Subscription and Payment Control: Comprehensive Comparison of Five Options

The majority of billing and subscription management tools allow:

• Develop a range of types of subscription and trial models (e.g. whether it's a paid or free trial , or usage-based fixed price subscriptions).
• Control active subscriptions (e.g. upgrade or downgrades aswell with the addition or deletion of services).
• Notifications of payment or invoices may be sent.
• Provide your customers with an online self-service platform through that they can manage their accounts.
• Find out about the most significant indicators that influence revenue.

Many businesses find that they have to utilize additional software for various aspects of the process, including:

• Payment processing
• Tax collection for VAT and sales tax
• Take a look at the various translations
• Conversion of currency
• Chargebacks
• and much more...

If you're in need of one of these options then you'll have to be sure that these features are included in the billing software you select (or seamlessly integrate with other software solutions).

In this tutorial, we compare five alternatives by taking a look at the billing and subscription features that they have, along with additional options that they offer. start with a thorough look at our service that is geared to SaaS firms, .

Table of Contents Table of Contents

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

1. It is the Subscription Management Process, Payment Processing and More for SaaS Companies

provides a variety of options for the management of subscriptions (which we'll go over in the following), however, it's not just a subscription management platform -We're additionally a Merchant of Record (MoR) for software firms.

MoR, in our capacity as MoR accept the liability for transaction for us. This means that:

• Make sure you collect and pay the right amount of sales tax, VAT and GST for your company.
• Be sure that the appropriate processes and documentation are in place to ensure you are in conformity with the law of transaction in every location you're selling.
• We lead the way on audits.

Plus offers a wide range of services that cover the entire process to make a transaction. It covers:

• Localized checkout (i.e. Language translations, currency conversions, custom designs and much more)
• Processing of payments in the international market (for many different payment options)
• Fraud detection
• Chargebacks
• Analytics and reports
• There's plus...

In the next sections We will explore the various options and services in greater in depth.

Custom Subscriptions and Recurring Billing Models for B2C and B2B

makes it easy to set up nearly any subscription within few clicks. It's possible to create the vast majority of subscriptions without having to write codes, but you may create more complex subscription logic using our API or webhooks library.

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

Trials

Certain subscription management programs can always gather payment information when potential customers sign up for trial periods, and even trial time. Certain potential customers may get enticed by the prospect of losing their interest, and may not complete the registration process. You can decide whether or not you want to record information on payments following each trial.

Also:

• Trials of any length may be made.
• Design and create paid, free or trial-based, use-based ones.
• You can choose to bill users once their trial has ended or allow the user to start a new membership on their own.
• Allow subscribers to reactivate account which have been cancelled.
• Pick the day and time that you send reminders about closing trials (e.g. 3 days before the date the trial will be set to close).
• Automatically detect when a user wants to join more than one trial and allow the trial of one account.

Subscriptions Subscriptions

Every product and every business inside a firm could benefit from greater results with different subscription options. As an example, lower-end products could be better off when they are sold with a monthly subscription that is monthly while top-end products could perform better in the event of an annual subscription.

Also, what was successful at one point in time could not be an successful strategy in the near future.

We'll notify you:

• Pick the duration of the subscription, as well as the dates for billing (or let your clients decide).
• Create subscriptions that auto-renew and require manual renewal (i.e. that customers need to enter payment details each time they're charged), or ask your staff to begin the charge through an API API (this can be a good option for usage-based billing).
• Coupons and discounts are offered.
• Allow prorated billing when customers want to change, lower, or even pause at any point during the process of billing.
• Include one-time purchases on the first invoice However, do not include the recurring bills.
• Control cross-sell and upsell items during checkout.
• Customers can choose to keep the details regarding their payments (or choose to store it for all customers).
• Auto-renew certain subscriptions to different subscriptions (e.g. when you retire an product or service).

Invoicing and recurring billing

It allows you to handle B2B orders and B2C purchase using digital Invoicing.

Digital Invoicing could help:

• Create and manage custom quotes that can be continuously updated (including custom tags coupons, discounts and many other things).
• Set expiration dates for quotes.
• Notes to give your client or prospective client.

Fully Branded Self Service Features that are Branded to your customers

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

• Renewal of subscriptions
• Controlling billing times
• Modify payment details
• View payment history
• And much and more ...

We take care of all maintenance of the backend for this website to make sure that the team you work with does not have to.

In your role as your MoR, we'll take care of questions from your customers about their bills, such as request for cancellation, billing issues and questions regarding their subscriptions, and more. Our platform has a user portal, which makes it simple for customers to handle their subscriptions.

The image below shows the fundamental design of the self-service portal. However in order to provide a better user experience, all of the website can be tailored to reflect your brand.

You can also make it possible for buyers to create quotes. The buyers can create a quote based on the items they have in their cart without needing to reach the sales department. This is extremely helpful for attracting potential customers that require prior approval before purchasing.

Local Transactions and Indirect Tax Compliance Made Simple

Two major aspects to conformity to regular transactions:

1. The accuracy of the transactions (i.e. systems that you employ to collect payment).
2. Sales tax, VAT and GST in conformity (i.e. the way you pay for and move indirect tax).

For the sake of avoiding penalties and fines To avoid penalties and fines, it's essential to consider the tax and transaction laws that apply to every area you operate in. In the following sections, we'll discuss:

• A few examples of the rules governing transactions which affect subscription-based companies.
• Software firms must be in a position to collect taxes on sales and VAT along with GST.
• What do you do about this .

Transaction Compliance

Each nation, state states and province has particular laws and regulations on what businesses are allowed to do with payment and store customer data. Many companies have a good grasp of the rules regarding privacy, such as GDPR. But there are a lot of transactions regulations that aren't widely understood.

Certain regions, including Canada and Korea Customers in certain countries, such as Korea and Canada, are entitled to receive the proportionate amount of refunds in the instance that they terminate their subscription prior to the expiration of their period of payment. It's just one illustration that is only one aspect of the entire subscription cyclewhich is why these rules and laws are always changing.

For the majority of subscription management tools, it's on your responsibility to learn about the laws and regulations that govern transactions, and then take the appropriate steps. Furthermore, some subscription software don't provide the required alternatives to meet the requirements of the law and laws (e.g., some software does not allow the prorated refund method).

On the other hand, takes care of everything in your name. Our legal team keeps up-to-date with the relevant laws and regulations and assists you to adopt the correct procedures to make sure that you're compliant. We also support all required subscription models to ensure compliance.

GST and Sales Tax and GST Tax Compliance

Software firms weren't required to pay sales tax or VAT and GST. However, in certain jurisdictions, this is currently in effect. But the tax rules regarding digital goods and services vary widely in a number of nations.

Numerous countries are requiring software firms to pay some kind indirect tax. In addition, some countries are now requiring companies that utilize digital technology to fill out tax returns regardless whether they're eligible to be tax exempt.

The final step is to pay sales taxes. It can be more difficult than filing a tax form and then sending the cash. More and more countries are demanding additional requirements to be in compliance.

Example:

• Some countries like Colombia, Japan, Mexico, Serbia, and others are governed by the presence of a local representative, meaning you have an employee with physically present within the country to take care of your tax liability. It can range from $5k-$15k each year.
• Some countries like Serbia, United Kingdom, Taiwan and others require electronically invoices to any company who sells its products within their territory. The EU has begun rolling out the all-encompassing requirement for electronic invoices before 2028.
• A few countries such as Taiwan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Vietnam, and others have you file income tax in addition for indirect taxes.

manages the entire procedure of collecting and paying VAT, sales tax along the GST for you .

We make sure that the right amount (and kind) in indirect taxes is to be collected when you check out (including tax-exempt transactions inside the US in addition to no reverse charges when permitted abroad).

Our team then remits the taxes for you and ensures that proper processes have been put in place to ensure the full compliance.

If a country or state has questions regarding tax compliance, we will advise you on the best way to respond in the event of providing copy and paste responses.

International Pay Processing to hundreds of payment methods

Most processing companies focus their efforts around a particular location and all processors are restricted in the set of payment options that they can accept. For instance, some payment processors are geared towards the goal of facilitating transactions accepted by the U.S. They'll therefore only accept the payment methods that are popular in the U.S. (e.g., Mastercard or Apple Pay) and they will not support anything like UnionPay, which is commonly used in China.

In addition, many payment processors can only accept payments from specific currencies and regions. For example, they could accept Amazon Pay but will not take payments from Turkey.

SaaS companies that want to accept payments from all across the globe must be able to connect and manage multiple payment processors. This could be an overwhelming job.

In the case of SaaS businesses are automatically connected to a variety of payment processors that specialize in international transactions. It has relationships with a variety of payment processors as well as dozens of card networks , therefore it is not necessary to. Just turn on the localized payments option so that you are able to accept international payments as soon as you can.

It also has a variety of features that make sure that payments are successful and reduce involuntary churn, for instance:

• Payment gateways that are local It is more likely for transactions to be approved if the gateway that is used to process payments is located within the same region as the customer (e.g. the transaction originated from Germany goes through a payment gateway located inside Germany). Automatically transfers payments to the payment gateway that has the best approval rates in that region.
• Rerouting payments through the gateway that handles payments: If a payment fails or fails in its first attempt, the payment gateway immediately attempts to make the payment again through a second gateway. There is the need for either any member of the support team to intervene. This process usually allows to resolve payment issues because of connectivity issues or the systems.
• Reminders for payments that are proactive. If a customer's card is due to expire, you must notify the cardholder beforethe deadline so that they can update the payment details. You can use our pre-made templates for notification or create your own notifications.
• Multiple follow-up messages. If a recurring payment is unsuccessful, you are able to schedule multiple payment failure notifications to be sent out 2 days, 5 or 7, 14, and 21 days after the initial failure. After sending each reminder, it will try to make the payment.

A Custom-Made Checkout that reflects your personal corporate image.

Many payment services have a checkout option that comes with a few options for customization such as including your logo, and selecting the colour scheme. However, these customization options are not all the time a representation of the brand's image for creating a seamless shopping experience for your customers. They also make your checkout more efficient to convert.

provides custom branding tools and CSS-overrides so that there are a range of customization choices for controlling the design and appearance of the shopping cart.

Also, you'll be able to access also the Store Builder Library -- it's a JavaScript library that allows users to modify the experience leading to checkout.For instance, you could make a cross-sell and upsell funnel. This allows you to improve the customer experience, resulting in higher conversions.

The checkout is offered in three forms three ways: popup, embedded or as a website storefront. Your online storefront redirects clients to an additional site that is managed by .

If you choose one of these options (including the storefront online) It is possible to customize the checkout procedure using branding tools and CSS overlays that match the style and visual appeal of your brand.

There are many other options that can assist you in optimizing your checkout:

• Localized Checkouts:Let clients choose the language they prefer as well as their preferred currency. Or let them select the appropriate currency and language in line to the location of the customer. It can be used in 19 languages, and more than 23 currencies.
• Developer support that is personalized:Our team is always willing to support you to create the most effective checkout experience that is possible for your business. Certain companies offer only personalized support for their most important clients and practically ignore small firms. We believe that every business deserves the same attention and attention.

Complete Reporting and Analytics

• What are some than my most profitable customers?
• What products generate the highest amount of revenue?
• Which discounts bring in income relative to. those that drain revenue?
• There are many others...

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

If you are unable to locate the report you're searching for It is possible to customize the report that you'd like to and put it on your dashboard. Our support staff will assist you in creating custom reports that will give you the answers.

Webhooks and APIs for data make it easy to pull the data on subscriptions and revenue to whatever software for business intelligence or CRM that you use. Each report is able to download as a CSV in PNG, CSV or XLSX format.

All-in-One Pricing (No Hidden Fees)

Many payment system providers will charge a base price for the processing of payments, and also certain of their core functions like embeddable checkout. But, typically you'll have to shell out extra money to get additional services like currency conversions or fraud detection. A few payment processors offer a complete solution, so businesses often have to invest on additional software. It is difficult to grow globally as the business grows because costs will rise with the addition of options and features.

is a full payment method that's ideal for SaaS businesses that includes all the features for a single cost that is based on the number of transactions you make . Plus, you'll only be charged when the transactions have been completed.

Next, we cover four other payment systems for businesses with subscriptions.

2. Chargebee

These are some of the highlights of Chargebee Highlights:

• Utilization-based billing, automatic invoicing, proration and much more
• Automated procedures for receivables
• Compliant revenue recognition and subscription model
• Support for in-app purchases
• Portal for self-service available for customers
• Smart dunning

You can use the Chargebee platform for free starting with the initial $100k in earnings. In the following months, they will offer various pricing plans that cover different amounts of monthly income.

3. Recurring

Recurly is a recurring billing platform built for optimizing your growth strategies. It is easy to integrate with numerous merchant accounts as well as payment gateways . However, you will have to manage and cover the additional services, in addition to the Recurly subscription.

Below are other highlights from Recurly's offerings:

• Customizable subscription models
• Automated and regular invoicing
• Tools for revenue recovery
• Intelligent retention
• Customer subscription analytics

Recurly provides three pricing options, however, you have to contact the team to inquire about pricing.

4. Chargify

Chargify is a subscription-based billing application that is working on a merger with SaaSOptics it is a Revenue management system. The combination will enable the automation of the accounting of subscription management for expenses and revenue and SaaS monitoring of metric data from the same revenue management software.

Below are a selection examples of the most notable highlights of the features Chargify offers:

• Usage-based and global billing
• Billing management and revenue recognition tools
• Analytics and metrics for the billing system
• Integrations with other programs (e.g. Accounting software, such as QuickBooks and Xero)
• Payment gateways from around the world

Chargify provides a cost program that lets companies achieve $750k and more in each month. If your company have more income or have access to all the features offered then you'll have to discuss it with the team.

5. Zoho Subscriptions

Zoho Subscriptions can be one of the components in Zoho Subscriptions is among the components that make up Zoho platform (a suite of applications which is suitable for all aspects of your company, e.g., CRMs and ERPs). If you're already using this component in the Zoho platform, it might be an excellent alternative. For new users, they usually find that there is unforgiving learning the curve.

Some of the benefits of Zoho Subscriptions include:

• 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 life cycle of a subscription
• Pay with cash or check (in addition to payment via credit card)
• Integrations in the box that connect with a variety of billing systems (e.g., Stripe, PayPal, etc.)
• Workflow tools that can be built using specific toolkits rules

Each component that makes up the Zoho system is priced individually -- including Zoho Subscriptions -- which creates a cost-effective and difficult to create an end-to-end payments solution.

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