Recurly is completely free with 3 features included. No paid tiers offered, making it perfect for budget-conscious users.
The engine uses machine learning trained on billions of transaction data points to optimize payment recovery. When a payment fails, the engine analyzes the failure reason, payment method, historical patterns, and customer segment to determine the optimal retry timing and strategy. It can also route retries through different gateways if the primary processor is experiencing issues. Recurly claims this recovers up to 12% more revenue than standard retry approaches.
Both are comprehensive subscription billing platforms, but they have different strengths. Recurly excels in payment optimization and revenue recovery with its ML-powered engine, making it stronger for established businesses focused on reducing churn. Chargebee offers more pricing model flexibility and stronger revenue recognition features. Chargebee is often preferred by growing SaaS companies, while Recurly is favored by larger subscription businesses.
Recurly supports over 20 payment gateways including Stripe, Braintree, PayPal, Adyen, Worldpay, CyberSource, and many regional processors. The Intelligent Routing feature can automatically select the best gateway for each transaction based on performance data.
Yes, Recurly supports usage-based billing including metered usage, prepaid credits, and hybrid models that combine subscription fees with usage charges. Usage data can be submitted through the API, and Recurly handles calculation, invoicing, and collection of usage-based charges alongside subscription fees.
It's completely free — no credit card required.
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Last verified March 2026