The billing process as well as Subscription Administration: Detailed Review of Five Options

The majority of subscription and billing management tools allow:

• Develop a range of model of trial or subscription (e.g. either a free or paid trials, usage-based or fixed price subscriptions).
• Control active subscriptions (e.g., upgrades or downgrades as well as adding or removing products).
• Make payment or invoice notifications.
• Offer your clients an online self-service portal through which they can control their account.
• Read reports about the most important performance indicators that determine revenues.

In reality, the majority of businesses realize that they require additional software to handle various aspects of the process, for example:

• Payment processing
• The collection of VAT and sales tax
• Checkout Translations
• Currency conversions
• Chargebacks
• And more...

If you require one of these options it is important to be sure they are offered by any billing software you select (or easily incorporate with other solutions).

In this guide, we compare five options by examining the billing and subscription management features they provide as well as the other capabilities they have beginning by taking a deeper look at our solution that caters to SaaS companies, .

 Table of Contents

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

1.  1. Subscription Management Payment Processing, and Much More SaaS Companies

It offers a range of the management of subscriptions (which we discuss below), however, it's much more than an online platform for managing subscriptionsWe're also an Merchant of Record (MoR) for software firms.

 As MoR, we assume the responsibility for transactions on behalf of you. This means we

• Collect and remit the appropriate amount of sales tax, VAT and GST to us.
• Be sure that the appropriate procedures and paperwork have been put in place to ensure you are in compliance with transaction law in every location you are selling.
• We are the first to lead audits.

 Plus, has extensive solutions covering the whole process of making a payment. It includes:

• Localized checkout (i.e. Currency conversions, language translations Custom designs, currency conversions and much many more)
• International payment processing (for hundreds of payment methods)
• Fraud detection
• Chargebacks
• Analytics and reporting
• And much and more...

In the sections below in the next sections, we will look at some of these highlights and services in greater depth.

Recurring and Customized Subscription Models for B2C or B2B

It is easy to set up nearly any subscription with just a few clicks. You can set up most subscription types without any programming, however you could develop more complicated subscriptions using our API or webhooks library.

Here's a summary of your options:

 Trials

Some subscription management tools require payment information as potential clients sign up for trial periods, or even trial periods. It can lead some potential customers to lose interest and not finish the signup process. You can decide whether or not you want to gather payment details in every trial.

You can also:

• Make trials of any length.
• Design free, paid, or trial-based, usage-based ones.
• Choose to automatically bill users after their trial ends or let them begin a subscription manually.
• Reactivate subscribers' expired trial accounts.
• Choose when sends reminders of ending trials (e.g. three days before trial end).
• Automatically detect when a single user attempts to sign-up for multiple trials and only permit just one trial account.

 Subscriptions

Each product in a given business could get better results from different subscription models. As an example, lower-end products could be better off if sold with a subscription that is monthly while top-end products could benefit more if they are sold in an annual contract.

Additionally, what was effective at one point in time could not be the ideal option in the near future.

This is why we allow you to:

• Choose the subscription frequency and dates for billing (or let your customers choose).
• Make subscriptions auto-renewable, that require an manual renewal (i.e. clients have to enter their payment information every time they're billed) and/or require your team to initiate the charge via an API (this is an excellent option for usage-based billing).
• Coupons and discounts are available.
• Let prorated billing be used if customers wish to upgrade, downgrade, or even pause the service midway during the billing process.
• Add one-time purchases to the original bill but don't include the recurring bills.
• Manage upsell and cross-sell products during checkout.
• Customers have the choice of whether or not to store the information about payment (or decide for every customer).
• Auto-renew certain subscriptions to different subscriptions (e.g., when retiring an item or service).

 Recurring Billing and Invoicing

allows you to allow you to manage B2B orders along with B2C purchase with Digital Invoicing.

Digital Invoicing can help you:

• Customize and manage quotes that are updated in real time (including personalized tags coupons, discounts and much more).
• Set expiration dates for quotes.
• Notes for your client or prospect.

Fully Branded Self-serve Features for Your Customers

is a self-service platform where your customers can:

• Renewal of subscriptions
• Control billing times
• Update payment information
• View payment history
• Plus there's More ...

We manage all of the backend maintenance on this website which means that you don't need to.

As your MoR As your MoR, we will take care of your customer's queries regarding their billing, which include cancellation requests, billing problems, questions about their subscriptions, and more. The platform comes with a customer portal that allows your customers to manage their subscriptions.

Below is the basic design of the self-service portal, however, to provide a seamless customer experience, the entire site can be personalized in line with your company's branding.

It is also possible to enable customer-generated quotes. This feature allows customers to generate a quote from the content of the cart, without having to contact your sales team. This can be extremely useful in securing potential customers who need approval before making an purchase.

Local Transaction and Indirect Tax Compliance made Simple

There are two main aspects of conformity to recurring transactions:

1. Transaction compliance (i.e. the system that you are using to collect payment).
2. Tax on sales, VAT and GST compliance (i.e., how you pay and transfer indirect tax).

To avoid fines and penalties To avoid penalties and fines, it is important to think about both transaction laws and tax laws for each jurisdiction you do business in. The following sections will help you understand: we discuss:

• A few examples of the laws on transactions that apply to subscription-based companies.
• Whether or not software companies are required to collect sales tax, VAT or GST.
• What is the best way to handle all this .

Transaction Compliance

Each country, state each province and state has its specific laws and regulations regarding how companies can gather payment and keep customer details. Most companies are aware of privacy regulations such as GDPR, however there are other transactions regulations that aren't popularly understood.

For instance, in certain nations, including Canada and Korea the customers can be eligible to receive a prorated refund if they cancel their subscription before the end of the payment period. It's just one illustration for one part of the lifecycle of subscriptionswhich is why these rules and laws are always altering.

In the case of most subscription management software, you'll be on your own to learn about the laws and regulations governing transactions and to follow the required processes. Furthermore, some platforms don't provide the required options to comply with laws and regulations (e.g. certain platforms do not support rebates that are prorated).

On the other hand, handles all of the above on your behalf. Our legal expert team keeps up-to-date with the relevant laws and regulations , and assists you to adopt the appropriate procedures to ensure compliance. We also support all the necessary subscription models for the compliance of your business.

Sales Tax, VAT and GST Compliance

Software firms didn't have to collect taxes on sales, VAT or GST. However, in several jurisdictions, it's the case. But, tax laws for digital services and goods are changing fast in many jurisdictions.

More and more countries are mandating software companies to pay some type in indirect taxes. Plus, some nations are now requiring companies that use digital technology to file tax forms regardless of whether they are eligible for tax exemption.

The final step is to pay sales taxes. This can be more complicated than filling out a tax form and wiring the funds. As the number of countries are mandating more requirements for compliance.

Example:

• Countries like Colombia, Japan, Mexico, Serbia, and others require local representation, meaning you have an employee with an actual presence in the country to be responsible for your tax liability. It can range between $5k and $15k each year.
• Countries such as Serbia, United Kingdom, Taiwan and many others demand electronic invoices from any company selling within their countries. The EU will be introducing worldwide electronic invoicing by 2028.
• States like Taiwan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Vietnam, and others are requiring you to file the tax on your income as well as to indirect taxes.

handles the entire process of collecting and paying sales tax, VAT and GST to you .

We ensure the correct amount (and type) of indirect tax is being collected at check-out (including tax-exempt transactions within the US and 0% reverse charges when allowed internationally).

Our team then remits these taxes on your behalf and will ensure that the proper processes are in place to ensure full conformity.

In the event that a foreign country or state approaches you about tax compliance, our team can guide you on how to react -- perhaps in the form of copy and paste replies.

International Pay Processing to Dozens Of Payment Methods

Most payment processors focus their efforts around a particular region and all payment processors have a finite set of payment options that they support. In particular, some processors are geared towards supporting transactions that are accepted in the U.S. So, they'll only support the payment methods well-known across the U.S. (e.g., Mastercard or Apple Pay) and they will not support anything such as UnionPay as it is often utilized in China.

In addition, many payment processors can only accept payment within certain currencies and countries. For example, they could be able to support Amazon Pay but will not accept payments made that originate from Turkey.

SaaS businesses who want to take payments from around the world must be connected with and manage multiple payment processors. This can be an overwhelming undertaking.

In HTML0 , SaaS firms automatically have access to a variety of payment processors who specialize in international payments. maintains relationships with many payment processors, as well as hundreds of credit card companies so it is not necessary to. Just turn on the localized payment feature and begin accepting payments from international banks as soon as possible.

Also, it offers a range of options to make sure that payments are successful and decrease involuntary churn which include:

• Payment gateways that are local: Transactions are more likely to be authorized if the payment gateway is located at the same place as the buyer (e.g. for example, a purchase that originates from Germany is processed through a payment gateway in Germany). Automatically routes transactions through the gateway that has the highest authorization rates for that location.
• Payment gateway rerouting: If a payment fails on the first attempt, immediately retries to make the payment again by using a second gatewaywith no need for any member of the support team needing to get involved. It is often able to fix payment problems because of problems with connectivity or the system.
• Proactive payment reminders. If a customer's card is about to expire, inform the user in advance ofthe deadline so that they are able to update the payment information. It is possible to use our already-designed templates for notification or create the message you want to send.
• Multiple follow-up notification. If a recurring payment is rejected, you can schedule several payment failure notification messages to be sent two seven, five 14 and 21 days after the initial failure. Prior to sending each reminder, try a new payment.

Tailor-Made Checkout to Reflect Your Personal Image

The majority of payment platforms offer a checkout module that offers a variety of options for customization such as the addition of your logo, and selecting the color scheme. These customization options are rarely enough to truly show your branding and create a seamless customer experience, and make your checkout more efficient for sales.

 allows you to customize branding tools, as well as CSS overrides so that you have extensive customizations options to control the look as well as feel of the checkout.

You'll also have access to Our store Builder Library -- a JavaScript library that lets users to personalize the customer process leading to checkout.For instance, you can build a cross-sell or an upsell funnel. This allows you to improve your customer experience to increase rates of conversion.

The checkout is offered in three forms that include popups, embedded or as a website storefront. The web storefront redirects your clients to an additional webpage that is hosted by .

If you choose one of these options (including the storefront on the internet) You'll have the ability to customize the checkout flow with branding tools as well as CSS-based overrides that match your visual brand.

There are many other options which can help you maximize your shopping experience:

• Localized Checkout:Let customers choose their preferred language and currency or let them select the most appropriate language and currency in accordance with the buyer's location. supports 19+ languages and more than 23 currencies.
  
• Personalized developer support:Our team is always eager to assist you in creating the best checkout experience for your company. Certain companies provide only individual support to their most important customers and do not provide support to smaller firms. At , we believe every company deserves the same attention and care.

Analytical and Comprehensive Reporting

• The majority of my highest paying customers?
• What are the products that generate the most revenue?
• What discounts generate revenue as opposed to. draining revenue?
• and many more...

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

If you are unable to locate the report you need, you can customize any report and put it on your dashboard. Our support team is there to help you design custom reports that will provide your answers.

Our webhooks and API for data enable you to quickly bring in subscription and revenue information to any software for business intelligence or CRM you use. The report may also be downloaded in CSV as a PNG, CSV or XLSX format.

All-in-One Pricing (No Hidden Fees)

A lot of payment processors provide a fixed price for payment processing and certain core functions, such as the ability to embed checkout. You'll usually need to shell out extra money for other features such as currency conversions or the detection of fraud. Few payment processors are an all-inclusive solution, and most companies need to add an additional piece of software. It's hard to expand globally when your business expands because the cost will continue to rise as you require new features and applications.

is a complete solution to pay designed for SaaS firms that comes with everything as a one-time charge determined by the amount of transactions that you conduct . Additionally, you'll only get debited when transactions are completed.

Next, we cover four additional payment options for businesses with subscriptions.

2. Chargebee

Here are a few points of Chargebee attributes:

• Usage-based billing, automated invoicing, proration, and more
• Automated process for the processing of accounts receivable
• Subscription and revenue recognition models that are compliant with the law. model
• Support for in-app purchases
• Self-service portal available to customers
• Smart dunning

It is possible to use the Chargebee platform for free beginning with the first $100,000 in revenue earned. Following that, they provide a variety of pricing plans for different ranges of monthly earnings.

3. Recurly

Recurly is a recurring-billing system designed to optimize your growth strategy. Recurly can easily be integrated with multiple credit card processors and merchant accounts, however, you still have to manage and pay for these third-party solutions on top of the Recurly plan.

Here are a few more highlights of Recurly's offerings:

• Customizable subscription models
• Automated, recurring invoices
• Tools for revenue recovery
• Intelligent retention
• Analytics on customer subscriptions

Recurly has three pricing plans However, you need to contact their team for details.

4. Chargify

Chargify is a subscription billing software that's on the verge of integrating with SaaSOptics, which is a software for managing revenue. The merger will allow you to automate the management of subscriptions, revenue and expense recognition, and SaaS metric tracking from one revenue management platform.

Here are a few of the highlights of the functions Chargify offers:

• Billing based on usage and worldwide
• Billing management and revenue recognition tools
• System of billing analytics and metrics
• Built-in integrations with various other software (e.g. accounting software such as QuickBooks as well as Xero)
• Payment gateways from around the world

The pricing structure of Chargify is that allows companies to earn 75k in monthly billings, but, if you earn more revenue or want access to all features you'll have to contact the team.

5. Zoho Subscriptions

Zoho Subscriptions is a component of Zoho Subscriptions is one of the components that make up Zoho platform (a suite of software that can be used for all aspects of your enterprise, e.g., CRMs and ERPs). If you already use Zoho Subscriptions, or are already using the Zoho platform, this could be a great choice. However, new users typically find it has an arduous process of learning.

The highlights of Zoho Subscriptions include:

• Multiple pricing models
• Customizable, tax-compliant invoices
• Conversions to multiple currencies
• 30+ pre-built reports to keep track of each phase of the subscription lifecycle
• Cash or check payment (in addition to credit card payments)
• Out-of-the-box integrations with other billing solutions (e.g., Stripe, PayPal, etc.)
• Tools to create specific workflow rules

Every aspect associated with Zoho's Zoho system is purchased individually and includes Zoho Subscriptions -- which could make it difficult and costly to develop an all-inclusive payment system.