Running a business with a recurring revenue model? Then Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI) compliance is your ongoing responsibility. It’s not just for your security—it also impacts customer trust, customer experience, retention rate, and churn rate among others.
The right subscription management app can offload this burden off your shoulders. These tools are built with PCI compliance in mind—handling the complexities of secure payment processing, data encryption, and secure storage. The only question is: which of the available options must you choose?
This guide is here to help by giving you an overview of the core features you must prioritize. Understanding the subscription business model is crucial, as it allows clients ongoing access to products or services through regular payments. We’ll also highlight the top subscription management apps, so you can make an informed choice.
6 key features to look for in a subscription management app
When choosing a subscription management app, understanding the importance of subscription management solutions in managing subscriptions effectively is crucial. Kno wing the core functionalities that can define your subscription-based business is important. Let’s explore them.
1. PCI compliance for secure payment processing
Although this is a given feature of subscription management software, it’s still important that we list this as a core functionality. PCI compliance ensures your payment processing infrastructure protects customer card information so there are no data breaches and fraud risks.
PCI-compliant subscription management software helps you avoid complex compliance requirements and costly penalties associated with data security violations. So check if the app really complies with the rigorous security standards of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
Take note: If a data breach happens because PCI compliance wasn’t met, expect costs to skyrocket. Recovery expenses can start at a few thousand dollars but may soar to $500,000, especially when trust and brand reputation are also on the line.
2. Automated billing & invoicing
Automated billing is a necessity for any subscription management solution. With automated billing and invoicing, your business can effortlessly handle recurring payments—accurate invoices are generated and payments collected on schedule. Implementing various pricing models, such as usage-based and tiered pricing, is crucial as they enhance customer experience and revenue predictability.
Go for apps that not only automate but also let you customize billing frequencies, handle subscription upgrades or downgrades, and add prorated charges.
3. Dunning management for payment recovery
Dunning is a system designed to manage failed payments. Payment failures in subscription-based business are all too common (Recover Payments estimates almost 50% of all churn aka involuntary churn is caused by failed payments).
So choose a subscription management platform that automatically attempts retries, sends notifications to customers, and, if necessary, escalates to more proactive recovery efforts. This feature alone can have a significant impact on having a more predictable revenue and maintaining customer satisfaction by ensuring positive customer experiences.
4. Analytics and reporting for growth insights
To optimize a subscription business, subscription analytics are crucial. What does this mean? The tool you must opt for should have analytics and reporting features.
First, the generated insights into subscription metrics like customer behavior, revenue trends, and churn rates will be your basis for data-driven decision-making. Tracking key metrics such as Average Revenue Per Subscription and Lifetime Value can inform future business strategies when you scale and conduct growth planning.
5. Integrations with CRM, accounting, and support tools
Integration is all about streamlined data flow and operational efficiency. If your subscription management system easily integrates with essential business tools like CRM, accounting software, and customer support platforms, you’re creating a seamless experience for your customers and an efficient workflow for your team. This integrated data flow is crucial for maximizing customer lifetime value, as it enhances overall customer experience and revenue predictability.
6. Support for multiple payment methods
A modern subscription management app should support a range of payment methods and foreign currency support, including credit cards, debit cards, digital wallets, and even direct debit for international customers. When customers have flexible options, they’re more likely to complete transactions and retain their subscriptions. Research indicates that businesses offering multiple payment options can see conversion rates increase by as much as 30%.
Top 8 subscription management apps for 2024
Now that we’ve listed the fundamental features of subscription management software, we share our top eight apps for 2024. Selecting the top subscription management tools is crucial for different business needs, such as: helping organizations simplify their subscription management processes, improving control, and addressing common challenges associated with SaaS subscriptions.
1. Stripe Billing – best for SaaS with flexible billing options
Get rid of your worries when it comes to creating invoices and collecting subscription payments. Stripe is one of the best subscription management tools for recurring billing, making it essential for effectively managing the complexities of subscription-based businesses. It supports various pricing structures such as flat-rate, usage-based, and tiered pricing or just experimenting with different revenue models without the need for extensive technical adjustments.
Pros: user-friendly and intuitive interface, customizable, supports multiple payment methods
Cons: high ‘per transaction’ charges
Pricing: pay as you go plan costs 0.7% of billing volume while an annual subscription starts at $620 per month (1-year contract)
2. Chargebee – best for SaaS businesses of all sizes.
Chargebee has extensive support for multiple currencies and languages, making it very appealing to global businesses. With its integration with various accounting and CRM systems, Chargebee offers complete subscription lifecycle management for SaaS startups to established companies.
Pros: manages failed payments, has excellent integration with third-party applications, provides multi-currency support.
Cons: too complex for non-technical users.
Pricing: starts at $599/month for up to $100K billing/mo, then 0.75% on billing (annual commitment)
3. Zuora – best for large enterprises
Zuora is a subscription management software designed specifically for enterprises that operate with advanced billing solutions. It can handle complex billing scenarios, revenue cycles, and revenue recognition requirements making it one of the best platforms in its field.
Pros: has advanced analytics and reporting features, strong support for hybrid consumption models, and automated revenue recognition
Cons: implementation requires technical skills
Pricing: Contact for custom pricing
4. Recurly – best for small to medium-sized businesses
Recurly simplifies SaaS subscription management. Despite having comprehensive subscription management features, you can start using the tool for free. Recurly is also scalable so SMBs find it efficient because it can handle varying workloads mainly due to its cloud-native architecture.
Pros: robust dunning management system, very user-friendly interface, and well-documented APIs
Cons: not very customizable
Pricing: starter plan is free for the first 3 months
5. Stax Bill (formerly Fusebill) – best for SaaS in the scaling phase
Stax Bill (formerly Fusebill) is perfect for streamlining billing processes—focusing on growth rather than getting bogged down by manual tasks. It lets SaaS add new products, run pricing experiments, and adjust subscription prices on the fly.
Pros: flexible product catalog, multi-tenant organizations with custom tracking codes, great customer support team
Cons: loads slowly occasionally
Pricing: for businesses with up to $85k monthly billings, plan starts at $499/month, billed annually
6. SubscriptionFlow – best for B2B sales negotiations
SubscriptionFlow excels in automating the quote-to-cash process, making it particularly effective for B2B sales negotiations. Its end-to-end automation allows businesses to onboard clients more rapidly by streamlining the entire quoting and contracting process.
Pros: automated quote management, supports various pricing strategies, comes with customer self-service portal
Cons: not a self setup
Pricing: plan starts at $99/month, billed annually, and includes USD 100k revenue/year plus 25 hours of free onboarding
7. Tridens Monetization – best for hybrid business model with complex pricing and billing
Subscription-based, usage-based, or event-driven billing? Tridens Monetization is flexible enough to support various monetization strategies. Its subscription system can process millions of usage events daily so it’s particularly beneficial to industries like telecommunications, utilities, and IoT, where real-time data processing is essential for accurate billing.
Pros: highly flexible in terms of product configuration, integration through APIs, provides insights into cost-to-revenue balance
Cons: requires a deeper dive to fully utilize its capabilities
Pricing: schedule a demo for custom pricing
8. Billsby – best user-friendly solution
Billsby has a straightforward web design and onboarding process. Its email automation feature enhances customer communication throughout the subscription lifecycle by delivering the right message at the right time—yes, these emails are triggered by specific events in a customer’s journey.
Pros: quick and easy to set up, provides timely and relevant information directly to your users’ inboxes, manages failed payments through automated reminders.
Cons: lacks comprehensive reporting tools
Pricing: start for free or get the core plan at $45/mo, billed monthly (plus 0.4% on revenue exceeding $15,000/mo)
Find the perfect subscription management app to streamline your business
Stress from managing subscriptions manually is an all-too-common pain point. A subscription management app tailored to your needs can alleviate much of this burden—automating essential billing processes and enhancing security.
And if you’re ready to recover more revenue from your subscriptions, consider connecting with the Recover Payments. Our experts specialize in solutions that simplify payment recovery, reduce involuntary churn and maximize your recurring revenue potential. Book a call with us today and become more profitable.
