Best subscription management software of 2023

Subscription management is a complex, resource-heavy process. Gathering customer information, generating invoices, and collecting payments manually is an almost impossible task — particularly if you have a large customer base. Luckily, you can automate all of these processes. All you need is the right subscription management software.

In this article, we’ll cover what subscription management software is and present our picks for the 6 best subscription management software solutions of 2023.

What is subscription management software?

Subscription management software is a tool that helps companies manage and automate different aspects of their subscription-based revenue models.

For a subscription-based business, subscription management software is business critical. It also plays an important role in regular orders, helping to keep your business organized, save you time and money, and keep your customers happy.

Key features of subscription management software include:

• Customer management: Subscription management software helps to maintain customer profiles and records, including their subscription plans, payment details, and communication preferences.
• Subscription plans and pricing: The software enables businesses to create and manage a variety of subscription plans with different pricing structures.
• Billing and payments: One of the primary functions of subscription management software is automating the billing process. This includes invoice generation, payment processing, and failed payment management. Some solutions also support multiple currencies and payment gateways.
• Dunning management: Subscription management software typically includes automated communication and reminder systems for dunning management, helping you to collect payments that are overdue. It also often includes automated communication and reminder systems for this purpose.
• Renewals and upgrades: Software for subscription management automates the subscription renewal process, which is crucial for maintaining revenue from subscriptions. The software also enables customers to upgrade or downgrade their subscription levels.
• Analytics and reporting: Typically, subscription management software includes analytics and reporting features that allow businesses to track key metrics such as monthly recurring revenue, churn rate, customer lifetime value, and more.
• Integrations: Many subscription management platforms can be integrated with other business tools such as accounting software, CRM systems, and email marketing platforms. This can help streamline business operations and ensure data consistency across different tools.

By employing subscription management software for these and many other purposes, businesses can streamline their subscription-based operations, reduce administrative overhead, improve the customer experience, and gather insights to optimize their revenue models.

Our picks: 6 best subscription management software solutions of 2023

1. Upodi

Upodi is an all-in-one subscription management platform that enables you to put your recurring billing, invoice generation, and many other processes on auto-pilot. This allows your business to optimize your recurring revenue, improve customer relationships and retention, and prevent revenue leakage.

From physical box delivery to membership clubs to fast-growing SaaS companies and beyond — Upodi can automate and optimize the subscription lifecycle of any subscription business.

Key features of Upodi include:

• All-in-one dashboard: Upodi’s dashboard provides everything you need — such as detailed financial reports, insights, and metrics — to assess future earnings and company growth with higher accuracy, as well as improve subscription management or adjust pricing strategy.
• Automated recurring billing: With Upodi, you can manage recurring billing operations automatically and securely. The platform allows you to monitor the health of payment methods to retry failed payments and enables your customers to choose their preferred payment method.
• Automated and customizable invoicing: Upodi’s subscription management software features automatic invoicing, allowing you to automatically send invoices and customize them to reflect your brand identity. The solution also provides automated invoice matching and can include invoices of classic bank wire transfers.
• Automated dunning: The software’s automated dunning feature reminds subscribers of upcoming payments, credit card expiration dates, or overdue bills to prevent involuntary churn.
• Integrations: Upodi integrates with any payment service provider. This allows you to expand internationally without worrying about your subscription management platform being able to provide your customers with their preferred payment methods.

Upodi pros:

With Upodi, you can bill the same subscription offer at different times, with different amounts, and in different currencies. This makes it possible to offer different subscription models to customers and increase customer satisfaction and retention.

Upodi cons:

Upodi is not optimized for sending out many different types of subscriptions. If you’re a small subscription business that offers many different types of subscriptions, a solution that offers semi-automated workflows might be more suitable for you.

2. Chargebee

Chargebee is an end-to-end subscription billing and revenue management platform known for its comprehensive features and flexibility.

The platform is suitable for all business sizes and enables subscription businesses to capture, retain, and maximize revenue opportunities through subscription management, automated recurring billing, and revenue analytics.

Key features of Chargebee include:

• Subscription management and billing: Chargebee offers a range of features for managing subscriptions, including plan changes, pausing, and cancellations. The platform also supports a variety of billing models, such as recurring, one-time, and usage-based billing.
• Invoicing and revenue recognition: Chargebee can generate customizable invoices and recognize revenue in compliance with accounting standards.
• Dunning management: The platform offers robust tools for handling failed payments, sending reminders to customers, and recovering lost revenue.
• Trial management: Chargebee enables you to set up and manage free trials, paid trials, and the conversion process.
• Advanced analytics and reporting: The solution provides a suite of reports and dashboards that offer insights into key metrics such as Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), churn rate, and Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV).

Chargebee pros:

Chargebee is known for its flexibility in handling a variety of billing models and complex subscription scenarios. The solution is also able to integrate with a wide range of other platforms and tools, which helps to streamline business processes.

Chargebee cons:

For smaller businesses and startups, the price of Chargebee might be too high compared to other options. Some users also report that while Chargebee is highly customizable, there are limitations in the depth of customization that the solution offers.

3. Maxio (previously Chargify)

Previously known as Chargify, Maxio is a subscription management platform specifically made with B2B SaaS businesses in mind. The software offers a variety of features such as usage tracking, revenue accrual, custom pricing, personalized billing, and more.

Maxio enables you to consolidate your product catalog, manage subscription activity, and improve your customer relationships.

Key features of Maxio include:

• Subscription management: With Maxio, users can create and manage a variety of subscription plans, apply coupons and discounts, and handle renewals and expirations.
• Complex billing models: Maxio supports a wide range of billing models, including recurring, usage-based, event-based, and one-time billing.
• Revenue retention and dunning management: The software provides features for handling failed payments, sending automated reminders to customers, and recovering lost revenue.
• Reporting and analytics: Maxio offers a range of reporting tools that enable you to track revenue, churn rate, and customer lifetime value, as well as other important metrics.
• Tax automation and compliance: The platform can automatically calculate and apply taxes based on customer location, which enables you to ensure compliance with global tax regulations.
• Integrations: Maxio can be integrated with a variety of third-party platforms and services, including CRM systems, payment gateways, and accounting software.

Maxio pros:

Maxio supports a wide range of billing models, which makes it particularly suitable for B2B SaaS businesses with complex or varied billing needs. The software’s ability to integrate with a variety of third-party platforms is also a major advantage for businesses looking to streamline their operations.

Maxio cons:

While Maxio offers customization, some users have expressed a desire for more in-depth customization options — particularly for reporting purposes. Some users also find Maxio’s interface and features complex, and the solution may have a steeper learning curve compared to other subscription management software solutions.

4. Paddle

Paddle is a subscription management software designed to help you create the SaaS billing model you want and grow your revenue across every part of the customer lifecycle.

Paddle is an all-in-one solution that combines subscription management, payment processing, and tax compliance to simplify operations for businesses.

Key features of Paddle include:

• Subscription management: With Paddle, you can set up and manage subscription plans, including trials, discounts, and renewals. You can also allow customers to manage their own subscriptions and/or manage subscriptions yourself.
• Unified dashboard: Paddle provides a single dashboard that combines billing, payment processing, and subscription management, making it easier for you to oversee various aspects of your business.
• Global payments: The platform supports global payments, accepting over 20 currencies and various payment methods including credit cards, PayPal, and wire transfers.
• Checkout and upsells: Paddle offers customizable checkout experiences and supports one-click upsells to maximize your conversion rates.
• Tax handling and compliance: Paddle automates sales tax calculation, collection, and remittance for different regions globally, ensuring compliance with local regulations.
• SaaS metrics: Paddle offers SaaS-specific metrics like MRR, CLTV, and churn rate.

Paddle pros:

Paddle’s tax handling and compliance feature is particularly useful for businesses who do not wish to manage complex global tax regulations themselves. Many users also find Paddle easy to set up and use, with a lower learning curve compared to other subscription management platforms.

Paddle cons:

Paddle’s pricing model typically includes a percentage of sales, which, for some users, can be expensive as their business scales. Some users also report limitations in terms of advanced features and customization compared to other platforms.

5. Recurly

Recurly is a subscription management service that allows you to build, manage, and grow your subscriber base. Recurly offers flexible and intuitive tools that simplify the entire subscription lifecycle and adapt as your business changes.

The platform also provides other valuable business tools, including automated recurring billing and automated invoicing.

Key features of Recurly include:

• Subscription plan management: Recurly allows you to create and manage a wide range of subscription plans, including trials, discounts, and different billing cycles.
• Recurring billing and invoicing: The software automates the billing process, including invoice generation and payment processing. This helps to reduce time spent on manual processes and eliminate human error.
• Dunning management: Recurly provides dunning management features to help you recover revenue from failed payments by sending automated reminders and notifications to customers.
• Analytics and reporting: The service provides analytics and reporting tools that enable you to monitor key performance indicators such as MRR, Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), and churn rate.
• Customizable checkout pages: With Recurly, you can create customizable checkout experiences that align with your business’ branding.
• Integration capabilities: Recurly integrates with various third-party tools such as accounting software, CRM systems, and marketing platforms.

Recurly pros:

Many users consider Recurly’s dunning management features robust and effective for revenue recovery. Recurly also offers a high degree of flexibility in creating and managing subscription models, making the subscription management software suitable for a variety of business needs.

Recurly cons:

For some small businesses, Recurly might be more expensive compared to other options. Smaller businesses, or businesses with simpler needs, might also find the solution’s interface and features more complex than necessary.

6. Zoho Subscriptions

Part of the Zoho ecosystem, which offers a suite of business applications, Zoho Subscriptions specifically focuses on subscription billing and management.

The solution allows you to handle your customer subscription billing lifecycle from end to end, which includes managing subscriptions, automating recurring billing, and sending tax-compliant invoices.

Key features of Zoho Subscriptions include:

• Subscription management: Zoho Subscriptions enables you to create, manage, and bill customers for a variety of subscription plans, including one-time and recurring billing.
• Hosted pages: You can use Zoho Subscriptions to create hosted pages for subscription sign-up. This allows customers to select and manage their subscription plans.
• Recurring billing and invoicing: The service automates your recurring billing and generates invoices customizable to your company’s branding.
• Dunning management: Zoho Subscriptions offers dunning management and features, which include automated emails for payment reminders and handling failed payments.
• Tax management: The subscription management software helps you handle tax calculations and compliance for different regions, helping to ensure compliance with local regulations.
• Integration with Zoho suite: As part of the Zoho ecosystem, Zoho Subscriptions can be integrated seamlessly with other Zoho products, including Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, and Zoho Inventory.

Zoho Subscriptions pros:

Compared to some of its competitors, Zoho Subscriptions is often considered a more cost-effective subscription management platform. This makes the software a good option for small and medium-sized businesses. Further, if a business is already using other Zoho products, Zoho Subscriptions’ integration capabilities can be particularly beneficial.

Zoho Subscriptions cons:

While Zoho Subscriptions is easy to use, some businesses with complex subscription models might find its features somewhat basic compared to more specialized subscription management software on the market. Some users also report that while Zoho Subscriptions has good reporting capabilities, there are limitations in customizing reports.

Manage your subscriptions with Upodi

As your SaaS business experiences growth and scales up, you’ll encounter two key dynamics: increased pressure on your tech stack and a heavier workload for your employees. Your need for a simple, efficient way to keep your business organized, save time and money, and keep your customers happy will become ever more business critical.

At Upodi, our core expertise lies in subscriptions. Our product is exclusively dedicated to handling subscription management and recurring billing, allowing you to optimize your recurring revenue, improve customer relationships and retention, and prevent revenue leakage.

By choosing our solution, you gain an all-in-one subscription management platform that provides everything you need to put your recurring billing, invoice generation, and many other business processes on auto-pilot.

We automate your manual bookkeeping, subscription management, and payment tracking work to help you efficiently secure, retain, and grow your revenue. With an API-first approach, we smoothly and securely integrate with your existing tech stack while ensuring compliance with regulations.

Manage your subscriptions securely and with full confidence and flexibility. Enter new markets, or introduce new products or services — with Upodi, you can scale your business without adding unnecessary complexity to your tech stack.

See how Upodi can help you optimize your subscription and billing efforts; start a free trial today:

Optimize recurring revenue with Upodi’s all-in-one subscription management platform. Upodi prioritizes data security and privacy. It fully adheres to GDPR and PCI regulations, safeguarding companies' and their subscribers' credit card and personal information.