Master Recurly with our step-by-step tutorial, detailed feature walkthrough, and expert tips.
Explore the key features that make Recurly powerful for payments workflows.
Machine learning-powered payment optimization that analyzes transaction patterns to maximize recovery rates through intelligent retry timing and routing
Recovering an additional $200K annually in subscription revenue through ML-optimized payment retry timing and gateway routing
Automatic gateway selection based on historical performance data, routing each transaction through the provider most likely to process it successfully
Routing European card transactions through Adyen while sending US transactions through Stripe based on historical approval rate data
Support for subscriptions, usage-based billing, one-time charges, prepaid credits, ramp pricing, and hybrid models with accurate proration
Implementing a ramp pricing deal where an enterprise customer starts at $5K/month and scales to $20K/month over 12 months with automatic billing adjustments
Handle multiple concurrent subscriptions per account with independent billing cycles, pricing, and lifecycle management
Managing a customer with separate subscriptions for platform access, API usage, and support tier each with different billing dates and terms
Configurable dunning workflows with ML-optimized retry sequences, customer communication templates, and escalation rules by segment
Running different dunning sequences for high-value enterprise accounts versus self-serve customers with appropriate communication tone and frequency
Real-time reporting on MRR, ARR, churn, LTV, cohort performance, and revenue recognition with exportable data and API access
Providing the CFO with a real-time dashboard showing net revenue retention, expansion MRR, and churn breakdown by plan tier and cohort
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.
Now that you know how to use Recurly, it's time to put this knowledge into practice.
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Tutorial updated March 2026