Recurly is a powerful subscription management software that works with multiple payment processors. Stripe, meanwhile, is a powerful payment processor that works with subscriptions. Stripe integrates with hundreds of third-party apps—including Recurly.
Both offer strong tools for invoicing, billing, and preventing the loss of subscribers because of expired cards and other involuntary reasons. Stripe does more with one-time product sales and social selling, while Recurly concentrates on building and keeping your subscriber base. However, it requires a third-party merchant account (such as Stripe). In short:
- Stripe: Best for tech-savvy startups and growing ecommerce businesses, B2B, and international sales
- Recurly: Best for SaaS, streaming, mobile app, and other businesses that are primarily subscription-based
As an alternative, consider Square for in-person plus subscription sales: Recurly lacks an in-person POS, and Stripe Terminal is very basic. Thus, we recommend Square if you run a brick-and-mortar business with subscriptions. One of our top picks for payment processing, POS systems, and more, it’s priced great, has a free and complete POS system, handles subscriptions, and offers banking and other features that let it grow with your business. Read our Square POS review for more details.
Recurly vs Stripe At a Glance
Product type | Software | Payment processor with software |
Monthly fee | $249+ | $0 |
Payment processing | Third-party merchant account | ✓ |
Recurring payments | ✓ | ✓ |
One-time payments | ✓ | ✓ |
Dunning tools | ✓ | |
Chargeback tools | Varies by payment processor | ✓ |
Fraud prevention tools | ✓ | ✓ |
Accepts PayPal | ✓ | No |
International payments | Works with 60+ merchant countries | Works with 45+ merchant countries |
Payout | 2–3 business days | 2–7 business days |
Real-world user reviews* | 4.15 | 4.65 |
*Reviews are averaged over multiple user review sites
When to Use Recurly vs Stripe
The question of Recurly vs Stripe is not a truly fair one, as you can have Recurly and Stripe. Recurly is a Stripe Partner, which means they work well together. Recurly offers more depth to subscription management, while Stripe is an excellent and versatile payment processor. If you like Recurly but want Stripe as a merchant account, simply add Stripe as a payment processor—it doesn’t even have to be the only payment processor you use with Recurly. Scroll on to learn more about the use cases for each.
When to Choose Recurly
PROS | CONS |
---|---|
20+ payment gateways | Minimal fraud controls with basic plan |
Multiple languages, currencies | Requires a separate merchant account |
Excellent dunning control | Lacks a POS solution |
Can accept one-time purchases | More expensive than Stripe |
Recurly Feature Updates and Changes:
Recurly has added several improvements to subscriptions, billing, authentication, reports, and integrations. We highlight the best in this article.
In addition, Recurly changed its pricing structure, adding a free account for small businesses with under $40,000 in revenue per month. This account is only good for 12 months, after which, you are billed. However, it’s a good option if you are a startup with big plans.
Recurly is best for medium, large, or growing businesses with primarily subscription-based products. This can include SaaS, mobile apps, consumer goods (like subscription boxes), digital or streaming media, services, e-learning, or any product or service needing recurring billing. Recurly says its customers have increased their subscriber numbers a hundredfold while preventing involuntary churn.
It is also better if you don’t want to be limited to a specific payment provider (namely, Stripe). With Recurly, you can even use more than one payment provider if you wish, giving your customers more choices.
When to Choose Stripe
PROS | CONS |
---|---|
Free merchant account | Requires some programming skills |
Highly customizable platform | Lacks a POS and reporting solution |
Well-documented APIs | No mobile app |
Payment processing for over 135 currencies | First payout can take up to 14 days |
If you have heavy online and social selling needs and your inventory consists of more than subscriptions, then Stripe is your best bet. It ranks among the best payment gateways, especially for online sales, and the leading B2B payment solutions because of its excellent invoicing and billing tools. It gives you a merchant account and processes domestic and international payments. (Recurly requires a separate merchant account.) It has hundreds of ready-made integrations. While highly versatile, its more advanced features sometimes require coding.
Neither Stripe nor Recurly has their own mobile app. However, several excellent mobile payment apps are made especially for Stripe. Learn more in our Stripe review.
Best for Affordability: Stripe
Recurly Pricing Changes 2023:
Recurly has changed its pricing structure, adding a one-year limited free use of the Core plan. Its prices have increased overall, which is reflected in this update.
Monthly processing fee | $0 | Starting at $249/month (Core Plan*) |
Online processing fee | 2.59% + 30 cents | Varies by payment processor |
Invoicing fee | 3.49% + 49 cents $0/mo. | Varies by payment processor |
Recurring billing/ subscription fee | 3.4% + 30 cents to 3.7% + 30 cents $10/month for custom domain | Varies by payment processor |
ACH/e-check processing fee | 0.8% ($5 cap) | Varies by payment processor |
Virtual terminal fee | 3.4% + 30 cents; add 0.4% for post-payment invoice sends (cap $2) $10/month for custom domain | Varies by payment processor |
In-person/POS fee** | 2.7% + 5 cents $0/mo. | Varies by payment processor |
Chargeback fee | $15 | Varies by payment processor |
Failed transactions fees | $4–$15, depending on the type of transaction | Varies by payment processor |
Discounts | Discounts for nonprofits and high-volume sellers | Varies by payment processor |
High-volume discounts | Custom | Varies by payment processor |
Card reader prices | $59–$249 | Varies by payment processor |
*Custom quotes for Professional and Elite Plans; Core plan free for one year with 0.9% charge for revenue over $40,000 per month; after the year, price rises to $249 per month.
**Both Recurly and Stripe rely on third-party POS software.
Stripe is the least expensive simply because, with Recurly, you pay a monthly fee for the software and still need to pay for a payment processor. It’s possible you may find a less expensive payment processor than Stripe, but it does rank among the cheapest payment processors in addition to offering discounts for nonprofits and high-volume sellers.
When to Use Recurly
Recurly offers three payment plans with monthly plus overage fees. (Source: Recurly)
Recurly has a monthly fee that covers subscriptions to a certain amount—up to $40,000 in revenue with the Core plan, for example. After that, you pay 0.9% of the additional revenue. However, Recurly says its clients see an average return on investment of 12.3x, so if subscriptions are your main source of income, it may well pay for itself and then some.
In 2023, Recurly changed its pricing to make the Core plan free for a year up to $40,000 per month. After that, the pricing rises to $249 per month. The other plans require custom pricing.
Best for Recurring Payments: Recurly
Recurring payments and card on file fee | Varies by payment processor | Standard fee + 0.5%–0.8% |
Credit card management | ✓ | ✓ |
No-code custom checkout | ✓ | Sometimes |
Multiple payment gateways | ✓ | N/A |
Dunning management | ✓ | ✓ |
Recurly offers a multitude of ways to set up billing: prepaid, usage-based, fixed, volume-based, tiered, stairstep, usage-based, and hybrids thereof. By integrating multiple providers, you also give your customers greater choice in how they pay. These things make it superior to Stripe for recurring billing.
However, we were more impressed with the dunning management tools. Like Stripe, it has an account updater so that when a credit card expires or is changed (like after a theft), Recurly gets the updated information with no interruption to the subscription. Even better, it proactively manages expired cards ahead of renewals to prevent declines. Plus, its intelligent retry analyzes reasons for declines and adapts to the transaction. Finally, subscribers can give you more than one payment method so that you have an automatic fallback if one fails. Recurly says its customers report reducing involuntary churn to 1%.
Recurly has an extensive set of tools for dunning management.
(Source: Recurly)
When to Use Stripe
Stripe also uses 3D Secure authentication and smart retries to reduce involuntary churn. Its professed record is less than Recurly’s—38% recovery on average, with an additional 11% if using smart retries. It, too, has prebuilt email reminders you can send for overdue payments. While Recurly does more, Stripe is sufficient for businesses that only do small subscription sales.
Best for Managing Subscriptions: Recurly
Automations | ✓ | ✓ |
Trial management | ✓ | ✓ |
Upgrades, downgrades | ✓ | ✓ |
Self-service subscription management | Cancel and update credit card only | ✓ |
Start subscription with next billing cycle | ✓ | ✓ |
Manage add-ons | ✓ | N/A |
Pause and reactivate subscriptions | ✓ | Limited |
Gift subscriptions | ✓ | With coupons |
2023 Recurly Feature Update:
Recurly has added many features for subscriptions, including:
- More billing models to its Usage Based Billing Add-Ons module
- An Entitlements module which lets you create a catalog of features that customers can access based on their subscription level
- Ramp Pricing, which lets you set a discount for new subscribers that ramps up over time to the full subscription cost
Recurly is the more powerful software for subscriptions; plus, it’s easier to use. With only a few clicks, you can set up a variety of subscription plans, trials, gift subscriptions, and more. You can set prices and start dates or individualize them for customers through the admin channel. Recurly stands out in that it lets you manage add-ons as part of the subscription—for example, a free skillet with a meal box subscription—while Stripe makes these separate purchases. Recurly also lets you pause subscriptions to reactivate at a later date, which may help retention.
In addition to subscriptions, you can create one-time purchases as add-ons. (Source: Recurly)
When to Use Stripe
If you are collecting subscriptions through third-party software, then Stripe may be a better option. Its billing API makes it easy to integrate with websites, mobile apps, and customer relationship management (CRM) systems, plus it integrates with hundreds of software applications. It, too, has trial management, custom start dates, and flexible billing schedules. You can also create coupons for discounts or gift subscriptions.
Best for Billing & Invoicing: Stripe
Invoiced payments fees | Standard rate + 0.4%–0.5% | Varies by processor |
Types of billing | 15+ | 5 |
Customizable invoices | ✓ | ✓ |
Quote-to-cash automation | ✓ | With third-party app |
Plan & Product Catalog | ✓ | ✓ |
B2B | ✓ | ✓ |
Request deposits/down payments | ✓ | Manually added |
Partial payments | ✓ | Manually added |
Refunds via credit | N/A | ✓ |
Stripe takes the lead for invoices. Like Recurly, it offers customizable invoices for one-time or recurring billing, where recurring billing can follow scenarios from per-seat pricing to metered billing. It allows payment by credit card or ACH. (With Recurly, it depends on the merchant account you choose.) Invoices can be paid in installments, and you can create quote-to-cash automations. You can apply tax rates to the entire invoice or individually by line item, allow coupons, and more. For these reasons, it’s also an ideal B2B payment solution.
Stripe lets you make custom invoices. (Source: Stripe)
When to Use Recurly
Recurly may not have some of the tools Stripe offers, but we were impressed with its flexibility when it comes to invoicing for recurring billing or subscriptions. You, of course, can give customers more choices for payment, including paying by PayPal. It also has automated workflows to honor subscriber preferences for billing. We also like the refunds-via-credit feature, as it encourages return customers. Recurly invoices are customizable and work for one-time purchases and recurring bills.
Looking for additional functionality?
See our list of the top-ranking invoicing software and best recurring billing software.
Best for Ecommerce Checkout: Stripe
Invoiced payments fee | Standard fee +0.4%–0.5% | Varies by payment provider |
Payment types | Credit card, debit card, digital wallets, ACH credit, gift cards | Credit card, debit card, digital wallets, ACH credit, gift cards, PayPal, Amazon Pay, SEBA, etc. |
Multichannel (eBay) | With third-party integrations | ✕ |
Buy buttons/cancel buttons | Stripe Payments | ✕ |
Social selling | Stripe Payment Link, Stripe Connect | ✕ |
Ecommerce integrations | 230+ | <5 |
Buy Now Pay Later | Klarna, Afterpay, Clearpay, credit card installments | Varies by payment provider |
PCI compliance | ✓ | ✓ |
One-click checkout | Link with Stripe | Amazon Pay, PayPal |
Stripe blows Recurly away in this category, with nearly 240 ecommerce integrations for everything from online stores to CRM tools like Salesforce. It integrates with multichannel sellers like eBay and lets you create links and buttons for posting on social networks. Stripe has several options for buy now, pay later (BNPL) payments. This is not as important for subscriptions but does give it an edge for large one-time payments. Overall, it’s simply more versatile than Recurly.
Stripe makes it easy to create checkouts for websites or buttons for social sales. (Source: Stripe)
When to Use Recurly
Recurly is no slouch for ecommerce. You can create custom checkout, hosted payment pages, and more. While it does not have social selling or buy buttons on its own, you may find those tools with your payment provider. One advantage it has over Stripe is the one-click checkout, which you can get by integrating with PayPal or Amazon Pay. This makes it a great choice for whim buys or for consumers who want the convenience of a quick checkout experience.
Best for International Subscriptions: Recurly
Cross-border fee | Varies by payment processor | 1% + 30 cents |
Currency conversion fee | Varies by payment processor | 1% |
# Currencies | 140 | 135+ |
# Languages | 30+ | 34 |
# Merchant countries | 60+ | 47 |
Multiple currencies | ✓ | Beta** |
*International card transactions are increasing to 1.5% in June 2023
**Stripe’s help guides continue to show that you cannot change a currency once set.
Recurly accepts payments in 195 countries (with the right merchant account), has hosted payment pages available in 14 different languages (30+ languages overall), and automatically defaults to the customer’s local currency. It also has advanced VAT management, including the ability to automatically refund VAT for qualifying customers. Additionally, it offers integrations with tax management programs to help you stay on top of international tax mandates.
With a wide variety of payment providers, you can reach more countries. (Source: Recurly)
When to Use Stripe
Stripe is nonetheless an excellent choice for international sales, ranking as the best overall international merchant account. It works in 34 languages and over 135 currencies. One drawback is that once you set a currency, you cannot change it; however, it’s working on an API that lets you set multiple currencies so a customer can change it to the best for them.
Best for Chargeback Prevention & Fraud Monitoring: Stripe
Fraud protection | Advanced machine-learning fraud protection, ID verification | Simple velocity checks; third-party options available |
Transaction security | PCI DSS Level 1, AES-256 encryption, SSAE18 SOC 1 and 2 reports, PSDS2 and SCA compliant | PCI DSS Level 1, TLS v1.2+ transmission encryption |
Chargeback fees | $15 | Varies by payment processor |
Chargeback protection | ✓ | Varies by payment processor |
Like Recurly, Stripe uses Dynamic 3D Secure, and it screens medium as well as high-risk buyers. In addition, it has Stripe Radar, which uses machine learning and Stripe’s extensive database of information to spot and block fraud. You can even set custom rules and block lists. Further, it provides chargeback protection by reimbursing you the disputed amount and waiving the dispute fees. Radar is available free on all purchases charged the standard 2.9% + 30 cents, and you can purchase it for other transactions for an additional 5 cents per transaction.
Stripe Radar offers advanced fraud protection tools. (Source: Stripe)
When to Use Recurly
2023 Recurly Feature Update:
Recurly has added multiple authenticator apps to its two-factor authentication feature, including Okta Verify, Authenticator, and Twilio Authy.
Recurly uses Dynamic 3D Secure and does a simple fraud velocity check before passing a transaction to your payment gateway. Therefore, your fraud protection depends on the payment provider processing the payment. However, Pro and Elite Plan holders also get the benefit of Kount’s fraud protection. Kount is a leading fraud protection program that is our No. 1 choice for chargeback protection services.
Best for Reporting & Analytics: Recurly
Standard reports | 20+—finances, sales, campaigns, etc. | 2—Financial data only |
Custom report creation | Filters and widgets | Filters |
Analysis tools | ✓ | None |
2023 Recurly Feature Update:
Recurly has added a custom report feature that includes formulaic fields within Report Builder for dashboard-specific reports.
Recurly offers a multitude of reports to help you analyze your sales, subscriber growth, trial performance, and standard revenue reports. As such, it’s best for reports and analysis, especially if you want to apply the data to key performance indicators and strategies for the future. Some reports are only available in the higher plans, however.
Reports contain both graphics and data. (Source: Recurly)
When to Use Stripe
Stripe primarily offers a balance report and a payout reconciliation report, which it says can answer most of your questions. Stripe Radar has reports for declined transactions and chargebacks. Otherwise, you can download the data and create your own reports or integrate it with third-party reporting apps.
Best for Ease of Use: Tied
Frozen accounts | Low | Varies by payment provider |
Application and approval requirements | None | Varies by payment provider |
Payment platform setup | Needs some coding skill | ✓ |
Plug-and-play integration | ✓ | ✓ |
Customer service | 24/7 chat and phone support | 24/7 chat and phone support |
Video tutorial | Many | Several |
Premium support | Costs extra | Costs extra + only available in professional and higher plans |
Real-world user reviews* | 4.65 | 4.15 |
*Reviews are averaged over multiple user review sites
The differences between the two are minimal when it comes to ease of use. Recurly has excellent user experience, taking only minutes to set up even complex subscriptions. Meanwhile, Stripe needs coding for some modifications, but it also has plug-and-play tools that are easy for the layman to use. In addition, it has an impressive library of how-to videos done by live human beings.
Recurly makes it simple to set things up, with setup widgets for everything, but on the payment provider side, you may have varying results for ease of use and account stability. It’s been adding human-narrated how-to videos; previous ones were computer-generated. Both are highly rated by real-world users, although Stripe had the higher score.
Recurly vs Stripe Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Adding Stripe is as easy as adding any other payment gateway. Simply go to the Recurly Payment Gateway Configuration page on your software and log into your Stripe account, or set up a new Stripe account.
Recurly works with over 21 gateways, including Adyen, Braintree, Chase Paymentech Orbital, TSYS, Worldpay, Stripe, Authorize.net, Payeezy, PayPal, and more.
In addition to the payment processors, it integrates with over 30 applications, from Amity to Zendesk. Some notables are Chargeback (for chargeback and fraud protection), Kount (for installment payments), Mailchimp (for marketing), Salesforce (for customer relationship management), and QuickBooks (for accounting).
Stripe integrates with over 35 applications for subscriptions, including Recharge, Zoho Subscriptions, Chargebee, and Paid Memberships of WordPress. It also lists 10 recurring billing partners, including Chargify, InstaPayments, and MyFundBox. You may also find recurring subscription tools in some of the many POS and ecommerce solutions it partners with.
Bottom Line
Recurly is certainly the heavyweight in the question of which is best for subscription management, but Stripe does have some good low-cost subscription tools and works for many other kinds of sales, too. Regardless, it’s not necessary to choose one or the other. You can get Recurly as your subscription software and add Stripe as a payment processor.