The 9 Ultimate Subscription Management Software for Rapid Growth in 2023 [Full Review]

Offering subscription services come with a whole lot of tedious tasks. That’s why you need a subscription management service! You won’t have to waste your time manually creating invoices and quotes and tracking paid and unpaid subscriptions. Most of these tools will also automatically renew your subscriptions, notify customers of late payments and provide you with real-time tracking!

The subscription economy for businesses is growing without doubt as 80% of new SaaS companies and current vendors are switching to the subscription model. And the average subscription-based business is expanding by 30%–50% annually, thanks to recurring payments.

But as you very well know, offering subscription services isn’t a walk in the park. 48% of businesses struggle to solve their reporting and accounting challenges. An alarming 63% of subscription-based companies say turning customers into recurring payments is a headache on its own.

Yet there’s a way you can ease the friction that comes with offering subscriptions while solidifying yourself in this fast-paced environment. The solution is subscription management software!

We’ve scoured the web to find the best subscription management software for SaaS companies and businesses in other sectors so you can choose the perfect tool for your brand! These are the top subscription management software, the pros, and cons of each, and how much to budget for.

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Let’s begin!

Best Subscription Management Software: A Quick Comparison

What is Subscription Management Software?

Subscription management software manages and handles recurring bills from your consumers. These tools work alongside payment processor tools. 92% of Americans use at least one subscription service, so businesses need automated and robust systems to manage their subscribers. 

Using the best subscription management software, you can streamline your work processes and ensure complete tasks that you can’t automate. Your subscription management software will handle all aspects of the customer subscription lifecycle, from sign-up to payment tracking. 

Top 10 Benefits of Subscription Management Software for Your Business

There are many reasons why subscription management software is an excellent solution for your business. Subscription management software allows your customers to self-manage their subscriptions while securing their payment information. 

This software will also reduce your admin through automation, minimizes potential errors for your subscriptions, and you can create invoices quickly. Brands can access real-time updates too, and use multiple payment options. 

Businesses that use subscription management software also don’t need to worry about PCI certification. They can leverage analytics too and collect subscription fees faster. 

Let’s take a closer look at the advantages of using the best subscription management software.

1.Your Consumers Can Self-Manage Their Subscriptions

A great advantage for you and your customers is that subscription management software often provides self-help portals for your buyers. This allows your customers to manage their subscriptions and access the information they need without reaching out to your support team. 

Many startup businesses can’t take the pressure of their customer support line ringing 24/7. Rather than dealing with the same queries and simple tasks, your customer support team can focus on gathering customer feedback and refining your service offering. 

2.Subscription Management Software Secures Payment Information

When you’re allowing people to subscribe to your product, you’re tasked with taking care of their personal and payment information. This information is crucial, and businesses that compromise such details deal with dire legal consequences. Your business will lose credibility too. 

You can make this easier and rely on the best subscription management software. This software has the cyber security frameworks to ensure the safety of your clients’ information. 

3.There Will Be Less Admin for You.

Based on the two advantages of subscription management software we’ve looked at already, you can see how there will be less admin for you. Managing subscriptions manually works if you have few consumers on your books. However, the immense admin that comes with growing your subscribers will demand too much of your time and focus. 

Once you start building a reliable and loyal subscription list, you need to notice factors like brand reputation and developing customer appreciation. Investing your time and manpower in admin isn’t a strategic way to grow your subscribers rapidly. 

4.There Will Be Fewer Manual Errors

Regardless of how competent you and your employees are, we’re human, and we make mistakes. When you manually handle subscribers, you have to invoice them manually, track whose paid and who hasn’t manually, and remind consumers manually. This approach invites too many manual errors to occur. 

5.You Can Create and Send Invoices Quickly

Creating invoices can take some time if you’re doing it manually. But you can make this process ten times quicker through the best subscription management software. With this software, you can create and send invoices within minutes. 

6.Subscription Management Software Provides In-depth Updates

As your subscribers start multiplying, how can you keep track of who paid when and whether consumers paid at all? This will be one heck of a tedious task without the help of subscription management software. These tools provide real-time updates on your subscriptions, how much is outstanding, your cancellation rate, and which subscribers have joined. 

7.Your Consumers Can Use Various Payment Gateways.

Using the best subscription management software allows you to offer your clients multiple payment gateways. Like all the other advantages we’ve looked at, this is a perk for you and your buyers. Some buyers can’t purchase from a business because of limited payment options. You won’t lose those consumers with subscription management software.

8.You Don’t Need to Worry about PCI Certification

If you want to process credit card information, you need to be PCI compliant. PCI certification can be tough to achieve, and it costs a bit of money. If you use a recurring billing system, like subscription management software, you don’t need to worry about PCI compliance. 

9.Subscription Management Software Provides Detailed Reporting

This goes hand-in-hand with advantage number six. With the real-time updates you can access from subscription management software, you can access detailed reporting and analytics too. This information is vital for businesses to solve problems quickly and increase their customer’s lifetime value. 

10.Businesses Can Collect Money Faster

With all the convenience and speed of subscription management software, businesses can collect money from subscriptions much quicker. Without having to worry about manual errors, PCI certification, creating and sending invoices yourself, and extending maximum customer support, you can generate money from subscriptions much sooner.

 

Source: Unscreen

9 Best Subscription Management Software

70% of businesses believe subscriptions will be their key to new buyers in the years to come. While you have the chance, use any of the best subscription management software to nail down your process and expand your subscription list.

Here is the top subscription management software for SaaS companies and brands in diverse industries. 

1.ChargeBee

ChargeBee is a user-friendly subscription management software that provides services for SaaS, e-Commerce, and e-Learning companies among many more. You can integrate this software with Xero, QuickBooks, Salesforce, Zendesk, and 18 more third-party tools. ChargeBee is ideal for small to mid-level businesses. 

Source: chargebee.com

Key Features:

• Automated invoices
• Quote generator
• Pricing management
• Backdating subscriptions
• Multiple payment options and gateways

Pricing:

• Launch plan is free
• Rise plan is $299 p/m
• Scale plan is $599 p/m
• Contact ChargeBee for a quote on the Enterprise plan

Pros:

• Ideal SaaS subscription management software
• Easy to integrate third-party software
• Easy software to use 

Cons:

• Difficult to manage multiple currencies
• Reporting dashboard could be more robust
• Doesn’t implement legal requirements for invoices in all countries 

G2 Score: N/A

GetApp Score: 4.3/5 stars

Capterra Score: 4.3/5 stars

Website: https://www.chargebee.com/

2.Stripe

Stripe is a well-known tool not only for subscription management but payment processing. You’ll notice that many of the subscription management software tools on this list are able to integrate with Stripe because of this. Using this software, you can handle tax documents, manage your profits and expenses and make in-person payments too.

Key Features:

• Multiple payment gateways and methods
• Automated emails for failed payments
• Invoice generator
• Reporting and analytics
• Globally-compliant templates 

Pricing:

• Various (pricing is per-transaction based)

Pros:

• Users report excellent customer service
• This software is easy to use and configure
• Users can visually analyze and compare data 

Cons:

• High fees for processing card payments
• Stripe doesn’t extend its services to developing countries
• Unclear reporting on payments with fraud risk

G2 Score: 4.3/5 stars

GetApp Score: 4.7/5 stars 

Capterra Score: 4.7/5 stars

Website: https://stripe.com/

3.Chargify

This subscription management software is a fantastic choice for small and mid-level companies. You can manage and track your subscriptions while setting up event-based billing for milestones and sales. Chargify allows businesses to integrate this software with Clickdesk, ActiveCampaign, Zapier, Stripe, Zendesk, and many more apps.

 

Key Features:

• Event-based billing
• Subscription management
• Offer management
• Reporting and analytics
• Multiple payment gateways

Pricing:

• Essential plan starts at $599 p/m
• Standard plan starts at $1200 p/m
• Specialized plan starts at $3500 p/m
• Contact Chargify for a quote on the custom plan

Pros:

• Mobile app for iPhone and iPad users
• Users report responsive and efficient customer service
• Flexibility for managing subscriptions

Cons:

• Users can’t fully customize email newsletters
• Additional charges can become pricey
• Reporting and analytics aren’t easy to understand 

G2 Score: 4.3/5 stars

GetApp Score: 4.3/5 stars

Capterra Score: 4.3/5 stars

Website: https://www.chargify.com/

4.Skio

If you have an eCommerce store on Shopify, consider Skio for your subscription management. This subscription management app is available on the Shopify store and provides more than subscription services. You can set up billing windows for your store, increase how much clients spend with upsells and use prepaid subscriptions. 

Key Features:

• Upsells
• First-order trials
• Hosted subscription portal
• SMS subscription management
• Billing windows

Pricing:

• Dog plan starts at $399 p/m
• Contact Skio for a quote on the Cat plan

Pros:

• Constant updates in features and functionality 
• Reviews on Shopify Marketplace report a responsive and helpful customer service
• Smooth user experience without much of a learning curve

Cons:

• The self-help resources they provide are vague
• Email newsletters for subscription management can have glitches
• This tool can become expensive with additional charges 

G2 Score: N/A

GetApp Score: N/A

Capterra Score: N/A

Website: https://skio.com/

5.Zuora

Zuora is an in-depth tool that handles more than just subscription management. You can manage your tax documents, optimize your pricing models, and bill all your clients using one billing system. This tool also offers real-time analytics for your revenue and you can use payment recovery powered by machine learning.

Key Features:

• 50+ pricing models
• Order management
• Flexible subscription change
• Invoice generator
• Unified billing system

Pricing:

• Contact Zuora for all pricing plans

Pros:

• Issuing refunds and credit is easy
• Automated notifications are robust and functional well
• Reporting is easy to use and interpret 

Cons:

• Reporting and data manipulation limits are rigid
• Various features small businesses have to pay for but won’t need
• The user interface can be clunky

G2 Score: 3.8/5 stars

GetApp Score: 3.9/5 stars

Capterra Score: 3.9/5 stars

Website: https://www.zuora.com/

6.Recharge

Recharge focuses on providing any business with four primary solutions. These solutions include quickly enabled subscriptions, increasing customer lifetime value, reducing your churn rate, and measuring your brand’s performance. This software has helped brands in the beauty, fashion, food, and home goods industries. 

Key Features:

• Customer subscription portal
• SMS subscription management
• Dunning
• Automatic payment retries
• Real-time data 

Pricing:

• Standard plan has no monthly fees but charges 1% and 10c per transaction
• Pro plan is $300 p/m and charges 1% and 19c per transaction

Pros:

• Easy to track subscriber’s orders and payments
• Easily integrates with Shopify for e-Commerce stores
• Users report a responsive and supportive customer service team

Cons:

• Automated checkout can have technical errors
• Reporting feature takes a long time to load
• User errors can occur for customer subscription portal

G2 Score: 4/5 stars

GetApp Score: N/A

Capterra Score: 4.6/5 stars

Website: https://rechargepayments.com/

7.ProfitWell

Profitwell is a trusted choice for subscription management, reducing your churn rate, conducting market research, and improving your pricing structure. You can integrate this software with Chargify, Zapier, Stripe, HubSpot, Intercom, and ChargeBee, among many other tools. ProfitWell also offers a free pricing audit, and you can access your company’s metrics for free. 

Key Features:

• Pricing audits and optimization
• Data-driven roadmaps
• Competitor research
• Market and buyer persona research
• Robust subscription tracking

Pricing:

• Accessing metrics for your business is free
• Contact ProfitWell for a quote on the enterprise plan

Pros:

• Data visualizations for clear reporting
• Clean and professional user-interface
• Users say this software is highly transparent in what they offer

Cons:

• Understanding metrics for refunds can be confusing
• Difficult combining data with third-party integrations
• Some features lack complete functionality

G2 Score: 4.9/5 stars

GetApp Score: 4.7/5 stars

Capterra Score: 4.7/5 stars

Website: https://www.profitwell.com/

8.Recurly

Besides the subscription management services, Recurly also provides features for recurring billing and payments and intelligent retention tactics. But you’ll have everything you need to manage your subscriptions as brands can create invoices, track subscriptions and change their billing method in a few minutes. A few of the possible tools to integrate include Salesforce, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, and Zendesk. 

Key Features:

• Flexible billing models
• Subscription trials
• Personalized offers
• Gift subscriptions
• Data-driven reports

Pricing:

• Core plan is $249 p/m
• Contact Recurly for a quote on the Professional and Elite plans

Pros:

• Backend APIs are easy to use
• Tracking subscriptions and the relevant information for each is simple
• It’s easy to develop and sell coupons and invoices

Cons:

• Online resources leave out vital information to solve technical errors
• This software makes moving to a different tool complicated
• Small delays in features that don’t improve workflows

G2 Score: 4/5 stars

GetApp Score: 4.6/5 stars

Capterra Score: 4.5/5 stars

Website: https://recurly.com/

9.Sage Intacct

If you’re looking for a one-stop-shop to handle all elements of your billing, financial, and subscription management, look no further. Sage Intacct offers countless services to ensure you optimize your billing processes, such as spend management, order management, and inventory management. 

Key Features:

• Flexible pricing models
• Automatic subscription renewals
• Revenue recognition
• Seamless integration with Salesforce for finance and billing management
• In-depth reporting 

Pricing:

• Contact Sage Intacct for a custom quote

Pros:

• The tool is built with the end-user in mind
• Offers an end-to-end solution for managing the financial aspects of your business
• The custom pricing allows you to only pay for features that you’ll use 

Cons:

• Lack of quick links to navigate around so many features
• The software can have various technical issues
• Setting up account groups is cumbersome and takes too much time 

G2 Score: 4.2/5 stars 

GetApp Score: 4.2/5 stars

Capterra Score: 4.2/5 stars

Website: https://www.sage.com/en-za/sage-business-cloud/intacct/

Conclusion

Subscription management software is the best way for SaaS companies and other brands that offer subscriptions. Choosing any of the best subscription management software will help you grow your subscribers quicker, generate invoices and quotes quickly, and you don’t have to worry about admin and using your maximum customer support services.

Subscription management software also allows your customers to manage their subscriptions and ultimately you can collect bills much quicker. If you haven’t considered any of the best subscription management software, you should change your mind. These tools can save you time and maximize your earnings. 

References

Gartner: Moving to a Software Subscription Model

The Paypers: Trends in Subscription Commerce: Agile Monetization Rising

CFO: Recurring Revenue Rising

Digiday: Digiday Research: Publishers’ biggest subscription challenges

Wonderment: 10 Stats About the Future of the Subscription Economy

Global Banking & Finance: How To Make Money From Membership Economics