Best Recurring Billing Software for Every Use

As the popularity of SaaS products, subscriptions boxes, and productized services continues to rise, recurring billing services gain traction as well. This shift allows companies to maintain a steady cash flow, while providing customers with a simpler and more convenient payment experience.

In this article, I’ll list the best recurring billing software to use in 2025 and beyond. Whether you’re a solopreneur or managing a quickly growing start-up, you’re sure to find a client billing software that will help you streamline your business.

What is a recurring billing software?

A recurring billing software is a platform that allows businesses to automate recurring invoices. Instead of sending them every month, quarter or year manually, the platform creates a subscription that automatically generates a recurring payment, and usually charges the default payment method. However, it’s important to remember that not all software automates recurring billing even if they provide billing, invoicing, and accounting solutions. Sometimes, they are only compatible with one-time invoicing.

There’s also a recurring billing service which oftentimes refers to payment gateways such as Stripe and PayPal. They facilitate the recurring billing via their tool, and can be integrated into subscription billing software.

What are the best recurring billing management tools?

The best app depends on the needs of your business. Some businesses may require a simple and straightforward solution, while others may need a more complex system that offers a range of features and integrations.

Some of the best on the market include the following.

Service Provider Pro (SPP): best for agencies

SPP is an all-in-one client payment tracker and client management platform designed to streamline the operations of productized agencies. With SPP, businesses can automate a significant amount of their billing process and improve customer retention rates.

Service Provider Pro allows businesses to build checkout forms via it’s intuitive drag-and-drop white-label form builder. Besides the native elements, you can spice up the forms using the HTML field, which is compatible with Boostrap components.

The platform also offers automatic recurring billing, so you can effortlessly charge your customers according to whatever billing frequency you decide without having to manually process each transaction. SPP integrates with a number of popular payment processors, including Stripe and PayPal, so payments can be made directly to your accounts.

Key features

• Multiple billing options: Customize billing based on service offerings, packages, extras, and discounts. Supports one-time, variable, recurring, and bulk billing.

• Custom checkout domains: Choose a custom, easy-to-remember domain for your checkout process and maintain your brand’s professional appearance.

• Automatic invoicing: Automatically generate invoices and or invoice a client directly from the SPP platform manually.

• PCI compliant payments: SPP integrates with popular payment processors like Stripe and PayPal, so customers can pay directly from your website or invoice.

• Drag and drop forms: Build beautiful, responsive checkout forms without any coding using SPP’s intuitive drag-and-drop system.

• Automatic customer profiles: SPP automatically generates customer profiles, so you can keep track of all your interactions in one place.

Pricing

SPP offers three service tiers to support businesses of all sizes:

• Basic ($129/mo): 5 team members

• Pro ($299/mo): 10 team members

• Plus ($1,500/mo): 50 team members

Zoho Billing: best for SMBs

Zoho Billing is an affordable recurring billing solution designed for small to medium-sized businesses. With Zoho Billing, businesses can automate their subscription management process and significantly reduce customer churn thanks to easy payment options.

Zoho Billing offers a number of features to streamline your recurring billing process, including automatic invoicing, subscription management, and payments. The platform also offers a self-service portal for your customers, so they can manage their own subscriptions and update their payment information as needed.

Key features

• Automatic invoicing: Automatically generate invoices and send them to customers.

• Subscription management: Keep track of your subscription plans, customers, and payments in one place.

• Payments: Zoho Billing integrates with popular payment processors like Stripe, so customers can pay directly from your invoices.

• Self-service portal: Give your customers the ability to manage their own subscriptions and update their payment information.

• Integrations: Zoho Billing integrates well with many of Zoho’s other products, including Zoho Books, Zoho Desk, and Zoho SalesIQ.

Pricing

• Free: Up to 20 customers

• Basic ($49/mo): Up to 500 customers

• Standard ($99/mo): Up to 2,000 customers

• Professional ($249/mo): Up to 5,000 customers

Recurly: best for large businesses

Recurly is an enterprise-level recurring billing solution designed to handle the unique needs of large businesses. A quick look at their website reveals that they manage subscriptions for Twitch, Paramount+, and Time—three companies with subscription-based revenue models which net them well over $1 billion in annual revenue.

Recurly is designed to make it easy for large companies to process payments from subscribers and customers from around the world. The platform offers a number of features to support this, including integrations with 22 payment gateways and enabling over 140 currencies. Recurly also makes sure to provide the level of white label customization that large companies are looking for, but only on their most expensive plans.

Key features

• Automated workflows: Recurly can automatically handle common tasks related to your subscription process, like issuing refunds, exporting data, and updating customer information.

• Fraud protection: Recurly uses machine learning to detect and prevent fraud, so you can be sure your payments are safe.

• Dedicated support: Recurly’s Profession and Elite plans give companies access to a dedicated technical support manager, customer success manager, and account manager.

• Integrations: With Recurly, you get integration with Mailchimp, Zendesk, Xero, NetSuite, Quickbooks, and more… if you’re willing to pay a little extra.

• Usage-based billing: Recurly allows businesses to charge clients and customers based on app or service usage.

Pricing

Recurly offers three service tiers:

• Core ($199/mo): Up to $1 million in annual subscription revenue

• Professional (Custom): Up to $25 million in annual subscription revenue

• Elite (Custom): Over $25 million in annual subscription revenue

FreshBooks: best for accounting features

First and foremost, FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting service—recurring billing is just one of the many features it offers.

You can use FreshBooks to create both estimates and bids for prospects with the option to sign contracts electronically. The accounting system itself is comprehensive, allowing you to record discounts and establish static or variable payment schedules.

In addition, FreshBooks makes it easy to send reminders to clients, and can even apply late fees when payments are missed. The platform also offers an automatic payment option, so clients can set up their subscription and never have to worry about making a manual payment again.

Key features

• Accounting: FreshBooks is primarily an accounting service, so it’s no surprise that it excels in this area. The platform makes it easy to track payments, invoices and expenses. This ensures that you can always stay on top of your tax obligations.

• Contract management: FreshBooks allows you to create and sign contracts electronically, making the whole process easier and faster.

• Payment processing: FreshBooks integrates with popular payment processors like PayPal and Stripe, so you can accept payments directly from your invoices.

Pricing

• Lite ($15/mo): 5 billable clients

• Plus ($25/mo): 50 billable clients

• Premium ($50/mo): Unlimited billable clients

• Select (Custom): Unlimited billable clients plus specialized features

Chargebee: best free billing software

If you’re in the early stages of getting your business off the ground, choosing a recurring billing solution with a generous free plan is a great way to keep expenses low. Chargebee fits this bill perfectly, as they offer a free plan that allows businesses to process up to $100k in annual subscription revenue.

That said, it’s worth noting that it only includes basic features like recurring billing, invoicing, and secure checkout options. If you need more comprehensive features, like customer management, customer portals, or integrations, you’ll need to upgrade to one of their paid plans.

Key features

• Generous free tier: Offers a free tier with robust recurring billing features and a generous revenue allowance.

• Flexible pricing: Offers a variety of pricing plans to suit businesses of different sizes and needs.

• Capable feature set: Includes all the basics like recurring billing, invoicing, and secure checkout options, as well as more advanced features like customer management, customer portals, and integrations.

Pricing

• Launch (Free): Up to $100k in annual revenue

• Rise ($249/mo): Up to $600k in annual revenue

• Scale ($549/mo): Up to $1.2M in annual revenue

• Enterprise (Custom): Over $1.2M in annual revenue

Verifone: best for e-commerce

Verifone (formerly known as 2Checkout) is a recurring billing solution that offers a number of features that simplify recurring billing for ecommerce businesses. With Verifone, businesses can automate their invoicing and payments, as well as manage customer information and subscription plans.

What sets Verifone apart are its advanced features designed to combat voluntary churn. Businesses can add auto-renewal discounts to encourage customers to commit to longer subscription terms, as well as cancellation prevention discounts to keep them engaged.

In addition, customers also have the option to pause their subscriptions rather than canceling them outright.

Key features

• Anti-churn features: Verifone offers a number of features designed to keep customers engaged and committed to your business, including auto-renewal discounts, cancellation prevention discounts, and the option to pause subscriptions.

• Ease of use: Verifone is designed to be easy to use, with an intuitive interface and features that make recurring billing simple.

• Customer management: With Verifone, businesses can manage customer information and subscription plans in one place.

• Integrations: Verifone integrates with a number of popular ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento.

Pricing

• 2Sell (3.5% + $0.35/sale)

• 2Subscribe (4.5% + $0.45/sale)

• 2Monetize (6.0% + $0.60/sale)

What kinds of businesses should think about recurring billing?

Recurring billing is usually best suited to service-oriented businesses—especially businesses that offer productized services.

For those unaware of that term, a productized service is any service that is marketed and sold like a product. This usually works by offering the service in various plans, packages, or tiers with distinct parameters that differentiate them.

For example, a content marketing agency might market a Basic Plan that includes four articles per month and a Pro Plan that includes eight. As you can probably see, this business model (and that of many other productized service businesses) lends itself well to recurring billing—whether it’s monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Client billing is usually fully automated, and handled either by the payment processor, or in case of SPP, the client portal software.

However, that’s not to say there aren’t exceptions to the rule. Dollar Shave Club is a great example of a direct-to-consumer (D2C) company that has used recurring billing (and cheap razor blades) to carve out 54% of the online shaving market.

Feature comparison table

Evaluation methodology

The recurring billing platforms in this guide were selected based on a research-driven evaluation process:

• Market research: I analyzed industry reports, user reviews, and market positioning to identify leading solutions.

• Feature analysis: Each platform was evaluated on key criteria including features, ease of use, pricing, and integration capabilities.

• Documentation review: I thoroughly reviewed product documentation, knowledge bases, and technical specifications.

• Industry expertise: The selections reflect years of experience in the subscription management space.

• Use case alignment: I categorized solutions based on their strengths for different business types and needs.

The final selections represent options that excel for specific business requirements across various price points and complexity levels.

Benefits of automated billing services

Automated billing services help implement effective customer retention strategies by providing transparent communication:

1. Reduced administrative burden : Automated systems take care of sending invoices, managing payments, and handling invoice disputes, freeing up staff to focus on core business activities.

2. Increased efficiency: Automated processes eliminate manual errors, reduce processing times, and increase the speed at which bills are sent out and paid by customers.

3. Improved cash flow management: Agencies can better manage their cash flow by receiving payments sooner and being able to predict revenue more accurately.

4. Enhanced customer experience: Automated systems provide transparent communication with customers about payment status, due dates, and any issues that may arise.

5. Reduced late payments: Automated payment email reminders and notifications help reduce late payments and bad debt, leading to improved cash flow management.

Which solution is right for your business?

Service Provider Pro

• Digital agencies: The client portal and service order forms streamline agency operations

• Freelancer collectives: Team permission systems support collaborative service delivery

• Productized service businesses: The order form builder helps package services into defined products

• White-label service providers: Custom branding options maintain your professional image

Zoho Billing

• Small-to-medium businesses: Affordable pricing with scalable features

• Zoho ecosystem users: Seamless integration with Zoho CRM, Books, and other Zoho products

• International businesses: Multi-currency and multi-language support

• Businesses with custom workflows: Flexible automation rules and workflows

Recurly

• Enterprise subscription services: Built for high transaction volumes and complex needs

• Businesses with global customers: Advanced international payment options and compliance

• SaaS companies: Usage-based billing and subscriber analytics

• Businesses with custom integration needs: Robust API and webhook system

FreshBooks

• Service businesses needing accounting: Complete accounting system with billing features

• Businesses with simple recurring billing needs: User-friendly interface with less complexity

• Solo entrepreneurs and small teams: Affordable pricing based on number of billable clients

• Mobile-first businesses: Highly-rated mobile app for on-the-go management

Chargebee

• Early-stage startups: Generous free tier until you reach $100k in revenue

• Fast-growing companies: Scalable features that grow with your business

• Subscription-based startups: Built for scaling subscription businesses from the ground up

• Businesses with complex pricing models: Supports tiered, volume, and hybrid pricing

Verifone

• E-commerce businesses: Deep integration with shopping carts and e-commerce platforms

• Businesses with high churn risk: Advanced customer retention tools

• Global sellers: Exceptionally broad payment method support

• Businesses with fluctuating sales: Percentage-based pricing model

Frequently asked questions

The bottom line

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to choosing the best recurring billing service for your business. Ultimately, it depends on your specific needs and preferences. However, by taking the time to compare different services and considering the factors mentioned above, you should be able to find a billing service that’s right for you.

At SPP, we understand that the subscription billing process can be complex and time-consuming. That’s why we offer a comprehensive solution that simplifies the entire process for you.

Chris Willow

Founder of SPP

Founder of Service Provider Pro, with over a decade of experience in agency operations and billing systems. As a former agency owner, Chris developed SPP to solve the client management and payment challenges he experienced firsthand. His platform now processes millions in subscription payments for agencies worldwide, giving him unique insights into billing best practices across various service businesses.