Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Chargebee vs Recurly

Chargebee logo

Chargebee

Accounting

Subscription billing & revenue management

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Recurly logo

Recurly

Accounting

The subscription management platform built for growth

From
$249/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Chargebee has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Chargebee priced as a percentage of billing, 0.80 percent on pay-as-you-go or 0.65 percent plus $99 a month on the committed plan, so the fee rises with revenue; Recurly starter is $249 a month plus 0.9 percent of billing volume above the first $40K, so the cost rises with revenue rather than with usage
  • They diverge on capability: Chargebee covers Subscription management, Recurly covers Subscription billing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Chargebee and Recurly actually diverge.

Attributes where Chargebee and Recurly differ
AttributeChargebeeRecurly
Starting priceFree$249/month
Pricing modelusage-basedsubscription
Free tierYesNo
Founded20112009

Identical on both: platforms (Web, Api), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Chargebee

  • Subscription management
  • Recurring billing
  • Revenue recognition
  • Dunning management
  • Checkout pages
  • Salesforce
  • NetSuite

Only in Recurly

  • Subscription billing
  • Revenue recovery
  • Payment gateway optimization
  • Analytics
  • API
  • Braintree

Both cover

  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • SOC 2
  • PCI DSS
  • Web support
  • Api support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Chargebee

  • Subscription billingnot Recurly
  • Revenue operationsnot Recurly
  • Pricing experimentationnot Recurly

Recurly

  • Subscription billing and recurring invoicingnot Chargebee
  • Dunning and failed payment recoverynot Chargebee
  • Trials, plan changes and promotionsnot Chargebee
  • Revenue recognition through the RevRec add-onnot Chargebee
  • Shopify-native subscriptions with subscribe and savenot Chargebee

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Chargebee

  • Priced as a percentage of billing, 0.80 percent on pay-as-you-go or 0.65 percent plus $99 a month on the committed plan, so the fee rises with revenue
  • Split into four separate product lines, Billing, CPQ, RevRec and Growth, each with its own tiers and most quote-only
  • CPQ Lite is free only for the first 50 quotes
  • Revenue recognition pricing is demo-only
  • Enterprise Plus requires an annual commitment

Recurly

  • Starter is $249 a month plus 0.9 percent of billing volume above the first $40K, so the cost rises with revenue rather than with usage
  • All-Access is quoted at under 1 percent of billing volume with a $1M minimum, putting it out of reach of smaller merchants
  • Only one dunning campaign on Starter; multiple campaigns need All-Access
  • SSO, multicurrency and payments orchestration are All-Access only
  • Revenue recognition and the Engage churn tooling are separate add-ons at $850 and $1,600 a month

Pricing, plan by plan

Chargebee

Free
  • Flow (Billing)Free
    • Usage-based billing: $0.80% for first $20K invoicing volume
    • Then $99 + 0.65% for higher volumes
    • Includes 100M usage events per month
  • CPQ LiteFree
    • Free for first 50 quotes
  • Growth (Starter)Free
    • Free exclusively for Chargebee Billing customers

Recurly

$249/month
  • Starter$249/month
    • Automated global subscription billing
    • Flexible plans and static churn-prevention tools
    • 1 dunning campaign
  • All-Access$null/month
    • Everything in Starter plus AI-powered agents and analytics
    • Intelligent churn-prevention with multiple dunning campaigns
    • Advanced pricing and promotions
  • All-Access for Shopify$null/month
    • Intelligent churn-prevention and customized bundles
    • Subscribe and save, prepaid/gift subscriptions
    • Hybrid subscription support and cancel-save flows

Which should you pick?

Choose Chargebee if

  • You need subscription management.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want recurring billing.
Chargebee review

Choose Recurly if

  • You need subscription billing.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want revenue recovery.
Recurly review

Questions people ask

Is Chargebee or Recurly better?
Neither clearly leads. Chargebee starts at Free and Recurly at $249/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Chargebee or Recurly?
Chargebee has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Chargebee and $249/month for Recurly.
Does Chargebee or Recurly run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, Api, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Chargebee for free?
Yes. Chargebee has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Recurly starts at $249/month.
What is Chargebee best used for?
Chargebee is most often used for subscription billing, revenue operations, pricing experimentation. Of those, subscription billing and revenue operations are not what Recurly is typically brought in for.
What can Chargebee do that Recurly cannot?
Chargebee covers Subscription management, Recurring billing, Revenue recognition, Dunning management. Recurly covers Subscription billing, Revenue recovery, Payment gateway optimization, Analytics. Both handle Stripe, PayPal, SOC 2, PCI DSS.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Chargebee: What does Chargebee Billing cost?

Chargebee Billing (Flow plan) starts free with usage-based fees: 0.80% for the first $20K in monthly invoicing volume, then $99 monthly + 0.65% for higher volumes. Includes 100M usage events per month.

Source
Recurly: What does Recurly's Starter plan cost?

Recurly Starter plan costs 249 USD monthly plus 0.9 percent of billing volume, with the first 40000 USD monthly volume included in the base fee.

Source
Chargebee: Can I try Chargebee for free?

Yes. Chargebee Billing Flow plan starts at $0 with usage-based fees. CPQ Lite is free for the first 50 quotes. Growth (Starter) is free for Chargebee Billing customers.

Source
Recurly: What is the minimum commitment for Recurly's All-Access plan?

All-Access plans require a minimum 1 million USD annual commitment, billed annually at less than 1 percent of billing volume.

Source
Chargebee: How much does Chargebee's advanced modules cost?

RevRec and Enterprise CPQ require booking a demo or requesting a quote. No list pricing is published for these modules.

Source
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