Payment and Subscription Control: Comprehensive Comparison of 5 Options -

A majority of billing and subscription management solutions let you:

• Create a variety of model of trial or subscription (e.g. either a free or paid trials, Fixed price or usage-based subscriptions).
• Control active subscriptions (e.g. upgrading or downgrades, as well as the addition or removal of products).
• Invoices or payment notification notifications can be sent.
• Provide your customers with a self-serve portal where they can control their account.
• Read reports about the most important metrics that affect the revenue.

However, most businesses find that they need to use additional software for other aspects of the payment lifecycle, such as:

• Payment processing
• Tax collection for VAT and sales tax
• Look up translations
• Conversion of currency
• Chargebacks
• And more...

If you require any of these features, you'll need to make certain that they're provided by the billing software you choose (or seamlessly incorporate with other solutions).

In this guide, we compare five options by examining the subscription management and billing capabilities they offer and the additional features they offer that begin with an in-depth look into our solution to SaaS businesses, .

 Table of Contents

1.   Chargebee
2.   Recurly
3.   Chargify
4.   Zoho Subscriptions

1.  The Subscription Management Process, Payment Processing, and Much More SaaS Companies

offers several options for managing subscriptions (which we'll discuss in the following), however, it's much more than an online platform for managing subscriptionsit's also the Merchant of Record (MoR) for software businesses.

 In our capacity as MoR, we accept transaction responsibility on behalf of you. This means we

• Make sure you collect and remit the right amount of sales tax, VAT as well as GST on behalf of you.
• Check that all the processes and documents have been put in place to ensure you are in compliance with transaction law at every place you sell.
• We take the lead on audits.

 Plus provides comprehensive solutions for the entire payment lifecycle including:

• The localized checkout (i.e. currency conversions, language translations design customization and much more)
• International processing for payments (for many payment options)
• Fraud detection
• Chargebacks
• Analytics and reporting
• and there's more...

In the next sections, we dig into some of these highlights and services in greater detail.

Recurring and Customized Subscription Modells for B2C and B2B

It is easy to setup nearly any subscription scenario in just a couple of clicks. The majority of subscriptions without writing code, but you can also create more complex subscription logic via our API or webhooks library.

Here's a summary of the options available to you:

 Trials

Certain subscription management software will always collect payment details at the time potential customers sign-up for trials, even free trial periods. Some potential clients may be enticed to lose interest and may not complete the registration process. You can decide whether or not to collect payment details in every trial.

It is also possible to:

• Make trials of any length.
• Make free, paid or use-based trial.
• Choose to automatically bill the user after the trial is over or let them begin a subscription manually.
• Reactivate subscribers' old trial accounts.
• You can choose when to send reminders of ending trials (e.g. 3 days before the trial ends).
• Automatically detect when a single user tries to sign up to multiple trial accounts and let only one trial account.

 Subscriptions

Each product inside a company could see more success from various subscription plans. In particular, products with lower quality could be better off if sold in a monthly basis and top-tier items may benefit more if they are sold through an annual subscription.

Additionally, what was effective at the time might not be the most effective option in the near future.

This is why we allow you to:

• Choose the subscription frequency and dates for billing (or let your customers decide).
• Make subscriptions auto-renewable and need manual renewal (i.e., customers have to enter payment details each time they're billed), or ask your staff to start the charge using the API (this is a good choice for billing on the basis of usage).
• Discounts and coupons are offered.
• Allow prorated billing if a customer wants to upgrade, downgrade, or stop the service halfway throughout the billing cycle.
• Include one-time purchases on the first bill, but do not include the recurring bills.
• Manage upsell and cross-sell products at checkout.
• Offer customers the choice the storage of the information about payment (or let them decide on behalf of all customers).
• Automate the renewal of certain subscriptions and other subscriptions (e.g., when retiring an item or service).

 Recurring Billing and Invoicing

lets you manage B2B orders along with B2C purchases using Digital Invoicing.

Digital Invoicing lets you:

• Customize and manage quotes that are updated in real time (including customized tags, coupons, discounts, and more).
• Set expiration dates for quotes.
• Include notes to your customer or prospective customer.

Fully Branded Self-Service Features to Your Customers

offers a self-service portal through which customers are able to:

• Renewal of subscriptions
• Control billing times
• Change payment information
• View payment history
• And much more ...

We handle all the backend maintenance for this portal to ensure that your team does not have to.

As your MoR, we manage your customers' billing inquiries, including cancellation requests, billing problems and questions regarding their subscriptions, and more. Our platform includes a customer portal that makes it easy for your customers to manage their subscriptions.

The image below shows an example of a self-service portal, however, to provide a seamless customer experience, the entire portal can be customized to match your branding.

It is also possible to enable customer-generated quotes. This allows buyers to make a quote using the content of the cart, without having to contact your sales team. This is extremely helpful to attract potential buyers who require approval prior to making an purchase.

Local Transaction as well as Indirect Tax Compliance made Simple

There are two main aspects of compliance when it comes to recurring transactions:

1. Conformity to transactions (i.e., the systems you have in place to collect payment).
2. Tax on sales, VAT and GST compliance (i.e., how you collect and remit indirect tax).

In order to stay clear of penalties and fines You must be aware of both transaction laws and tax law for all jurisdiction you do business within. In this section, we discuss:

• Some examples of laws governing transactions that affect subscription-based companies.
• If software firms must collect sales tax, VAT as well as GST.
• How do you handle this .

Transaction Compliance

Each state, nation as well as province have their individual laws and regulations on how businesses can collect payment and keep customer details. The majority of businesses know about privacy laws like GDPR. However, there are many transactions regulations that aren't widely recognized.

In certain nations, including Canada and Korea the customers can be eligible to receive a prorated refund if they cancel their subscription before the end of the period for payment. This is only one instance for one part of the entire subscription cyclethe law and regulations are continuously changing.

For the majority of subscription management tools it's yourself to research the laws and regulations governing transactions and implement the necessary procedures. Additionally, some subscription platforms do not provide solutions to ensure compliance with the laws and regulations (e.g., some services don't allow prorated refunds).

However, our team manages all it for you. Our legal team keeps up-to-date with the relevant laws as well as regulations. We assist you implement the necessary procedures for ensuring compliance. also supports all necessary subscription model for conformity.

Sales Tax, VAT and GST Compliance

Software companies didn't always have to pay the sales tax or VAT, and GST, and in several jurisdictions, it's the case. However, tax laws for digital services and goods are changing fast in many jurisdictions.

More and more nations are now requiring software firms to pay some kind of indirect tax. Some nations are now requiring companies that use digital technology to file tax forms even though they qualify for tax exemption.

In the end, paying sales tax is usually more complex than filling out a tax form and then wire the money. More and more nations are imposing more requirements to stay compliant.

Example:

• Some countries like Colombia, Japan, Mexico, Serbia, and others need representation locally, meaning you have employ someone who has an actual presence in the country to be responsible for your tax obligations. This can cost anywhere between $5k and $15k each year.
• Countries such as Serbia, United Kingdom, Taiwan, and others require electronic invoices from all companies that are selling in their country. The EU will be introducing all-encompassing electronic invoice requirements before 2028.
• States like Taiwan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Vietnam, and others require you to file taxes on income as well as to indirect taxes.

takes care of the entire procedure of collecting and paying VAT, sales tax along with GST to you .

We will ensure that the correct amount (and type) of indirect tax is taken at checkout (including tax-exempt transactions within the US as well as 0% reverse charge when permitted abroad).

Our team then remits these taxes on your behalf and makes sure that all necessary processes are in place to ensure complete conformity.

Finally, if a country or state asks you questions about tax compliance, our team will advise you on how to respond -- even in the form of copy and paste answers.

International Payment Processing for Dozens of payment methods

Most payment processors focus on a certain area, and all processors are limited in their list of payment methods that they support. As an example, certain payment processors are geared towards supporting transactions within the U.S. So, they'll only support those payment options that are widely used in the U.S. (e.g., Mastercard or Apple Pay) and they aren't going to support something such as UnionPay that is widely utilized in China.

Additionally, many payment processors will only process payments for certain currencies or countries. For example, they may be able to support Amazon Pay but they won't take payments coming from Turkey.

SaaS companies that want to accept payment from all over the globe must connect to and manage numerous payment processors, which can be quite a daunting undertaking.

The  SaaS companies automatically have access to a variety of payment processors that are specialized in international transactions. maintains relationships with multiple payment processors and dozens of credit card companies so there is no need to. Turn off our localized payments option and you can begin accepting international payment right away.

Also, it offers a range of options to make sure that payments are successful and reduce involuntary churn, including:

• Local payment gateways: Transactions are more likely to be accepted if the payment gateway is in the same location as the customer (e.g. for example, a purchase originated in Germany is processed through a payment gateway located within Germany). Automatically routes transactions through the gateway that has the highest authorization rates for that area.
• Rerouting of payments by the payment gateway: If a payment fails at the first try, the system immediately retries to make the payment again by using a second gatewayand all this without either you or any other member of your support team having to get involved. This often solves payment failures caused by connectivity or system issues.
• Reminders for payments that are proactive. If a customer's credit card is due to expire, you should notify the cardholder prior tothe expiration date to ensure they are able to change the information on their payment. Use our ready-to-use templates for notification or create your own notification.
• Multiple follow-up messages. If a recurring payment is rejected You can set up multiple failure notices to be sent out two seven, five 14 and 21 days after the first failure. Prior to sending each reminder, will retry the payment.

Tailor-Made Checkout to Reflect your Visual Image

Most payment solutions have a checkout option that comes with several possibilities for customizing it, like including your logo or choosing the colors. However, these customization options don't always represent your brand's visual identity to create an effortless customer experience, and make your checkout more efficient for conversions.

 provides custom branding tools and CSS-overrides to ensure that you can make extensive changes choices to alter the appearance and feel of your shopping cart.

Also, you'll be able to access Our store Builder Library -- a JavaScript library that allows you to customize the buyer process leading to checkout.For instance, you could build a cross-sell or an upsell funnel. This lets you optimize the buyer experience for higher rates of conversion.

checkout comes in three versions three ways: pop-up, embedded or as a storefront on the web. Web storefronts redirect your customers to a different page that is hosted by .

With any of these options (including the web storefront) it is possible to personalize the checkout process with branding tools as well as CSS overrides to match your branding.

Here are several other features that offers to help you maximize your shopping experience:

• localized checkout:Let customers choose their preferred language and preferred currency or let them select the most appropriate currency and language based on the location of the customer. Supports 19+ languages as well as over 23 currencies.
  
• Support for developers that is personalized:Our team is always eager to assist you in creating the perfect checkout experience for your company. Certain companies provide only personalized support to their largest customers, and neglect small businesses. At , we believe every company deserves the same attention and consideration.

Analytical and Comprehensive Reporting

• Which are the most of my top-paying clients located?
• What are the products that generate the most money?
• Which discounts bring in revenue in comparison to. taking revenue away?
• And there are many more...

The reports are broken down into two dashboards main: Revenue Overview and Subscription Overview.

If you can't locate the report you're looking for then you are able to customize the report you want and save it to your dashboard. Our support team is there to assist you in creating custom reports to find the answers you need.

Webhooks and data API make it easy to pull in revenue and subscription information to any software for business intelligence or CRM that you employ. Any report can also be downloaded as a CSV PNG, CSV, or XLSX file.

All-in-One Pricing (No Hidden Fees)

Most payment service providers offer a flat fee for payment processing and certain core functions, like an embeddable checkout. However, you'll typically need to shell out extra money to get additional services like the conversion of currencies or the detection of fraud. Few payment processors are a complete solution, so the majority of businesses need to put an additional piece of software. It's hard to expand globally when your business grows because the price will grow as you add new features and applications.

is a full solution to pay that is ideal for SaaS businesses that includes everything in one flat-rate fee dependent on the number of transactions . In addition, you'll only be paid when transactions occur.

Next, we cover four additional payment options for subscription-based businesses.

2. Chargebee

Here are some aspects of Chargebee attributes:

• Usage-based billing, automated invoice, proration, and much more
• Automated processes for accounts receivable
• Subscription and revenue recognition models that are compliant with the law. models
• Support for in-app purchases
• Self-service portal available to customers
• Smart dunning

You can use the Chargebee platform free of charge for the first $100k in income earned. After that, they offer different pricing plans for different ranges of monthly income.

3. Recurring

Recurly is a recurring-billing platform designed for optimising your growth strategies. Recurly is a simple integration with a variety of payment gateways and merchant accounts However, you will need to cover these additional solutions on top of the Recurly plan.

There are other highlights of Recurly's features:

• Customizable subscription models
• Automated and recurring invoicing
• Tools for revenue recovery
• Intelligent retention
• Analytics on customer subscriptions

Recurly provides three pricing options but you must contact the team to inquire about pricing.

4. Chargify

Chargify is a subscription billing application that is on the verge of integrating with SaaSOptics, a Revenue management system. The merger will allow you to automate the management of subscriptions accounting for revenue and expenses as well as SaaS metrics tracking all from the same revenue management software.

Below are some highlights of the features Chargify provides:

• Usage-based and global billing
• Tools for billing and recognition of revenue instruments
• System of billing analytics and metrics
• Integrations built-in to other software (e.g. accounting software like QuickBooks as well as Xero)
• International payment gateways

Chargify offers a price plan for businesses that earn at least 75k in monthly billings, but, if you are earning more or you want access to all features, it is necessary to reach their team.

5. Zoho Subscriptions

Zoho Subscriptions is a component from the Zoho platform (a suite of software to help you manage every aspect of your enterprise, e.g., CRMs and ERPs). If you already use this feature of the Zoho platform, this could be a great alternative. For new users, they typically find it has unforgiving learning curve.

A few benefits of Zoho Subscriptions comprise:

• Multiple pricing models
• Invoices with tax-compliant customization
• Multi-currency conversions
• More than 30 pre-built reports that keep track of each phase of the lifecycle of subscriptions
• Support for in-person cash and check transactions (in conjunction with payment via credit card)
• In-the-box integrations that integrate with different billing options (e.g., Stripe, PayPal or others.)
• The tools can be used to design specific workflow rules

Every aspect associated with the Zoho platform is priced separately which includes Zoho Subscriptions, which can make it difficult and expensive to create an all-inclusive payment system.