Recurly alternatives: where to go and how to migrate without losing a subscriber
Six destinations in detail, one per reason to leave, and an eight-step migration plan.
Short answer: Chargebee or Stripe Billing if you bill under $30,000 a month and Recurly's $249 floor stings (0.80% and 0.7% of billings), Paddle if you sell worldwide and want sales tax off your plate, Maxio if you bill around $100,000 a month and want a flat fee. Lago and Hyperline cover usage billing and assisted B2B moves. One thing to know before you pick: Recurly's exports don't include card numbers. You request the transfer from support, and that request sets your exit date. We compared the six destinations in this guide and checked their official price sheets in 2026.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Why teams leave Recurly, and why they hesitate
Recurly is a dependable subscription engine with a strong reputation for recovering failed payments and more than 20 gateways supported. People don't leave because it breaks. They leave over the price sheet and the limits that show up once packaging gets complicated, and they hesitate because of the exit. Six reasons, all checked in 2026.
$249 a month, even when you bill very little
Starter costs $249 a month regardless of volume. The first $40,000 billed each month carries no volume fee, then 0.9% kicks in. For a SaaS billing $15,000 a month, that's 1.7% of revenue, more than double Stripe Billing's 0.7%. The math flips between $35,000 and $55,000 a month, where Recurly comes out cheaper than Stripe Billing.
A steep jump to the next plan
Starter includes one dunning campaign. More campaigns and extra payment methods need All-Access, which requires $1M in billing volume and an annual contract. Nothing sits in between. Add-ons aren't cheap either: Engage (retention offers) starts at $1,600 a month and RevRec (revenue recognition) at $850 a month, billed annually.
Fees you meet in the contract
One theme keeps showing up in reviews: fees that weren't in the sales proposal and appeared only in a follow-up email and the final contract. One buyer says the real cost ended up more than 40% above plan. Before you renew, ask for a line-by-line breakdown of what you actually pay.
Price changes, one account at a time
Users like Recurly for standard subscriptions, less so for edge cases. One reviewer had to edit more than 2,000 accounts by hand to roll out a price increase. Others want more flexible reporting, and note that a refund generates a new invoice with a different number.
Support that fades after onboarding
Support gets praise early on. Several reviews then describe slow handling of complex tickets, and one customer complained about a renewal bot that restarted canceled subscriptions. Recurly did reply publicly, but it's worth checking how fast your own tickets close today.
An exit that goes through support
Recurly has plenty of exports, but each lasts only 7 days and none includes card numbers. Moving cards means asking Recurly support for the transfer. Leave it late and you're signing up for another contract year.
You're leaving because… go to…
The right Recurly alternative depends on what's pushing you out. Usually one line fits. Each card jumps to the full profile below.
0.80% or 0.7% of billings, no platform fee.
Stripe is already your gateway and you pay for two toolsStripe BillingYour cards may already be in Stripe: nothing to transfer.
You sell worldwide and sales tax is eating your weekPaddleMerchant of record: tax, fraud and disputes handled for 5% + 50¢.
You bill around $100,000 a month and want a flat feeMaxio$599 a month up to $100,000, unlimited users.
You charge on usage and want to own the codeLagoOpen source core, free to self-host.
You sell B2B contracts and want help with the moveHyperlineAssisted migration, $299 a month + 0.7% on Launch.
Recurly alternatives, one by one
For each tool: why move there, who it's for, the catch, how to migrate from Recurly, and what it costs. Scores come from our SaaS subscription management ranking, where Recurly sits at 3.9 out of 5. Zuora, the enterprise reference, publishes no pricing, so it isn't ranked here.
Chargebee: the closest swap, cheaper at low volume
Closest matchWhy move to Chargebee. Chargebee does the same job as Recurly: plans, coupons, proration, a customer portal, dunning, and a long list of gateways. The difference shows up when your volume is small. The Flow plan is 0.80% of billings with no platform fee, so at $20,000 billed a month you pay $160, against $249 on Recurly Starter. A second option at $99 a month plus 0.65% wins above roughly $66,000 a month. Migration support and data portability, payment methods included, are listed on its pricing page.
Who it's for. A B2B SaaS under $30,000 a month, or one whose sales team changes packaging often and doesn't want to file a ticket with engineering every time.
Who it's not for. A company billing between $31,000 and $84,000 a month with no other complaint about Recurly. In that band, Recurly Starter costs less than either Chargebee option. Run the numbers in the table below first.
The catch. It's still a percentage of revenue, so the bill grows with you. Multi-entity and account hierarchies sit on the quote-only Enterprise plan.
How to migrate. Keep your gateway (Stripe, Braintree, Adyen). Chargebee plugs into it and maps the card tokens the gateway returns after the transfer. You raise the request under Settings, then Import and Export data. If your cards live in Recurly's own vault rather than at the gateway, Recurly support has to release them first (see the "Cards" step).
- Price
- 0.80% of billings, or $99/mo + 0.65%
- Migration
- support included
- Score
- 4.1/5
- Catch
- scales with revenue
Stripe Billing: drop a layer if Stripe is already your gateway
Most directWhy move to Stripe Billing. Plenty of teams run Recurly on top of Stripe: Stripe moves the money, Recurly runs the subscriptions. Stripe Billing does both for 0.7% of billing volume, no fixed fee. At $20,000 a month that's $140 instead of $249. Smart Retries, up to three recovery automations for failed payments, the hosted customer portal and quotes are all included. From about $89,000 a month, an annual plan paid monthly ($620 covers up to $100,000, then 0.67%) brings the rate down.
Who it's for. A SaaS team with a developer, payments already on Stripe, and a wish to live in one dashboard.
Who it's not for. A team with no engineering help, since a lot of the setup goes through the API. And anyone trying to leave Stripe itself: read our guide to switching from Stripe instead.
The catch. Recurly still has the stronger reputation for dunning on large consumer subscriber bases. A custom portal domain is $10 a month, and advanced usage billing runs through Metronome, a separate product.
How to migrate. Stripe's Billing migration toolkit names Recurly as a supported source and takes a subscriptions file with no code. If Recurly stored Stripe customer or payment method tokens (cus_ or pm_), the cards already sit in your Stripe account and you only recreate subscriptions on those customers.
- Price
- 0.7% of billing volume
- Annual plan
- $620/mo up to $100,000
- Score
- 4.0/5
- Catch
- built for technical teams
Paddle: stop handling global sales tax yourself
Global salesWhy move to Paddle. On Recurly, you are the seller. You calculate, collect and file sales tax and VAT in every market, and you handle fraud and chargebacks. Paddle is a merchant of record: it sells your software on your behalf and takes all of that on for 5% + 50¢ per transaction, payments included, with no monthly fee and no migration fee.
Who it's for. A software or app business selling to consumers in dozens of countries without a tax team.
Who it's not for. A SaaS selling mostly to US businesses in a handful of states. You'd pay for a tax service you barely use. Products under $10 get custom pricing on request.
The catch. Cost rises with ticket size. On a $100 subscription Paddle takes $5.50, while Stripe Billing plus a standard US card charge comes to about $3.90. And your customer sees Paddle's name on the card statement.
How to migrate. Paddle quotes a median migration of 12 days; card transfers average about two weeks, depending on the old provider, vault to vault over encrypted SFTP. You send one row per subscriber (email, country, currency, amount, interval, payment token) and get back a file mapping old IDs to new ones.
- Price
- 5% + 50¢ per transaction
- Migration
- 12-day median, no fee
- Score
- 4.0/5
- Catch
- pricey on large tickets
Maxio: a flat fee for the finance team
Flat feeWhy move to Maxio. Maxio (formerly Chargify) swaps the percentage for a flat fee. The Grow plan is $599 a month for up to $100,000 in monthly billings, with unlimited users at no extra charge. At $100,000 a month, Recurly Starter runs about $789, so you save more than $2,000 a year.
Who it's for. A B2B SaaS billing $86,000 to $100,000 a month (below that, Recurly, Chargebee or Stripe Billing cost less), with a finance team that lives in reports and contracts.
Who it's not for. A small SaaS. At $20,000 a month, $599 is 3% of revenue.
The catch. Commitment. Contracts are annual by default, monthly or quarterly payment costs extra, and the Scale plan above $100,000 is quote-only. Add-ons such as multi-entity or EU hosting have no public price.
How to migrate. Keep your gateway behind Maxio. Get the import owner and date written into the contract before you cancel Recurly.
- Price
- Grow $599/mo up to $100,000
- Users
- unlimited
- Score
- 3.8/5
- Catch
- annual contract
Lago: open source for usage-based billing
Open sourceWhy move to Lago. Recurly is built around fixed-price plans. If you charge for consumption (API calls, AI credits, gigabytes), Lago was designed for it. The core is open source under AGPLv3, and you can self-host it with Docker or Helm without paying a cut of revenue.
Who it's for. An engineering-led team selling an API, an AI product or infrastructure, that wants to own its billing code.
Who it's not for. A team with no developers, or a flat-price SaaS shopping mainly for better dunning. Hosting, upgrades and security are on you.
The catch. Lago Cloud and Premium features (automatic dunning, tax integrations, custom branding) have no public price. You'll need a demo.
How to migrate. Lago bills, your gateway collects. Keep Stripe, Adyen or GoCardless, connect it to Lago, and model your usage meters before you import customers.
- Price
- free to self-host
- License
- AGPLv3
- Score
- 3.9/5
- Catch
- Cloud and Premium by demo
Hyperline: contract billing for B2B SaaS, with migration help
Assisted moveWhy move to Hyperline. Hyperline is a Paris-based billing platform for B2B software: quotes, contracts, usage billing, dunning. It says it has run more than 300 migrations from Chargebee, Stripe Billing and other tools, and it works through the cutover with you.
Who it's for. A B2B vendor that sells annual contracts to tens or hundreds of accounts and wants to hand off part of the migration.
Who it's not for. A consumer subscription business. The Launch plan stops at 100 active subscriptions.
The catch. Launch is $299 a month plus 0.7% of revenue processed, up to $2M in annual revenue. At $20,000 a month that's $439, more than Recurly. Growth and Scale are quote-only.
How to migrate. Ask three questions on the demo call: who imports the subscriptions, how in-flight contract terms carry over, and which gateway receives the cards. Recurly isn't named among its migration sources, so ask for a reference.
- Price
- Launch $299/mo + 0.7%
- Launch cap
- 100 active subscriptions
- Score
- 3.8/5
- Catch
- expensive at low volume
Six alternatives compared
Our default pick: Chargebee or Stripe Billing under $30,000 a month, Maxio around $100,000. Here's the cost of the billing layer alone, before payment fees. At $20,000 a month: Recurly $249, Chargebee $160, Stripe Billing $140, Hyperline $439. At $100,000 a month: Recurly about $789, Chargebee $749 (the $99 plan), Stripe Billing $700 ($620 on the annual plan), Maxio $599. Between $35,000 and $55,000 a month, Recurly is the cheapest of the four. If that's you and price is your only gripe, renegotiate before you leave.
| Entry price | Migrating from Recurly | |
|---|---|---|
| RecurlyStarting point | Starter $249/mo + 0.9% above $40,000 | Exports live 7 days; cards released by support |
| ChargebeeClosest match | 0.80% of billings, or $99/mo + 0.65% | Migration support included; keep your gateway |
| Stripe BillingAlready on Stripe | 0.7% of billings, no fixed fee | No-code CSV toolkit; card import in ~10 business days |
| PaddleGlobal sales | 5% + 50¢ per transaction | No migration fee, 12-day median |
| MaxioFlat fee | Grow $599/mo up to $100,000 | Keep your gateway; annual contract |
| LagoUsage, open source | Free to self-host; Cloud by demo | Keep your gateway; model usage first |
| HyperlineAssisted move | Launch $299/mo + 0.7% | Vendor-led migration |
Entry prices before tax and payment fees, subject to change. Run the math on your real monthly volume.
Migrating off Recurly in eight steps
Order matters. Each step protects something: your customers' cards, their next billing date, your cash flow, your records.
Inventory everything that touches Recurly
Day 1List your plans, add-ons, coupons and gift cards, then count subscriptions by state: active, in trial, in dunning, set to expire. Write down every webhook (the event Recurly pushes to your app on each payment) and every integration: CRM, accounting, entitlements, Zapier or Make flows.
Note your Recurly contract renewal date too. That's your real deadline.
- Time
- half a day
- If rushed
- a forgotten webhook
Find out where the cards actually live
Longest stepThis question sets your whole timeline. Case one: Recurly stores cards at your gateway (Stripe cus_ or pm_ tokens, for example through Stripe Payment Elements). Then Stripe holds the card number and Recurly never had it. Case two: the cards sit in Recurly's vault.
In case two, no self-serve export contains card numbers; the Billing Information export leaves them out. Email Recurly support with your destination's name and ask for an encrypted transfer of the cards to its vault, the route Stripe recommends with any previous processor. Ask on day one. Stripe warns that previous processors take anywhere from a few days to several months.
- Lead time
- days to months
- Easy case
- tokens already at your gateway
Pull the exports before they expire
ComplianceIn Recurly, go to Analytics, then Exports. There are more than 30: accounts, billing info, subscriptions, invoices, coupons, catalog, transactions. Generate each one and download it right away, because a generated export is only available for 7 days. The API exposes the same exports if you want to script it.
You need the Analytics role, and dates follow the site time zone, not yours. Archive everything outside Recurly; your invoice history still has to be kept.
- Available for
- 7 days
- Exports
- 30+
Rebuild the catalog and coupons
PrepRecreate each plan, add-on and coupon at the destination with the same price, currency and interval. Keep a mapping sheet from Recurly plan codes to new IDs; it's what ties each subscription to the right product during import.
Use the moment to retire dead plans. A catalog of 40 plans with 12 still in use migrates far faster trimmed to 12.
- Deliverable
- ID mapping sheet
Import cards first, then subscriptions
CoreCards come first. At Stripe, an import typically completes within 10 business days of receiving valid data, without CVCs, and Stripe sends back a file mapping old IDs to new ones. Paddle averages about two weeks for card transfers. Only then import subscriptions using that mapping.
Spot-check five customers before the full run: card attached, right plan, right amount, right currency.
- Stripe import
- about 10 business days
- Not carried
- CVC
Line up each subscription's next billing date
TrapA recreated subscription starts today and charges today unless you stop it. The fix: create each one with a trial that runs until its next Recurly renewal, or anchor its billing date on that renewal.
Handle expiring and in-trial subscriptions separately. They shouldn't roll into a fresh full cycle.
- Fix
- trial until next renewal
Cut over in batches and cancel in Recurly
Cash flowMove a small batch, then the rest. Cancel the Recurly subscription the moment the new one goes live, or your customer gets billed twice. Keep the old gateway switched on during the overlap: recurring payments still tied to a disabled gateway will fail.
A new merchant account sees more declines for the first few weeks. Start with customer-initiated payments and domestic cards.
- Main risk
- double billing
- Habit
- small batch first
Tell customers, then cancel Recurly
FinishTell customers about the new portal, the new invoice layout and, if the seller changes (with Paddle), the new name on their statement. Reconnect every webhook and run one real payment end to end.
Then reread your Recurly contract, note the notice period and cancel in writing. Keep read-only access until the last refund clears.
- Notice
- check your contract
- Proof
- written cancellation
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
What makes a Recurly migration go wrong
The same mistakes come up in team write-ups and vendor migration guides alike. None is really technical. They're about timing, and most cost you a month of fees or a customer billed twice.
Asking for the cards too late
The transfer depends on Recurly support and then on the destination's import queue, not on you. Wait until everything else is configured and your contract renews while you're stuck. Send the request the day you pick a destination.
Letting exports expire
A generated export can be downloaded for 7 days. Generate everything on Monday, come back three weeks later, and you redo it all and lose the exact snapshot of cutover day. Download each file as soon as it's ready.
Recreating subscriptions without a trial
Every recreated subscription charges immediately, so customers pay twice that month. Check the trial-until-renewal fix on five subscriptions before the full import.
Switching off the old gateway early
As long as one Recurly subscription is tied to a gateway, disabling it makes that payment fail. Keep it live until the last subscription moves and the last refund clears.
Comparing price sheets without your real volume
Recurly charges a flat fee plus a percentage above a threshold, Chargebee and Stripe Billing a percentage, Maxio a flat fee, Paddle a percentage with payments bundled. Run the math on this month's volume and on next year's. Our subscription billing software ranking lists the price sheets.
Forgetting the tax side
If you leave Recurly for a billing tool that isn't a merchant of record, sales tax stays your job. Decide on the tax engine at the same time as the billing tool, or you'll migrate twice.
- Plans, coupons, webhooks and integrations listed
- Card location confirmed (Recurly vault or gateway)
- Card transfer requested from Recurly support
- Exports downloaded within 7 days and archived
- Catalog rebuilt with an ID mapping sheet
- Cards imported and mapping file checked
- Subscriptions recreated with a trial until renewal
- Old subscriptions canceled batch by batch, old gateway still live
- Tax handling decided
- Customers told, Recurly canceled before the notice date
Recurly alternatives: common questions
What is the best alternative to Recurly?
It depends on volume. Under $30,000 a month, Chargebee (0.80%) or Stripe Billing (0.7%) cost less than Recurly's flat $249. For global consumer sales without a tax team, Paddle. Around $100,000 a month with a finance team, Maxio. Our SaaS subscription management ranking covers the rest.
Is Recurly cheaper than Chargebee?
Only in a middle band. Below about $31,000 a month, Chargebee at 0.80% is cheaper. Between $31,000 and $84,000, Recurly Starter wins. Above that, Chargebee's $99 + 0.65% option takes the lead again ($749 against $789 at $100,000). Add gateway fees on both sides.
How much does Recurly cost?
Starter is $249 a month plus 0.9% of billings, with the first $40,000 each month free of volume fees and a 90-day free trial. All-Access drops below 1% but needs $1M in billing volume and an annual contract. Engage starts at $1,600 a month and RevRec at $850, billed annually.
Can I take my customers' cards with me when I leave Recurly?
Yes, through support. The Billing Information export excludes card numbers, so you ask Recurly support for an encrypted transfer to your destination's PCI-compliant vault. If cards were stored as Stripe tokens, they're already in Stripe and nothing moves.
How long does a Recurly migration take?
Plan on three weeks to a few months. The card release depends on Recurly; after that, Stripe imports in about 10 business days and Paddle quotes a 12-day median migration. Rebuilding webhooks and checking payments usually overlaps with the wait.
Does Stripe Billing support migrating from Recurly?
Yes. Stripe's Billing migration toolkit imports subscriptions from a CSV file in the Dashboard, without code. Card data comes over separately, through Stripe's data migrations team. If you're also leaving Chargebee somewhere in your stack, see our guide to switching from Chargebee.
What's a good Recurly alternative for usage-based pricing?
Lago if you have engineers, since its open source core self-hosts with no revenue share. Chargebee's Flow plan includes 100M usage events a month. Stripe Billing covers basic metering and points to Metronome for advanced cases.
Is there a cheaper option than Recurly for a small SaaS?
Yes. At $10,000 a month, Stripe Billing costs $70 and Chargebee $80, against Recurly's $249. For plain invoicing without subscription logic, our invoicing software ranking lists lighter tools.
Get the next migration guide in your inbox
One tool to leave, one destination, one migration plan. Nothing else.
