SaaS Billing Software: Our Top 5 Picks for 2024
Quentin Gaudinat
Sep 10, 2024
Having the right billing software is critical for your SaaS. But with so many solutions sprouting on the market, it can get overwhelming to know which one is right for your business:
Which features should be chosen in priority?
Which software is best for which company size?
How to know it’s the right time to switch from your current billing tool?
One thing is sure: doing it manually or with unadapted software would be both a waste of time and of resources. Letting your billing software handle your day-to-day billing frees your time, so you can focus on what matters most: your important tasks and strategic decision-making.
Since you’re here, we take it you’re scouting a billing software! Keep reading to learn more about:
At Upflow, we’re all about streamlining processes, which is why our A/R collection software integrates with many billing software.
Benefits of a SaaS Billing Software
SaaS companies tend to have a high volume of transactions, as well as a complex product mix. What with subscription management, add-ons, upsells, upgrades and downgrades, tiered plans… issuing each and every invoice manually would be a nightmare, that's why billing software is a must-have.
Using billing software allows you to automate your whole billing process and to create specific workflows that do the bulk of the work for you. They’re also great to stay on top of your SaaS metrics.
Most billing platforms also include a payment gateway, which means that your client can pay directly through the platform in a secure manner, using their preferred payment methods.
Some SaaS billing solutions can also handle SaaS recurring billing or SaaS subscription billing. That also means having a revenue recognition feature that will help you manage your deferred revenue.
All in all, saas billing software is indispensable. But how to choose the one that matches your specific business needs?
How to Choose the Right Billing Software For Your Business?
Switching software is always a leap. Between the setup time and fees, training, and getting used to another tool, switching costs tend to be high. On the other hand, sticking with the same SaaS software can limit you and end up costing you money.
Adding a new tool to your finance stack is a decision that must be made at the right time in order to foster your growth. The right time and the right way.
Here’s our recommended process to choose your new SaaS billing software:
Define Your Current and Future Needs.
What do you need to have in your next billing platform? Think about your business specificities - SaaS subscription business have a few!
Do you need a payment gateway, or just billing or invoicing tool?
At which stage(s) of your subscription lifecycle do you need it?
Do you operate in several countries and if so, do you deal in different currencies?
What is your current monthly turnover? What’s your projected one in 6, 12, 24 months?
Do you want an integrated dashboard? Which financial metrics do you need to track?
In short, make a list of all the criteria that matter to you when it comes to your billing process. It’s helpful to map out your whole billing process as it is now.
Think about your current needs and process as well as your future ones: you want to be using your billing software for years!
Compare Different Billing Software.
Now that you have your criteria, take a look at the billing solutions on the market.
Compare their features, but also their pricing: some of them have a flat percentage fee over each transaction, while others have a monthly or yearly fee. Depending on your turnover, that has its importance.
You’ll be able to read more on the top 5 billing software to use in 2022 later in this article.
Look at Ecosystem Integration.
Integration through API is a key criterion for your billing software! At Upflow, we recommend working with software that integrates easily. Open tech ecosystems work because they adapt to your current and future needs.
It allows you to have centralized data in real-time while planning for your future growth with flexibility. Simply put, the right billing solution for you is one that will integrate with your current tech stack.
The Top 5 Billing Software for SaaS in 2024
Now that you know how to choose your billing software, let’s have a look at the 5 best we’ve selected for SaaS companies:
Stripe Billing.
A leader in the payment industry, Stripe doesn’t need introductions anymore. While this billing platform started by offering payment processing, it now comes with specific billing features that make it a great choice for a SaaS business.
Stripe Billing offers many subscription management features in the form of a flexible platform that accommodates various pricing models. Adding new pricing (and offer) can be done easily.
Stripe has many integrations with card networks and banks as well as a powerful API. Their customer service is 24/7 which, when it comes to billing, is always a plus. They also rely on machine learning to optimize your billing process.
What makes it great: It is a very convenient choice, easy to set up, and can cater to the billing needs of a small business as well as a growing one.
Stripe Billing pricing:
$620/ month: For billing volume up to $100,000 a month
$1500/ month: For billing volume up to $250,000 a month
$2950/ month: For billing volume up to $500,000 a month
$5750/ month: For billing volume up to $1,000,000 a month
Custom pricing for billing volume more than $1,000,000 a month
Recurly.
A subscription management platform as well as a billing platform, Recurly offers advanced features for SaaS billing.
Its strength? With Recurly, you can personalize pretty much everything so it matches your needs. Their API is designed with developers in mind, so you can create a billing system that supports various pricing plans and business models.
Their software supports complicated billing models as well as many currencies, languages, and payment methods. It also has many integrations with CRM, payment gateways, and other financial tools.
What makes it great: thanks to machine learning, Recurly has a dunning functionality that prevents churn and recovers your subscribers, increasing your MRR.
Recurly pricing:
Their plan starts at $220/month (Free for the first 3 months)
Professional and Elite plans are available on demand.
Chargebee.
Charbegee is fully tailored to SaaS businesses. It’s a full subscription management platform as well as a billing tool, so it helps you with all the stages of your customer lifecycle. They have great marketing features for subscriber retention.
All online payments and billing can be automated through their platform. They integrate with 30 payment gateways, as well as your CRM, accounting software, and Upflow!
Since they’re dedicated to saas businesses, they also keep on launching new features relevant for your business. It grows with you from an SMB to a saas business with a more complex pricing strategy.
What makes it great: As an all-in-one software for SaaS subscription business, they have built-in marketing tools to reduce your churn rate and support upsell, discounting, and cross-selling, leading to an overall higher MRR.
Chargebee pricing:
Free for the first USD 250K of cumulative billing, then 0.75% on billing
$599/ month: For billing volume up to $100,000 a month, then 0.75% on billing
Custom pricing for their enterprise plan
Zuora.
Zuora is a billing solution for subscription-based companies. It's considered by some as the leading solution for established businesses that want to switch to a subscription model.
It offers customizable billing cycles to maximize recurring revenues as well as many integrations with other financial software (like Upflow!) and CRMs etc. It also enables real-time communication with customers, thanks to notifications, emails, and text messages.
Features such as tax, coupon, and trial management or real-time data dashboards are also included.
What makes it great: Zuora is the right for your business if you are a large-scale enterprise. It offers specific upper market features and can be considered as the most premium software.
Zuora pricing:
Custom pricing
Chargify (Now Maxio)
Another subscription billing software, Chargify specifically targets B2B SaaS companies. Their tools offer a great possibility for personalization - down to one-to-one billing workflows and segmented pricing.
They can support complex billing scenarios, so they suit any SaaS that has (or will have) various pricing plans. They also offer add-ons and other features to improve subscriber retention, like targeted promotions or dunning prevention tools.
What makes it great: with Chargify, you can be proactive about your churn rate and send customized notifications at every stage of your customer lifecycle.
Chargify pricing:
Custom pricing
Key Takeaways:
Billing software makes your SaaS billing process much more efficient, freeing time for strategic financial decision-making. They can help you with your recurring billing or subscription billing, and also help track your SaaS metrics easily.
Each billing solution comes with its specificities. It’s helpful to first map out your precise needs, as it will make your benchmarking much easier.
Make sure to choose software that integrates with your current tech stack! Having an open ecosystem that centralizes data in real-time is quintessential to steer your growth.
