province. If you do not include the required elements, you could face severe penalties or be disqualified from operating business within that specific jurisdiction.

Additionally, many states have extra regulations and legislation for automatic periodic payments which exceed what is stipulated in the contract. In the case of India, for instance. India is a country that restricts automated payments to the amount of Rs15,000 (approximately $180 as of time of this posting). If the recurring amount is above that limit, users have to authorize each time. In order to avoid penalties, you must be able to submit an electronic mandate for the Reserve Bank of India that states how you intend to follow the guidelines.

Staying current with laws like these that apply to any region is crucial for any company.

To our customers who do not have concerns over this, it's not an problem since we make sure that the transaction is in compliance with the local law and regulations. The legal department of our company is always up to date on all the legalities of transactions and will ensure that all the necessary procedure and paperwork is in place to process the automatic payment.

It is completely compliant with EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in addition to additional regulations.

Don't forget to collect and remit the Sales and VAT to You

SaaS businesses didn't require be tax payers, however the tax rules for software companies are evolving and being more strongly enforced.

Numerous payment systems will help with collecting tax on consumption However, you're accountable for making sure you collect the proper amount and paying those taxes after each tax season. If you don't make sure you collect and pay the proper amount (and the right form) of consumption tax within the appropriate dates, you may be liable to heavy penalties and/or be barred from conducting any business from that location.

automatically adds the appropriate amount (and the type) of tax on consumption onto the customer-facing price and remits those taxes for you..

We're a fervent advocate of tax-free transactions as in other instances that require specialization. We also take the lead on any audits.

Automate handling of payments that fail and reduce churn

Between the first payment as well as each subsequent one, there can be a myriad of issues which prevent the payment from being accepted and causes customers to become churned. Working with numerous companies, we've developed automatic methods to deal with common issues that lead to churn. We also recover the majority of payments that failed.

Below are a few tools that will help you decrease churn and unsuccessful transaction:

• Reminders that are proactiveIn our experiences, notifying customers about coming payment dates, and also notifying them about expired payment methods is among the most efficient strategies to cut down on uninvoluntary churn , and also the inability of transactions. Through this application , you can create automatic reminders for upcoming payments.
• Multi-reminders In the event that a purchase does not work customers typically need multiple reminders until they resolve the issue (e.g. to add money to the account, change their payment method, etc.). You can choose to remind the customer for two, three, five, seven 14or 21 days following the initial failed payment ( you will try again at the end of each reminder).
• Service that continues: Another effective way to cut down on uninvoluntary churn is to keep your service as you try to get the money. This can provide a better user experience as the client has an opportunity to address concerns without the unpleasant feeling of having shut down service. The more enjoyable the customer's experience and the better chance they'll stay.
• Reactivation is simple: Once all reminders were sent, it's possible to stop the service instead of cancelling the user's subscription. This will allow subscribers to restart their subscription without the stress of registering again (onboarding can be a major obstacle to restarting a service).

We've already talked about it. can also automatically try retrying each payment using an alternative processor (without any member of your team needing to move one finger) to fix any failures in payments due to problems with the network.

Automatically collect the key metrics, and then view the detailed report

Analytics and reporting can assist you answer questions such as:

• Which products are contributing to my margin of profit?
• What products have proven to be most efficient and which ones consume energy?
• Which coupons, promotions, or discounts attract greater numbers of customers?
• Which subscription model is most effective?
• Which markets perform best and have the greatest potential?

It has two dashboards in the main dashboard, which include revenue overview dashboard, and the dashboard for subscription overview.

The revenue overview dashboard offers a comprehensive overview of the entire company' performance, including:

• The location of your clients.
• What currencies and payment options are clients most comfortable with.
• Net sales per product.
• The number of transactions in each country.
• Plus.

The subscription overview dashboard allows you to track your monthly recurring income (MRR) and dig deeper into what's impacting your MRR in the course of time. The dashboard offers details on:

• Cross-sells, upsells and add-ons.
• The worth that every customer.
• The entire turnover of customers.
• When the cycle of billing churn happens most often.
• The value over the life of a client.
• Plus.

It is possible to customize and save any report and communicate them to key stakeholders through the dashboard, or via an image file, CSV or XLSX spreadsheet export.

Four Other Subscription Management Platforms

Recurly

Recurly is a recurring-billing and management platform designed by companies that sell:

• Software for B2C and B2B.
• Mobile app.
• and Media. and Media.
• Consumer and retail goods.
• Professional Services.
• eLearning.

Recurly is able to integrate easily to various payment gateways but you're accountable for the configuration and administration of every one. A majority of businesses that use Recruly can also integrate software solutions for:

• Taxes (e.g., Avalara).
• Accounting (e.g. the QuickBooks).
• The security against fraudulent activities (e.g. Sift- customers are protected automatically through Sift).

Additionally, you'll be accountable for taxes and transaction costs, so you'll likely require a department specifically to manage the compliance. (With  everything, it can be covered within one set and managed entirely by our specialists.)

Chargebee

Chargebee is a subscription-based bill and revenue management system that was designed to:

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

Similar to Recurly, Chargebee is primarily an online , subscription-based system for billing, which means you'll likely require other solutions to stop the fraud of taxes, fraud, payment processing, as well as many other. Chargebee provides a wide range of connections (e.g., Stripe, PayPal, SalesForce, and QuickBooks) however, they are not included in each of the Chargebee plans.

Chargify          MQvqTHEHDfcWrtvtwwtY

Chargify offers subscription-based billing to B2B SaaS firms.

There's a good chance that you'll require additional options to prevent fraud, taxes payments processing, tax prevention and much many more. Yet, Chargify does offer simple accounting software that can recognize revenues (for diverse businesses).

Chargify is also collaborating together with SaaSOptics to form the company Maxio. Through the merger, businesses who sign up to these Chargify will have the ability to control their finances, including automated expense reports as well as revenue recognition, and automate writing reports.

Zuora

Zuora can be described as an end-to-end revenue platform with an application for managing subscriptions. The majority of their customers come from the following fields:

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

Zuora generally offers subscription-based pricing models (e.g., a usage-based freemium service that can be upgraded to a paid plan) They also provide features that streamline processes for the accounting, dunning and handling payments (although certain businesses are able to connect to other payment processing platforms).

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