Accounting · head to head
Empower vs Recurly

Recurly
Accounting
The subscription management platform built for growth
- From
- $249/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Empower specific advisory fees not published; Form ADV consultation required; 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: Empower covers Net worth tracking, Recurly covers Subscription billing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Empower and Recurly actually diverge.
Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting), founded (2009).
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 Empower
- Net worth tracking
- Investment tracking
- Retirement planner
- Cash flow
- 401k fee analyzer
- Bank connections
- Brokerage accounts
- Bank-level encryption
Only in Recurly
- Subscription billing
- Revenue recovery
- Payment gateway optimization
- Analytics
- API
- Stripe
- PayPal
- Braintree
Both cover
- SOC 2
- Web support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Empower
- Wealth trackingnot Recurly
- Retirement planningnot Recurly
- Investment analysisnot Recurly
Recurly
- Subscription billing and recurring invoicingnot Empower
- Dunning and failed payment recoverynot Empower
- Trials, plan changes and promotionsnot Empower
- Revenue recognition through the RevRec add-onnot Empower
- Shopify-native subscriptions with subscribe and savenot Empower
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Empower
- Specific advisory fees not published; Form ADV consultation required
- High minimum investment thresholds ($100,000 for Personal Strategy)
- Detailed fee structure available only in Form ADV documents
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
Empower
On requestNo published plan breakdown. See the Empower review.
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 Empower if
- You need net worth tracking.
- You work on Web, Ios, Android.
- You also want investment tracking.
Choose Recurly if
- You need subscription billing.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want revenue recovery.
Questions people ask
- Is Empower or Recurly better?
- Neither clearly leads. Empower starts at On request and Recurly at $249/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Empower or Recurly?
- Empower starts at On request and Recurly at $249/month.
- Does Empower or Recurly run on more platforms?
- Empower runs on Web, Ios, Android. Recurly runs on Web, Api.
- What is Empower best used for?
- Empower is most often used for wealth tracking, retirement planning, investment analysis. Of those, wealth tracking and retirement planning are not what Recurly is typically brought in for.
- What can Empower do that Recurly cannot?
- Empower covers Net worth tracking, Investment tracking, Retirement planner, Cash flow. Recurly covers Subscription billing, Revenue recovery, Payment gateway optimization, Analytics. Both handle SOC 2, Web support.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Empower: Does Empower have a minimum investment requirement?
Empower's advisory services require different minimums based on service level. Personal Strategy advisory requires a minimum of $100,000 in investable assets. Private Client services require $1,000,000 or more.
SourceRecurly: 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.
SourceEmpower: How are Empower's advisory fees calculated?
Advisory fees are calculated based on the amount of assets being managed under advice. Specific fee rates are not disclosed on the homepage.
SourceRecurly: 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.
SourceEmpower: Is the high-yield cash account free?
Yes. Empower's high-yield cash account has no account fees and no minimum balance required.
SourceEmpower: Are there fees for stock and ETF trading?
Empower offers commission-free trading for stocks and ETFs with low fees.
SourceRelated pages
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